Pro Play by Play - G2’s Notorious Elder Drake

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Pro Play by Play - G2’s Notorious Elder Drake

Objectives are one of the most important aspects in League, and it is essential you sufficiently prepare for them. In the LEC, G2 failed to do so in their game against Misfits in a sequence of errors that cost them the game.

The Play

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State of the Game

At the beginning of the clip, G2 are in an absolute control of the game: they have a 10k gold advantage, Mountain Soul, Baron buff, and are pushing into the enemy base. Outside of G2 dcing, the only way Misfits can come back into the game is by taking the Elder Drake to level the playing field.

Step 1 - Greed

After securing a 1 for 1 trade (Jankos’s Diana for Vetheo’s Syndra), G2 take the bot inhib. At this point, the Elder Drake is spawning in around 40 seconds while Jankos will respawn in about 35 seconds, meaning G2 would not be able to confidently take the Drake until he has returned with Smite.

Instead of recalling after taking the bot inhib to spend their gold, restock on wards and prepare to take the Elder Drake by placing vision and pushing out waves, G2 get greedy and move to the mid lane with their eyes set on the tower and inhib:

While pushing advantages is not necessarily a bad play, G2 should have realised how unnecessary this play was. Given how dominant a position they were in, taking the tier 3 tower and even the inhib doesn’t really do much for them because they could have taken those objectives whenever they wanted. More importantly, the only avenue Misfits have back into the game is through the Elder Drake, which G2 relinquish control of by going for this greedy play instead of backing and moving toward the Drake.

Instead, by the time G2 have taken the tower, they only have around 30 seconds before the Drake spawns, and Caps (Lucian) is the only one who has managed to reset as the rest of G2 are being chased by Misfits in a numbers disadvantage:

Step 2 - Poor Back Timings

Though Wunder (Dr. Mundo), Rekkles (Tristana) and Mikyx (Leona) would probably be unable to kill Misfits or the Drake on their own, they could prevent Misfits from starting the Drake through holding their ground near the Drake pit. Instead, Rekkles recalls to leave Wunder and Mikyx in a 2v4, while the Elder Drake is spawning in less than 15 seconds and Vetheo has Teleport ready (a timing I’m confident G2 are aware of):

Mikyx and Wunder also recall and leave Misfits to take the Drake without any contention, and though Wunder teleports back near the pit to try and disrupt Misfits, he can’t do much as a Dr. Mundo.

Step 3 - Taking a Bad Fight

Though conceding the Elder Drake was a huge misplay by G2, that alone may not have been enough to bring Misfits back into the game given how incredibly far ahead G2 were. Vander (Alistar) finds a good angle to engage on Caps and Rekkles, but his team is not there to follow up and they are able to escape. Wunder is also on his own and would have the opportunity to recall in the bot lane:

However, instead of taking this window to disengage and respect the power of an Elder Drake buffed team and a 3 item Kai’Sa, G2 choose to turn and engage on Misfits, putting the final nail in their coffin.

While it’s not possible for us to know why G2 decided to take this fight, it comes across as an impulsive and rash reaction to a sequence of poor plays and an attempt to reclaim their lead in the game. However, taking the fight was completely unnecessary for several reasons:

1. The Elder Drake only lasts for 2 minutes and 30 seconds, which G2 could have stalled out by avoiding any team fights for the duration.
2. Once the Elder Drake expired, G2 would have been in the same dominant position as before they lost the Elder Drake, and would most likely have won any team fight.
3. G2 had pushing lanes in the top and bot lane, which Misfits would have had to answer. Moreover, it’s unlikely Misfits could have finished with their mid lane wave if G2 were alive to contest it, as it was only at the river and Misfits had only taken the tier 1 turret in the mid lane.

Here is the full play again:

Summary

A series of poor decisions cost G2 this game, as they failed to properly set up for an imperative objective, acted impulsively, and took an extremely bad team fight. Don’t underestimate the power of the Elder Drake, and don’t let one bad decision spiral out of control!