INTRODUCTION
One of the most fun things about watching professional League of Legends on multiple regions is how ideas can creep out from one place to another. While the metagame from each region does grow individually, it is very interesting to see teams play similar to another region's, whether it was intentional or not, all while making it their own. A great example of this is Cloud 9, a team who made its foundation out of Korea's objective-taking gameplan, and from there evolved into this unique team that specializes in tower-diving and kite-heavy team fights.
At the beginning of Season Three, China became well-known for their "Freight Train" team comps. Mainly comprising of Hecarim, Graves, and Thresh at the core, they would do their best to survive till the mid game, where they would go as a unit and run around the jungle, utilizing their mobility and conical spells to their maximum. We have seen this in the EU LCS once, when ALTERNATE played a similar team comp during the first week.
Now, Fnatic has been more known as a splitpushing team, rather than a heavy ganking one. Whether or not they looked at the Chinese scene for inspiration, I would not know. However, using a style similar to what their opponents did before was fascinating and show how ideas cross boundaries, whether purpose or not. Thus, let us take a look at what I call Fnatic's "Euro Gank Express," and try to figure out what makes it work, as well as how we can do it ourselves.
PICKS AND BANS
*screencap image taken from Leaguepedia.
I'm just going to say this right off the bat: This is probably one of the best examples on how to draft perfectly. Fnatic did their bans and picks so well, showing how careful preparation and researching your opponents affect the actual game so much.
Let's start with the bans. On Fnatic's side, they really homed in on Creaton, taking out his arguably two best marksmen. This forced the ATN AD Carry to pick someone who he might not be playing as much, especially since he is still currently healing up his injured hand. With that out of the way, Fnatic then banned out Vi, which was currently Araneae's go to jungler. Why not Lee Sin, people might ask? It'll be answered during the picks section, so for now I'll just leave it at it.
On ALTERNATE's side, xPeke was the main target, removing two of his comfort champs, who are also excellent splitpushers. They were forcing the FNC mid laner into a corner, now having a better estimate on who he would pick. The Kennen ban was for both xPeke and sOAZ, taking out two birds with one stone. It also removes a strong AoE lockdown champion, which ATN probably expects FNC would have considering their standard play.
The picks is where it gets really impressive. Elise was an instalock essentially for Fnatic, as sOAZ has had huge amounts of success over her. Looking back, the bans towards Creaton allowed ATN to get Shen and Thresh, which were comfort picks for Kerp and Jree. I believe FNC expected this, which will become part of the Euro Gank Express' success. The Varus and Lissandra were FNC standard, not really revealing anything new. The Twitch was the result of the other hypercarry being banned, and this is where FNC not banning Lee Sin comes to fruition. Because of the Shen pick prior, ATN suddenly are forced to put all the damage options onto their AD Carry and Mid, which means Araneae must play a support jungler for them to win.
Because of that mindgame, Fnatic basically made ALTERNATE pick what they wanted them to pick, which now led to Lee Sin being made accessible to Cyanide. The pocket Leona for YellowStaR looked like he was trying to copy nRated, but there was a grander scheme that would be unraveled later. Finally, the Ahri for ForellenLord was picked due to her mobility and assassination skills, and she needs to be slippery, being one-half of ATN's damage source.
EXECUTION
The measure of the Euro Gank Express' success is their early game performance. Fnatic had a rocky start, with failed engages on their 2v1 lane, as well as slightly disadvantageous trades. Lucky for them, they were able to get the towers quick enough before ALTERNATE started to have a significant lead.
During mid game is where the Euro Gank Express shined, they left their lane as soon as possible, forgoing any major farm. Instead, Fnatic ganked the living hell out of ALTERNATE, taking them down from lane to lane. Because almost any champion can lead the attack, a multitude of angles was possible in approaching ATN.
However, even with a ton of kills obtained, ALTERNATE was still able to stay within reach in terms of gold. That is because they were still farming lane, whereas most of Fnatic was moving around the map. Only xPeke and sometimes Puszu were the ones getting farm, but only when it gets really stacked up. Mostly it is xPeke's, for he had Teleport.
