LCS Recap: Echo Fox vs. Golden Guardians

After getting knocked out of the Spring Split Playoffs by TSM, Echo Fox were looking to have a chance to redeem themselves with a good start to the Summer Split. They would surprise everyone by bringing out David “Yusui” Bloomquist and Lawrence “Lost” Sze Yuy Hui to start at Mid Lane and Bot Lane respectively. In the end this would not be enough to throw off the game of Golden Guardians as Echo Fox was rolled over and here is how it happened.

Draft Phase

Through the first round of bans it was clear that the Guardians were not going to let any cheese get through by banning Yuumi, Taric and Aatrox. Echo Fox focused more on the overpowered duo of Varus and Galio while also banning the yet to be nerfed Jayce. In the end this draft definitely seemed like the most standard one of the day as Azael pointed out.

For Echo Fox it was clear they wanted the all in teamfights. Between Rek’sai, Akali, Ryze and Sivir this team could maneuver quite a bit while Nautilus would be the beefy frontline. In the end this never really worked as Golden Guardians were always pressuring with their own extreme dive comp centered around Skarner.

Early Game

Caption: nerdwide.com

The early game and well, most of this game were a snooze-fest. It was clear that both teams were doing what they do best. Echo Fox are mostly a reactive team, especially with the two young players. Whereas Golden Guardians normally play to their lane advantages through Top and Mid.

The first kill of the game would come on Juan “Contractz” Arturo ganking in the bottom lane. Then a 1-1 fight in the bot-side river where Contractz would grab another and Echo Fox would get on the board with a kill for Yusui. It would stay this way as Henrik “Froggen” Hansen would continue to overpower Yusui with a huge lane advantage. Then, Contractz would help Golden Guardians get another big advantage as they ganked bot lane for a 3-1 in favor of GGS. This would be the last kill of the game for Echo Fox and it would go over to Nickolas “Hakuho” Surgent.

Late(r) Game

Image from LoL Esports Flickr

Into the late game of this barn burner, Echo Fox would be getting out-rotated throughout the game. Hakuho, who was normally able to roam easily when playing with Apollo “Apollo” Price, had to play babysitter with Lost. This worked to a certain degree as Lost was able to stay alive and get a CS advantage but it clearly put a limit on the star Echo Fox support.

Colin “Solo” Earnest did what Solo does and played a carry champion in Akali that he could never get going on. He had multiple TP plays that just didn’t work. He would attempt to start a teamfight with one that would only get Lee “Rush” Yoon-jae killed and allow GGS to take the Baron. This would be all they would need as they would catch-out Rush one more time and methodically take down the base handing Echo Fox their first loss of the Split.

Conclusion

One has to wonder what the Echo Fox management group was thinking when starting Yusui and Lost. It seemed like a change that really did not bring much value. Yusui especially just looked like a deer in the headlights for most of the game. While Lost, required so much of Hakuho’s attention that the star Support player could never really have an impact on the game outside of his lane like he normally does.

They need to bring back the starting lineup that brought them to the playoffs last Split. This is of course unless Echo Fox is planning on going with a younger roster for the future? If they are playing the “long game”, then it is possible getting players like Yusui and Lost some stage time could be good for them. It will be interesting to see who is starting on Sunday as Echo Fox faces off against the best of the best in Team Liquid.

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