Piltover vs Demacia - April 13th

Rioters make their presence known again as Baconhawk and Taco Storm lead Piltover to a 2-0 day.

                                                    

Team Compositions: Piltover | Demacia

Top Lane: Jayce (Riot Taco Storm) | Jarvan IV (Plutotian)

Jungle: Vi (Pride Incarnate) | Poppy (QuesoRayao)

Mid Lane: Orianna (Mr. Schtiffles) | Lux (Fapotu)

AD Carry: Caitlyn (Deathnoob) | Quinn (Denair)

Support: Janna (Riot Baconhawk) | Sona (Takashi Suzuki)

Pre-Game Analysis: The same lineup for Piltover that was run earlier allows for an incredibly strong showing to be a possibility again for the Rioters and their teammates. After a rough game for Demacia against Noxus, they look to switch up the team, allowing Poppy and Quinn to see the light of day, and Poppy in the jungle will allow her to quickly move into the back lines to really hit Caitlyn hard without very little to be stopped. Demacia may have a stronger 5v5 teamfight potential, but with Piltovers disengage as showed in their game against Ionia, i'm not really sure how much of a chance the Demacian side will have.

                                                                       

Early on in the match, Piltover would find first blood as Lux would try to be tricky herself, sneaking through the Piltover jungle and trying to flash out of the way, however, she would flash back into Vi and Orianna, allowing for the first blood. As this went on, Poppy would work into the back wings of the bottom lane for Piltover and Sona would actually end up picking up the last second kill, barely doing enough damage to beat the tornado of Janna to try and make the save. A few minutes later, Taco Storm would begin to show his dominance over Jarvan IV, as the Defender of Tomorrow would pick up his first kill of the game and allow for his team to then take the first dragon of the game at 10:30.

Piltover would then begin to slightly snowball their advantage. As Taco Storm was ganked from behind by Poppy, the Piltover Jungle would force pressure onto the bottom lane, allowing for a double kill on Quinn and Sona, and Taco Storm would then counter the gank he had just received by taking out Jarvan in a duel, allowing for a 3k gold lead less than 15 minutes into the game. Vi would continue to show her dominance as she and Orianna would combo Lux to pick up another kill and extend the lead. The first turret would go down in Piltover's favor at 15:30 by Taco Storm in the top lane. Shortly after, a quick duel between the AD Carries would end in favor of Piltover and Caitlyn, allowing for yet another kill. A fight in mid lane, the first major 5v5 fight in the game, would again go to Piltover with 2 kills without losing anybody, making the gold lead spread to almost 8000, 19 minutes into the game.

20 minutes into the game, Piltover is continuing to dominate the game, constantly taking the objectives and making life hard on Demacia, as the only kill for their side was actually on Sona. More dominant fights from Piltover continued to show just how powerful they were as sprees were racking up for the Piltover side, with the kill count being 20-3 at one point. Piltover showed total domination as they would then finally win the game at 28 minutes.

Final Scores/VOD

MVP's of the Game: Piltover as a whole

With two Rioters on the team, it's hardly a surprise that Piltover was dominant in their win. However, as a group effort, the entire team played amazingly and worked incredibly well together to find a way to win. Riot Taco Storm and Riot Baconhawk both created a lot of opportunities for the team to win, and they made an incredible addition to the Piltover team as they launched up into first place.

Noxus vs Demacia - April 13th

Wards and Damage are the name of the game as Annie and Draven dominate Demacia to secure the win for Noxus.

                                            

Team Composition: Demacia | Noxus

Top Lane: Xin Zhao (The Last Magi) | Darius (HostileIntention)

Jungle: Jarvan IV (Plutotian) | Sion (UnicornKing)

Mid Lane: Lux (Grimoire) | Annie (Rekesh)

AD Carry: Vayne (Fapotu) | Draven (xSeth)

Support: Garen (Abawmb) | LeBlanc (albableat)

Pre Game Analysis: Demacia seems to bring a very standard team, which is normally very heavy on teamfighting and bring a lot of Crowd Control abilities. As this shows, they need a later game, while Noxus, as usual, needs a strong early game to pull through and end the game before it even begins.

                                               

Demacia would make quick work of the first blood potential, as a great 5 man invasion near blue buff would dominate Darius and give the “heroes” first blood as they would head back to their lanes.

Jarvan would try to move towards the bottom lane for the first gank, and after a very long fight in bottom that resulted in nothing, LeBlanc and Draven would dive back in to finally get the kill on Vayne due to the pure burst of support LeBlanc, giving Noxus a small lead about 5 minutes into the match. Meanwhile, about a minute later, Sion and Annie would burst Lux with everything they had, and despite having the barrier, Annie would finally pick up the kill on Lux, and then Annie and Sion would quickly turn towards the top lane, giving Darius a kill onto Xin Zhao to give Darius a chance in the top lane. With support Garen, Demacia could not fight the early game power of Noxus, giving Draven his first kill of the game onto Vayne and giving Noxus a 2,000 gold lead 8 minutes in.

