The Dinosaurs head Home: VCT LOCK//IN São Paulo Paper Rex vs Cloud9 Analysis and Breakdown
São Paulo is now here, and the first day of VCT LOCK//IN has concluded. Here is the Strafe Selected VCT LOCK//IN Match for Analysis and Strategic Breakdown.
Map One: Lotus
Composition Differences
Paper Rex elected for a ‘Spear’ comp that centered around the entries of “Jinggg” on the Raze, with supportive elements from “mindfreak’s” Omen and “f0rsakeN’s” Chamber. The close quarters of most of the maps also allowed the “Benkai” pick of Sage to shine with strong walls that allowed a multi-pronged attack with the Raze as the spearhead.
Cloud9, meanwhile, elected for a fairly similar ‘Spear’ comp that centralized around quick jab entries from the “Zellsis” Neon. Instead of Sage, Cloud9 focused on cross-map control as well with the Cypher for a more macro-styled comp.
Composition Analysis and Flaws
Both comps were well utilized and there weren’t any obvious flaws in either compositions. The major deciding factor in Cloud9’s victory, was their quick team retakes. Neon Relay Bolts worked well in the close quarters of the sites that Paper Rex’s composition favored, and that allowed for quicker paced retakes from Cloud9. For their part, while Paper Rex’s comp allowed for multi-pronged attacks, they also struggled to quickly reset after a take. This allowed for Cloud9 to capitalize on quick-reply timings that prevented Paper Rex from setting up well.
Gameplan Breakdown
Paper Rex had a first pick map of Lotus, where they pioneered two new Sage walls on the map. The C wall allowed a Sage to attack the site from an unexpected angle as the Raze curved around. On A, the instant A-main wall allowed an unexpected angle to pick off early pushes from the Neon.
PRX’s comp favored takes on the C-site, where the wall was the most effective and valuable. However, Cloud9’s comp similarly favored retakes on that map. Moreover, star player “yay” was positioned towards the C-connector and C-main for the majority of the first half, meaning PRX was running into the strong side of Cloud9. It could be argued that PRX had drafted themselves into a bit of a corner.
As a mid-game response, Paper Rex began hard extending after site-takes to interrupt Cloud9’s efforts of a quick retake. C-link pushes and CT pushes became more prevalent. However, reading that, Cloud9 began slowing down the pace of their retakes. They were largely successful in the later retakes still, thanks to the well-oiled cohesion of their unit. B-takes and slow A-main takes began to be included by Paper Rex, however a “yay” equipped OP slowed a lot of their efforts to claim control on A, leaving B and the aforementioned problematic C as the best choices.
On attack, Cloud9 faced many of the same issues Paper Rex did, and the score was kept close thanks to strong retakes. However, Cloud9 had a strength that Paper Rex failed to emulate on their defense half, patience. Many of Cloud9’s attacking rounds played out slower, capitalizing on mistakes made by Paper Rex’s over-peeking and over-rotates.
Map Two: Pearl
Composition Differences
Paper Rex elected for a robust ‘Tank’ comp that focused on a strong backline of dual sentinels and an Astra. Pushing was centered around Fade and Jett.
Cloud9 went for a similar comp, changing out the Jett, for a slower paced duelist in Phoenix. This allowed them to maximize their robustness but sacrificed a little of their attacking speed.
Composition Analysis and Flaws
Paper Rex’s comp had flaws in execution, with especial regards to pacing. The speed of “f0rsakeN” on the Jett was something the rest of the team struggled to keep up with, with great reliance on his mechanical skill instead to find a pick with minimal setup. Cloud9 for their part, had a comp that allowed their Phoenix to work well in conjunction with the rest of the utility. The Phoenix flash setups off contact on defense worked well with the Sage OP as well, which allowed the more traditionally passive OP to be more aggressive.
Gameplan Breakdown
As mentioned, due to the selected nature of both teams’ comp, post plants were naturally one of the strongest elements of their attacking halves. The crux of the differences between their two attacking halves however, was that Paper Rex failed to punish the continuous B-plants, and allowed Cloud9 to reset after the site take.
During Paper Rex’s attack side, they resolved to flank more to catch the planters off-guard. However, this played into Cloud9’s strengths, who had a Killjoy watching flank, and a strong line of fire to the open spike. Once planted, if played slow, Paper Rex had very little chance of taking a defensive round win due to the sheer nature of Cloud9’s playstyle on this map.
Moreover, as previously mentioned, Paper Rex’s use of a Jett on this map sought to enable deeper site takes with Jett Updrafts and Tailwinds, however, this isolated “f0rsakeN” many times, and allowed Cloud9 to easily punish the overextending Jett many times. With a man disadvantage and a lack of cohesion in game plan, with part of Paper Rex attempting a full site take, and the other playing post plant, Cloud9 was able to very easily take the map win.
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Image credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games