League of Legends news » Picks & Bans: The brawlers of EDG

EDward Gaming is a tough team to pin down. With so many games played in the 2015 LPL Spring Split regular season, they've had the opportunity to play a huge number of champions. And, unfortunately for teams attempting to piece together Picks & Bans against them, they've found success on the vast majority of those picks.

With a focus on late game team fights, EDG is a team that doesn't mind dropping behind in the early game, confident in their ability to brawl their way back to victory. With an incredible assassin player in the mid lane, a mechanically gifted hard carry down bottom, a versatile top laner, a massive tank in the jungle, and an aggressive support to get them all into the action, they're a hard team to deal with once laning phase ends.

The way to beat EDG is simple enough: beat them early. Execution of that plan is incredibly difficult, though. EDG doesn't go down easily.

King me

The words are now legendary. "EDG needs me." In a moment reminiscent of Michael Jordan's Flu Game, Won-Seok "Pawn" Hue overcame the severe back pains that had sent him to the hospital, rushed back to the Hongkou Indoor Stadium in Shanghai, and decimated Team WE on Kassadin to advance to the LPL Semifinals. It was one of the most impressive moments of his already spectacular career -- and he's got a World Championship under his belt.

As one of the premier mid laners in the world, Pawn is perhaps the biggest threat on EDG. He's got the mental fortitude, the mechanics, and the absolutely massive champion pool to fight his way out of just about any situation. Hell, he played 19 champions over the course of the regular season, and found wins with every single one. What's more, he was undefeated on 15 of them, including a 6-0 run on Kassadin. The guy's a monster.

What's more, is he's impossible to completely ban out. He's comfortable on so many champions, that double and triple bans won't come anywhere near throwing him off his game. Teams will have to take away champions that directly counter their own play style, rather than targeting his specific pool. Granted, many may look to take away his Kassadin, as it's been dominant for much of the season in the LPL, but bans against Pawn are extremely conditional.

And even if you target him extremely early, it's tough to keep him down. Just look at Game 5 of the LPL Finals, in which Pawn's Twisted Fate was camped heavily in the early game by LGD. Things looked hopeless for EDG, but he managed to make some key plays using TF's Destiny, forcing team fights and bringing EDG back into the game. Game 5 was the perfect encapsulation of what EDG is capable of, and Pawn was key to that success.

Positioning is everything

And then there's Deft. The other hard carry -- and the other Korean recruit -- on EDG, he's long been considered one of the most mechanically skilled AD carries in the world. And yet, he's struggled on the international stage. Now that he's on EDG, he's got a shot at beating some of the best teams in the world at MSI.

That is, if he can get his favorite carries. That shouldn't be too hard, though, considering his massive champion pool. It might not be as huge as his mid lane counterpart's, but he did win on all 11 champions he brought to the Rift. Most often this split, he's been found on Corki, sporting a 10-2 record on the champion. Regularly skirting the Daring Bombadier's late game struggles by picking up a Blade of the Ruined King as a second item, he's been auto-attacking his way to victories all split.

To us though, the eye test says that teams should most fear his Jinx and his Sivir, the latter of which got him a pentakill during Game 5 of the LPL Finals. His positioning on both has been near impeccable throughout EDG's Playoff run, especially on Sivir, where he's a master of using On The Hunt to both engage and keep himself safe in team fights. If Pawn's assassins leave anyone alive after his assault, Deft is almost always there to clean them up.

Much like Pawn, it's nearly impossible to put Deft on a champion he's uncomfortable on. Arguably, the best ban against him right now may be Sivir, as she's both a strong pick in general, but also enables EDG to get in and execute their near-perfect team fights. She's incredible at finding advantages when coming from behind, and for a team like EDG that loves to pull things around when 5 vs. 5s start up, she's decidedly a great pick for them.

Getting in there

It certainly doesn't hurt EDG that their support Tian "Meiko" Ye loves to go HAM. His synergy with Deft may have looked a bit weak towards the beginning of the season, but once they began to meld a as a duo, they quickly became among the most feared pairs in China.

With Annie and Tibbers by his side, Meiko loves to follow up on Deft's daring moves, dropping the bear on as many enemies as possible, allowing the two main carries to do the dirty work. He was so proficient on Annie during the regular season (going 12-1 when playing her) that teams banned her out in 11 of EDG's 13 Playoff games. He's definitely great on the Dark Child, but many would consider the ban to be focused more at EDG as a whole, hoping to hinder as much of their team fight prowess as possible.

He's also been known to draw bans for his Thresh, as his Death Sentences and Flays are nearly always on point. With those two gone, he'll often default to Janna, a champion that he's decidedly solid on, but doesn't have nearly the same impact as his two favorites. He shines when he's catching opponents out of position in team fights, not when he's saving the lives of his own teammates.

His main weakness -- much like the rest of his team's -- may just be his somewhat weak early game. Those looking to take advantage in the early game may want to ban out his Annie, and then proceed to take lane bullies of their own. Given enough of a lead, a squad won't have to worry too much about facing down the terrifyingly good team coordination of late game EDG.

The top half of EDG's Rift

The Cinderhulk meta has been kind to both Tong "Koro1" Yang and Ming "Clearlove" Kai -- albeit for different reasons.

Clearlove simply loves to play big, disruptive tanks. During the LPL Playoffs he played just four champions: Nunu four times, Rek'Sai four times, Sejuani three times, and Gragas twice. If you'll notice, they're all super tanky and love to lock down huge numbers of opponents at once. He excels at getting into back lines and making sure opposing carries will have to think twice before getting up in the faces of his own.

His preferred playstyle doesn't exactly help EDG's early game problems though. He prefers to farm up and get to the point where he's an unkillable beast, largely leaving his lanes to fend for themselves. That can be a problem, as getting too far behind means they won't be able to compete during their beloved team fights. Many teams have begun to ban Rek'Sai against him for just this reason. Without the Void Burrower's early pressure, there's a chance for teams to put EDG into a deep enough deficit that they can't recover.

Further up north, Koro1 has been loving the opportunity to take the likes of Hecarim and Shyvana -- armed with Cinderhulk, of course -- into the top lane. He's become quite skilled at 1 vs. 2 matchups, finding the farm he needs and Teleporting his way into fights to pick up kills both for himself and his teammates. So much so that his Hecarim was taken from him in multiple games during the Playoffs. Without the pressure of Homeguard/Teleport on the horse, EDG's early pressure was weakened even further.

Even if he gets Hecarim taken away from him, he also happens to be one of the best Gnar players in the world. The little guy may not be the most popular meta pick right now, but teams are still scared of him in the hands of Koro1. His ultimates are insane and his Teleports allow him to sneak in and flank the opponents. He's always a threat on Gnar, and teams will have to be aware of that coming into MSI.

Will EDG team fight their way into a victory at MSI? You'll have to make sure you stick around on Lolesports starting May 7 to find out.