Demacia vs. Ionia - March 30th

Demacia goes aggressive again, but can't turn it into power against Ionia

                                                                 

Team Matchups : 

Demacia | Ionia

Top Lane - Fiora (Archiplex) | Zed (Dues Pader)

Jungle -       Xin Zhao (Ubel Engel) | Lee Sin (UltimaaSummoner)

Mid Lane - Jarvan IV (Big Fat Unicorn) | Ahri (Suzu)

AD Carry - Vayne (Grimoire) | Wukong (Fos)

Support -    Lux (SoupSoupMahGoo) | Karma (Zhente)

                                                                 

Pre-Game Analysis: With a similar team from last game, Demacia looked poised to use the same aggression to win their 2nd game of the day, however, with a very interesting bot lane from Ionia, choosing to forgo Varus in exchange for Wukong, and the pure amount of assassins that the Ionians put on the table, it would be interesting to see if Vayne would even survive in the fights.

The aggressive play-style from Demacia did indeed continue in the early goings of this game, but this time a much harder counter was thrown in by the Ionians. Early on, Vayne would again pick up First Blood, but once again, she would die to the AD Carry of the enemy team, this time Wukong, who was quickly rooted under the tower to give Lux a kill and a small gold advantage in the bottom lane for Demacia. While this goes on, Zed would go very aggressive onto Fiora, knowing that Lee Sin was nearby. As that went on, Lee would actually venture into the jungle of Demacia and find himself a low health Xin Zhao, ripe for the killing as he would quickly dispatch of him. On his way out, he would find a beautiful Resonating Strike landing on Fiora, quickly dropping her under her own tower for a double kill, before Safeguarding out of harm. 

Lee Sin was looking for more blood, this time in the mid lane as Jarvan IV was very overextended fighting Ahri. As Xin Zhao came in to secure Ahri, Lee Sin would counter the 1v2 situation, but Jarvan showed his mid-game strength as he destroys Ahri, and the combined power of Xin and Jarvan was no match for Lee Sin, who would give up the double kill to Jarvan, allowing for Demacia to pull back a small gold advantage 5:30 into the game. 

As the mid-game started up, Ionia began to show signs of life again, with kills by Zed, Wukong, and two kills  due to Lee Sin while only trading a tower for 4 kills. Zed and Fiora would continue to kill each other up top, but Jarvan's 2nd kill on Lee Sin would allow for Demacia to take control of the game for the time being, as they would secure the first dragon of the game at 11:35. Counter-ganking would continue to be the name of the game, as both Xin Zhao and Lee Sin were flying across the map to secure kills and stop the enemy jungler from doing as much damage as he could, leading into the 2nd dragon fight. 

At the 2nd Dragon Fight, Ionia finally pulled ahead. Before this fight, most of the fights had just been small skirmishes, normally 1v1 or 2v2 fights. In the first major teamfight, it showed that Ionia's assassins were more than a match for the Demacian strength, as Ahri, Zed and Wukong racked up the kills on the way to a 4 for 1 exchange, including dragon. After this team fight, Ionia came out strong, quickly taking towers and objectives including baron late into the game, but a teamfight quickly pushed by Demacia stopped the bleeding for a short time, and at 37 minutes in, Demacia was town to just a nexus while Ionia was coming in at full force.

Finally at the 40 minute mark, Ionia would get the last big teamfight they needed, routing Demacia with an Ace and quickly securing the win afterwards for Ionia, pushing Demacia to 1-1 on the day.

                                                                

Final Scores:

Demacia | Ionia

Top Lane - Fiora (4/9/9) | Zed (8/7/12)

Jungle -      Xin Zhao (4/8/12) | Lee Sin (7/5/16)

Mid Lane - Jarvan IV (11/6/9) | Ahri (10/4/13)

AD Carry - Vayne (9/8/7) | Wukong (9/9/7)

Support -    Lux (3/6/16) | Karma (3/6/17)

                                                                

MVP of the Game : Suzu on Ahri (Ionia)

UltimaaSummoner opened the door for the Ionia with impressive ganks and counter-ganking, and control of the map, but Ahri was the one to smash down the door and seal the win for the Ionian team. With incredible positioning, clutch kills and a few spectacular plays using Zhonya's Hourglass, Suzu's Ahri was a force to be reckoned with, racking up 10 kills by the end of the game and being a part of 23 of 37 kills, an integral part of the team and earning MVP Honors.