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Thursday Cont
Game 2:
I had an early Shurima opener with a 1 cost that I like a lot, Cassiopeia. That leads itself pretty naturally into Azir. It's not my preferred opener, Ionia is way stronger, but it's what i hit and I did well with it. I got a 2* Lux on my level 7 rolldown, eventually got the full comp together and managed a 3rd place. There were two other Azir players and Nasus/Azir especially were hard to find, but a strong early game allowed me to bleed health slowly and still place well.
Composition:
Azir/Lux carries, Jarvan/Nasus tank, Swain/Teemo/Taliyah/Garen utility/traits
Portal & Augments:
Portal: Yordle Pordles (twice per stage, get a free high tier champion - "high tier" relative to current stage)
2-1: Buried Treasure 2 (Gold): Gain gold and item components over the next few stages
3-2: Big Grab Bag (Gold): Item Components + Gold + Reforger
4-2: Magic Wand (Gold): Gain Rod, all units gain AP.
Key Decision: Taking items instead of combat on 3-2, I was getting lots of tank items and felt the need for a chance at more dmg items, plus the gold to accellerate tempo - I was in 2nd above 90 health at that point. Ancient Archives on 3-2 was a bit unlucky. I got an Ionia spat and Invoker spat. Challenger would have given me a good chance to win. Ionia gives me a line of 6 ionia/6 challenger which can be very strong too. Ionia is crazy contested so we try to ride 6 ionia/4 challenger with 1* yasuo/2* kalista to level 8.
Result:
3rd: +18 LP (Current: D3 50 LP)
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Game 3:
A Kalista (3 cost challenger who is very strong and leads perfectly into the ionia comp) out of my first orb makes the early game easy. The Challenger Emblem on 2-1 makes it even easier. Ancient Archives and another Spatula off Carousel make this a rather unique composition. If I got 8 challenger I think I win, and what I did make was very very strong, but it fell short of two other incredibly strong boards.
Composition:
6 Ionia/6 Challenger/2 Invoker/2 Juggernaut
Yasuo/Kalista (with Ionia Spat)/Kaisa/Bel'Veth (Ionia Spat) for damage
Shen (Challenger Spat) "tank"
Warwick/Sett/Irelia provide some stall and fill out traits
Portal & Augments:
Portal: Shuriman Bazaar (gain 2 components instead of one every carousel)
2-1: Challenger Emblem (Gold) - gain an item that you put on a unit to make it a Challenger.
3-2: Ancient Archives 2 (Prismatic) - Gain two Tome of Traits - you open these and choose from an emblem. Trying to use this to get 8 Challenger unlocked.
4-2: You Have My Bow (Gold) - gives a bow, and gives bonus attack speed to your whole team.
Key Decision: Judging my board strength on 4-2 to be strong enough to go 8. I had 6 Ionia/4 Challenger, 2* Kalista with Ionia Spat which is very strong, 1* Yasuo/1* Shen. If my judgement is wrong I'm dead. If I'm right I can maybe play for first.
Result
3rd: +19 LP (Current: D3 69 LP)
Post Game Note: I think my "key decision" was high risk/reward, and correct in hindsight. I survived well enough to go level 8 and roll, barely, and I hit Yasuo 2 which got me to start winning. It was very close to backfiring though. Seeing how strong everyone else got if I stayed 7 to roll more I likely cannot top 4 in this lobby.
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Game 4:
Dravens Axe opener leads me towards heavy AD comps and pretty early on it's obvious I'm angling for Aphelios. My early game isn't great so my health is lower than I'd like it to be through stage 3. We hit a relatively uncontested Aphelios and use the extra gold generated by Draven's Axe to roll for Aphelios 3, hitting on 6-1 and easily winning the lobby.
Composition:
Aphelios 3 carry
Urgot/Akshan/Ashe secondary dmg
Shen/Sejuani tank
Taric/Lissandra traits
Portal & Augments:
Portal: God-Willow's Grove (you can use a unit on your bench to provide synergy to your team)
2-1: All That Shimmers (Gold) (choose from a special shimmerscale item, these are gold generators)
3-2: Big Grab Bag (Gold) (item components, didn't like any combat choices)
4-2: Contagion (Gold) - causes the highest health enemy to take 20% more damage. Every 5 seconds "infect" 2 more units to take increased damage.
Key Decision: 2-1 augment and the item from my shimmerscale choices drives the entire game. Most of my 2-1 Augment choices are generic and don't force me down a specific path. This one didn't force Aphelios but it locked me out of Azir.
Result
1st: 43 LP (Current: D2 12 LP)
A spectacular 4 game stretch gets me promoted to Diamond 2 and we'll take a break there.
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