Demacia would finally get themselves back into the game 10 minutes in, as Jarvan would stroll down into the bottom lane to help out Vayne and Garen. Despite the two tanks falling, Vayne would be able to pick up a double kill for herself, quickly getting her back into the game. Meanwhile, as Jarvan was working his magic in the bottom lane, Annie would move up to top lane quickly to pick off Xin Zhao, and as Sion would move into the Demacian jungle to steal wraiths, Lux and Jarvan would find a very potent Annie at this time, who would turn a double kill, giving Noxus now a 3.5k gold lead at 12 minutes, and throwing Demacia into a defensive mindset.

Noxus would continue to apply the pressure, throwing everything they had at the bottom lane of Demacia while the Demacians would have to bring all 5 of their members to defend. Despite getting a shut down onto Annie, she would pick up a kill and Draven would also move up to 5/1/1 before 15 minutes, while Darius would begin to get the Creep Score lead over Xin Zhao after originally being behind. After the fight, Darius would then move bottom to help with dragon fights, while Annie and Draven continued to use their power to grab kills on the Demacians, and get the first dragon at 16:30, giving Noxus a solid 7k gold lead.

Noxus continued to use their early game coordination and strength to continue pushing down objectives while Draven and Darius would farm themselves up, allowing for such a powerful push for Noxus into their power parts of the game. With over a 12k gold advantage at the 20 minute mark, it was almost assured that Noxus was going to dominate this game and they really came to play. The wards also showed that Noxus knew where the enemy team was going while Demacia continued to guess where the enemy was, and Noxus would continue to decimate their counterparts. Finally, at 33:30, Noxus would dominate the Demacians in one last team fight, allowing Noxus to seal the victory:

Final Scores/VOD

MVP of the Game: Rekesh on Annie (Noxus)

Nobody looked stronger in this game (except for perhaps Draven), than Rekesh on Annie, with constant bursting of champions, incredible ganking potential while continually decimating Lux in the middle lane. The evil city-state of Noxus won easily due to the power of a little girl.

Ionia vs Piltover - April 13th

The City of Progress comes out strong, as two Rioters help to lead the charge in Victory over Ionia

                                                         

Lane Matchups: Ionia | Piltover

Top Lane: Irelia (r0mb0) | Jayce (Riot Taco Storm)

Jungle: Lee Sin (SodaGod) | Vi (Pride Incarnate)

Mid Lane: Kennen (Hvidskygge) | Orianna (Mr Schtiffles)

AD Carry: Varus (TinGar) | Caitlyn (Deathnoob)

Support: Soraka (DizsceZ) | Janna (Riot Baconhawk)

Pre-Game Analysis: With two Rioters on the team, Piltover has an incredibly potent poke comp with Caitlyn, Jayce, Orianna and Janna standing way back and having the ability to disengage at any time. However, with a strong counter engage from Ionia with Irelia and Lee Sin, and some strong Crowd Control abilities overall, it could be a rough game for the Ionians if they can't stick to their opponents.

                                              

Riot Taco Storm made his presence in Factions very early, as a quick Lee Sin jungle invade turned very quickly against him, allowing Vi, Orianna and Jayce to collapse in on him and despite a very close call for Lee Sin, Taco Storm would land the Accelerated Shock Blast to pick up the First Blood. As the teams continued to farm, Orianna and Kennen would trade ultimate kills, allowing them to reset the mid lane while Lee Sin and Irelia would combine powers to take out Jayce in the top lane, giving Ionia a slight kill lead 7 minutes into the game.

Around 10 minutes into the game, Kennen would begin to roam for the Ionians, moving to the bottom lane and picking up a strong gank onto Janna and Caitlyn, picking up Janna, but leaving his mid lane exposed gave Vi and Orianna the chance to counter with a kill onto Lee Sin. However, Kennen would make it back to his lane in time, allowing for Kennen to pick up a 2^nd kill onto Vi behind his turret. Despite all this, Ionia would only hold a 500 gold advantage about 12 minutes into the game.

A few minutes later, mid lane became the source of the action, as Kennen and Lee Sin would quickly rush in on Orianna to try and take the kill. However, a great Shockwave onto both the Ionians, and the appearance of Vi's Assault and Battery would allow Orianna to trade her own life for a double kill and with Irelia moving towards the bottom lane, Riot Taco Storm would take the first turret of the game at 15:40, with the bottom turret for Ionia falling about 40 seconds later, keeping the gold dead even at 21.3k each at this time. As Taco Storm would roam back to top lane to save his turret, he would be found by Kennen, and the Slicing Maelstrom under turret would allow for another kill onto Jayce.

