The LPL showcased a high-stakes match, with JKL proving his worth, TES demonstrating superior intelligence, and the NIP coaching staff becoming a laughingstock.

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Yesterday, the LPL conducted the last two BO5 matches of the opening playoff round, with TES emerging victorious over NIP by 3-1.

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This round also featured a death match, where the contest lost its uncertainty as soon as the ban/pick phase concluded.

NIP’s baffling ban/pick strategy turns coaches into a joke

The death match was the final game between TES and NIP, specifically Game 4, where NIP proactively chose the red side, taking an unconventional approach. Typically, in playoffs, the losing team picks the side, and since the blue side currently has a greater advantage, most teams prefer it.

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This year, the overall meta still favors the blue side, but NIP’s choice of red made many viewers and commentators think they had prepared something special. The red side’s strength often lies in counter picks, possibly relying on the top laner for solo kills, as Solokill performed well in earlier matches.

Unexpectedly, TES delivered a huge disappointment to the audience: the red side had neither prepared special tactics nor avoided extremely basic ban/pick mistakes.

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Despite the higher priority on Lillia, NIP let her go, picking Gwen themselves, while TES secured Lillia, Akali, and Wukong to form a triple-engage comp. NIP countered Akali with Orianna and then surprisingly picked support Elise in the second round, openly signaling their intent to pick Caitlyn. Coach Homme must have felt his intelligence insulted at that moment.

LPL’s death match, TES outsmarts all

TES immediately locked in the Caitlyn-Karma bot lane, and once these two champions were chosen, NIP’s ban/pick was a complete failure. The fourth pick of Elise turned this match into a death match, with the post-ban/pick situation heavily favoring TES.

After picking Caitlyn, Leave laughed out loud, probably realizing his fate. As NIP’s core carry, he had no lane control or late-game carry heroes, essentially facing a death sentence.

During the match, NIP adopted an extreme leave-alone strategy for Leave. After being heavily pressured in farm, the mid lane gave up and tried to fight back against Caitlyn but was killed. Even though NIP made some mid-game mistakes, TES maintained a large advantage and eventually won to advance to the next round.

After the match, many called this game extremely rare. They joked that NIP’s coach might only be responsible for ordering takeout, as the red side ban/pick completely collapsed. The only explanation could be that NIP underestimated TES and JKL’s Caitlyn play, but even if JKL wasn’t very proficient with Caitlyn, he still crushed the opponent’s bot lane with her.

Because NIP picked Elise, a highly risky champion with very low margin for error.

JKL proves himself, NIP on the brink of elimination

JKL may not have played Caitlyn much before, but this time he proved himself with a fast-push strategy. TES can consider continuing to use this comp in future matches, potentially developing new ban/pick ideas to aim for higher placements.

After losing this round, NIP is on the verge of elimination and will face AL in the losers bracket.

AL performed poorly against WBG, losing 3-2. Their core player Tarzan was off form, but despite this, AL still held a significant advantage over WBG. If NIP loses to AL, their entire S15 journey will end abruptly without a chance to participate in the promotion tournament.

In my opinion, NIP’s biggest issue is their roster can’t keep up with the peak-level competition. Except for Leave, the other players struggle to maintain consistent form, and their champion pools are problematic. Doinb has basically lost his ability to carry games.

Under these circumstances, it’s difficult to develop special strategies. Given the level of NIP’s coaching staff, even if they create some tactics, they might be easily countered due to changes in the ban/pick phase.