In the end, the pressure Fnatic's Euro Gank Express created allowed the team to take objectives easily, snowballing the carries in the late game. Because of their bursty nature, they could immediately remove one or two enemies in one rotation, while having enough crowd control to follow up on the others.
EURO GANK EXPRESS: HOW IT WORKS
As the name implies, the Euro Gank Express emphasizes on fast and constant picks on the opponent. Each champion chosen was tailored to to be both an initiator and burst damage dealer. Even Leona does both of these, though indirectly for the latter, due to her passive. In fact, this was such a well-built team comp that I will just simply explain the reasonings of each pick.
As for solo lanes, the Elise for sOAZ was more than just a comfort choice. She has incredible health percentage damage, and with the proper items, she could 100 to 0 anybody, even the tank. On top of that, she has a potent stun and high mobility, making her a great assassin. The other solo laner was Lissandra for xPeke. She offers a lot of short range crowd control, which is covered by her Glacial Path ability. She has wave clearing abilities make her the oain lane controller, and her Frozen Tomb can be used offensively or defensively, depending on the situation.
The jungle Lee Sin was for early game survival. He has strong presence at the beginning of the game, but as it progresses, becomes more of a tank and peeler. His main job is to use inSec mechanics to kick somebody towards the team, allowing for a easy kill. He could also use his ult to protect the team from the opponents' main initiators, but that should be few and far in between.
Finally, the duo lane rounds up the Euro Gank Express, encapsulating the all-in nature of it all through Varus and Leona. This is a duo that cannot afford to lose hard. Unlike hypercarries like Vayne, their scaling isn't so great. What they bring instead is utility, and loads of it. Together, they have five crowd control abilities and loads of burst damage, to top off what is already an insanely high damaing comp.
The main trick of the Euro Gank Express is to get out of the laning phase, and FAST. Remember, this is a high risk, high reward team comp. You are betting everything on the fact that you could get a lot of kills and stay ahead. If your early game fails, it could spell disaster for your team, as you will lose one of the key elements to your success: Pressure. Relentless pressure. After the outer towers go down, your team should be spending its time on the opponent's side of the map, looking for picks and controlling objectives.
In teamfights, crowd control coordination is a must. Throwing your disables at the same time is very inefficient, and could lead to a vicious counterattack by the enemy. As to who should initiate, look at your current location first and decide who among your champions is the best. Elise and Varus can good at narrow spaces. Lissandra is great over walls and as bait. Leona is the most versatile, as her Zenith Blade and Solar Flare have good ranges, the latter in particular. Lee Sin is the most situational, as he needs to be able ward jump and Dragon's Rage somebody. Communication is key here, and the team needs to have an agreement on how to fight even before the game starts. That way, there will be as less redundant crowd control as possible, which will lead the Euro Gank Express to success.
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RECOMMENDATIONS AND FINAL WORDS
Honestly, I cannot think of any alternative choice to the Euro Gank Express. Each champion choice played such a specific role that changing it up might make it very ineffective. If you have a different idea, then awesome, but for me, I'd recommended running this as a premade in normal queue just to get a feel of the team comp.
If you do plan to playing the Euro Gank Express on team ranked, then I would highly suggest learning on how to improve your drafting skills. You might not be familiar with your opponents, but knowing the meta in your region definitely helps, as well as the league your team is playing on. Having a good pick and ban phase dramatically increases your chances on winning, so practicing it in solo queue is useful.
For the mechanics of the lineup, the Euro Gank Express relies on coordinated and timed pushing. The outer turrets have to go down as quick as possible to allow you to start roaming together. Coordinating crowd control is also important, for the longer your targets stay disabled, the better it is for your burst damage to rotate around them.
Thank you as always for reading my article! If you want to send any comments, suggestions, or hamfisted remarks, feel free to write them all down in the comments section below.
You could also tweet/follow me on Twitter @moveslikejuaber and read my random ranting.