Back in mid lane, the action quickly came back, with Baconhawk seemingly baiting the Ionians into a fight by quickly using his ultimate to start the fight, after a 2 for 2 exchange after a Varus snipe, the Caitlyn Ace in the Hole, followed by yet another accelerated Shock Blast would give Taco Storm another kill, this time onto Soraka, giving Piltover the slightest of leads as we near the 20 minute mark.

Around that 20 minute mark, the first Dragon fight would appear. Despite the incredible poke from Piltover, Ionia would take the time to be aggressive. Irelia would dive onto Caitlyn as Lee Sin would secure the Dragon gold for Ionia, and with a split Piltover team, they would only pick up one kill while Irelia would pick up 3 kills for herself, giving the first definitive lead of the game to Ionia at 22 minutes.

An amazingly play in top lane would slightly bring Piltover back into the game with Orianna and Caitlyn baiting 3 low members of Piltover into a tough spot. Without an Orianna ultimate, Ionia felt confident with Soraka, Irelia and Lee Sin...but it was not meant to be. Orianna would finish off Irelia and Lee Sin, while another Ace in the Hole would finish Soraka for the 3^rd kill, while Varus continued to push in the bottom lane for Ionia and got the 2^nd turret in bottom and the 4^th overall for Ionia. Piltover would counter with their own mid lane push, giving them their 2^nd turret of the game.

Ionia looked to fight second dragon, however, it may have been their first mistake of the game, as Piltover would fight in a small corridor and show their true power of disengage and power overall, as Orianna and Caitlyn would continue to poke and dominate fights, losing dragon but winning a team fight with an ace against 2 deaths for Piltover and then a turret, dropping the gold deficit to just 1.2k, as Baron was then fought over giving it to Ionia..until Vi would sacrifice herself to steal the Baron for Piltover and would even up the gold count at 33 minutes.

Suddenly, Piltover swung the game completely around as Lee Sin would push the top lane in. Piltover, 5 strong, would suddenly burst through the gates of Ionia, stomping out Irelia first, followed by Kennen, and quickly marching down the middle of the base. With Lee Sin too late back to the base, what looked like Ionia in control suddenly turned into a Piltover victory, as Science would prevail yet again.

                                                                           

Final Scores/VOD's : Will be added when found

MVP's of the Game: Orianna (Mr. Schtiffles) and Caitlyn (Deathnoob)

As much as the two Rioters may have had an impact on the game, Orianna and Caitlyn's poke, disengage and raw power would seal many team fights for Piltover and allow them to win the game with incredible displays of champion prowess. Well played for the City of Progress in defeating the Ionians!

Freljord has joined Mirrorwater! Early Analysis

As shown earlier today by CupcakeTrap, FRELJORD has been chosen as the 5th and newest faction to join the Mirrorwater Battles. Ashe, Tryndamere, Volibear and others will be joining the fray, using the ice to hopefully lead them to victory. How do they stack up against the other factions? It seems as if the cold may get to the Demacians and Ionians, as the amazing peel tactics, slows, and other disengages will slow down the hard engage of Demacia and the assassins from Ionia. Noxus may have some power against them, as the early game isn't where the Freljord team will thrive, and Piltover may have enough damage and long-range abilities to poke down the ice from afar.

So how can Freljord win? Simple. Make it later in the game, and use your disengage well. With champions like Anivia and Gragas in the mid-lane, Nunu, Volibear and Olaf as well as Ashe, a lot of things can be used to get away from the enemy team and get yourself in the best situations possible. Using Volibear from the jungle, coupled with his speed and the slows from his teammates, could really turn the early game tides if used correctly. Once the games go later, Freljord can win from both sides. They can engage quickly and beat you down, or they can turtle you out with incredible wave-clear and stall the game until they get strong enough.

Overall, Freljord may have the best luck out of all the groups, with maybe even more superior teamfighting power. We shall see this weekend when Freljord gets it's first taste of big action.

The 5th Faction is soon to be announced!

As CupcakeTrap stated over on the General Discussion board, the Fifth Faction is soon to be announced, based on the votes of the community. So far, Freljord, boasting champions like Anivia, Ashe, Volibear, the reworked Sejuani and Trundle, and new champion Lissandra, are ahead in the polls, but the Shadow Isles are close behind, with the Void sitting just a few votes behind.

Who do YOU think should be the next faction and why? Leave some comments/friendly banter below, giving us your reasoning behind who you think the 5th faction should be, and vote in the poll both on the General Discussion thread, and right here on the blog!