By Jorge “Caldo” Calderon – @coL_Caldo
Continuing our journey through the North American LCS, coL.LoL have been selected to go up against Team 8, the 1st placed NACS team. According to my previous article, I said that Curse Academy would be coL.LoL’s toughest match, and Team Coast would be their easiest match, in my opinion. Therefore, this leaves Team 8 in the middle, and it will be a series that will be quite even throughout the Best of 5. In addition, both CaliforniaTrlolz and Westrice have similar play styles. They both love the Maokai and Mundo picks, and they’re both not afraid to make risky plays. In addition, CaliforniaTrlolz actually picks non-standard top laners at times. In fact, in game 4 of the NACS finals against Curse Academy, he ended up playing Fizz in the top lane, which would be a great risk for most teams. They ended up winning that Game 4 which granted them the 1st place NACS team. coL.LoL’s Coach and Analyst, Kubz, had this to say about Team 8:
We played Team 8 with a substitute at LoneStar Clash. My first impression of them was that they live and die by their top laner, CaliTrolz. I think they are the top challenger team in NA, but at no point did I view them as a LCS level team when I first met them. I think their obvious strength is CaliTrolz and his playmaking ability. I don’t want anyone knowing what I view as their weaknesses. Sorry.
– Kublai “Kubz” Barlas
Slooshi and coL.LoL’s AD-Carry, ROBERTxLEE, have some history together. In fact, they were both on Absolute Legends North America and succeeded in placing 2nd at the IEM Season VII – Global Challenge Singapore by defeating MeetYourMakers in a Best of 3. In addition, Bubbadub is friends with most of the Team 8 players.
Team 8 has always been a team I wanted to do well in the NA scene. I am friends with most of them and want to see them in the LCS, just not through us! We expect to force them into the expansion tournament and hope not to disappoint.
– Royce “Bubbadub” Newcomb
Going more into depth with some of the players, let’s now set our eyes on the bottom lane of Team 8 and talk about Dodo8.
Dodo8 is the support player for Team 8 and a player that isn’t well known in the League of Legends community; he was a HoN player for Evil Geniuses. Based off of the last NACS playoffs, Dodo8 seems to love playing Nami and she has to be one of his top supports. He ended up playing her all 4 games against Curse Academy in the NACS Finals! Out of 9 games in the Summer Playoffs, Dodo8 played Nami 7 of those 9 games. A Nami ban will definitely be of use in the pick and ban phase.
One main thing I want to point out is that CaliforniaTrlolz is the main engine of the team. What I mean by this is that the team is quite dependant on him in, he likes to play off meta champions which can end up cheesing the opposing team. Therefore, the enemy laner might not be ready for the lane matchup and result in a lost lane. When I asked Kubz and Bubbadub who they think is Team 8’s strongest player, they both agreed and said that it was CaliTrlolz.
He is simply their game changer and its evident in challenger that he is the driving force behind that team.
– Kublai “Kubz” Barlas
I have to completely agree with Kubz, he just loves being able to carry from the top lane, for instance, the Fizz pick in game 4 against Curse Academy in the NACS Finals.
I think team 8’s strongest player is CaliTrlolz. I don’t think he is particularly good in lane, but he always seems to have good sense in teamfights and can have huge impacts with his teleport plays.
– Royce “Bubbadub” Newcomb
Nidalee is one of his top champs and one champ that should definitely be banned out against him, not only because he is skilled with her, but because she is just dominant in the current format for the Top lane.
Overall, I am excited for this match and it should definitely be one to be viewed by all. It will be close, but I am confident enough in our coL.LoL squad to bring that win home and prepare for another season of the North American LCS. coL.LoL are working hard, and when talking to Kubz, he had this to say:
For us, it’s business as usual. We’re going over data, planning our picks / bans and creating the strategy we feel will beat Team 8.
– Kublai “Kubz” Barlas
He doesn’t want to give out too much information, but I’m sure they are doing great things in terms of practicing and researching their matchup.
What Bubbadub is doing to prepare for this match is looking at what to expect from the Team 8 bot-lane and improving bot-lane synergy with ROBERTxLEE. The team has improved dramatically over the course of the Summer split as Bubbdadub improved on finding good roaming opportunities and how to play as a team. He also broadened his champion pool as new champions became part of the meta. The team as a whole have improved their teamwork and objective control focus the most. They were weak coming from the Challenger scene in terms of objective focused play and they relied on good mechanics, rotations, and team fights to win their games. Kubz believes that every aspect of their game has improved. Whether it be laning phase, the vision war or objective control, they have improved in all areas of the game.
Be sure to tune in to watch this Best of 5 series against Team 8, which will be on Thursday, September 11th at 3:00PM PST.