Jang "Keane" Lae-young recently won the Red Bull Rise of the Elements Teamfight Tactics Tournament in dominant fashion. He placed 1st in 6/12 of the games he played and within the Top 4 in 11/12 of the games, which puts a massive gap between him and any other players at the tournament. He even placed top 4 in all but one of his games on Day 2. Today, I will be breaking down what Keane did to effectively set himself apart from the pack on Day 2, so that you can climb the ranks and join him to battle amongst the best of the best in Teamfight Tactics.

Starting on the Right Foot

One of the key contributing factors towards Keane's high placings was that he would often obtain large win streaks very early on in the game. However, doing so is easier said than done. Keane would often invest gold early in the game to level and receive immediate power. He tends to level to 4 on round 3-1 and when doing this, invests again into leveling on 3-4 to reach level 5. These intervals ensure that Keane has the most amount of units on the board while also using the least amount of excess gold. This allows Keane to be at maximum strength. In Keane's Youtube video below, a game from Day 1 is shown, where Keane utilizes this strategy to help him amass a large early winstreak to snowball the game and land himself in 1st place.

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Another noticeable decision that Keane made early in his games was his decision to hold pairs of units during the minion creep rounds. He valued potential strength of units over guaranteed gold that could be made by selling units for interest. These pairs would also create flexibility for Keane to be able to enter a variety of compositions. If he hit an upgrade, the unit would help provide passage for Keane through the early game. Even if he doesn't hit an upgrade, the pool of available units is thinned, creating a slightly higher chance for him to find valued units that would dictate the composition. However, above all other units, Keane seemed to have one champion that dictated his compositions and carried his games.

Enter Oblivion

If there was any unit that defined Keane's success, it would be the Void Prophet himself, Malzahar. Malzahar joined the convergence on Keane's board in all 6 of the games that he placed top 4. When obtained in the early games, like in games 1 and 5, Keane would build a Spear of Shojin on his Malzahar and place him on Ocean hexes. Combined with the mana gained from the Tear component of the spear, Malzahar would instantly cast his ability, summoning a swarm of voidlings, and activating the Shojin passive. Since Shojin grants an additional percentage of maximum mana per auto attack, after the first round of voidlings, more were soon to follow. Keane would end battles with a minimum of 6 voidlings on the field, as they railed at his opponents and gave little room for defeat.

Malzahar was not only a rock to carry the early game, but also the foundation needed to build Keane a game winning comp. Keane's bread and butter composition seemed to be built around the champion, as his compositions would use Shadows. Often, he would slot in a secondary Shadow unit such as Veigar (Utilized in Game 1), Sion (Utilized in Games 5 and 6), or Kindred (Utilized in Game 7) to activate the element bonus and significantly enhance Malzahar's DPS. The DPS boost helped Malzahar to quickly cleave through squishy backlines, which helped to snowball a win streak in his favor. In the late game, Keane aspired to reach a 4 shadow bonus, to reach peak DPS. In Game 1, this was achieved through the additions of Sion and Master Yi, while in Game 5, he ended up finding a Shadow Lux. From the shadows, Keane was able to emerge victorious.

To supplement these Shadows, Keane tended to add Summoners that helped to buy time for the shadow units to bring in the damage. As a result of his aggressive leveling, Keane would have access to higher cost units much earlier than others. This allowed Keane to stabilize his compositions using higher cost Summoners like Azir (3), Yorick (4) and Zed (5), which would have been harder to obtain at lower levels. While it is harder to tell how impactful the Summoner buff itself was, it is clear to see that the overall strength of these high tier units provided. Azir provided strong DPS of his own, while Yorick and Zed did a strong job of holding down the fort tanking and distracting enemy units which their multitude of summons. These units played instrumental roles in Keane's victories.

#TEAMTREES

If Keane was not running his shadows in the early game, his other go to composition seemed to revolve around the Woodland Trait. When 3 Woodland Champions were on the board, an additional copy of one of the three would be spawned. For Keane, he would run some combination of Maokai, Ivern, Neeko, or Leblanc to activate the trait. These units are all very low cost, so uniting the trio would be easy for one to do. With an additional unit above his opponent, it was quick work for Keane to triumph over his opponent. These units would never stay the whole game, as they would be sold later to transition into Shadows and Summoners, but they definitely helped to hold down the fort in the early games of his 2nd and 4th games.

Herald of Victory

Zeke's Herald was probably the most prominent item that Keane put on display throughout his run this entire tournament. In patches prior to this tournament, Zeke's was considered a low tier item. This was due to it offering a lower amount of attack speed and also requiring restricted position in a meta that already had a chokehold on where you could place carries. Between Blitzcrank, Assassins, and especially Hextech, it was incredibly difficult to effectively utilize the item to its maximum effect without jeopardizing your positioning.

However in Teamfight Tactic's second set, many of these issues have disappeared along and Zeke's received a buff to the attack speed it granted. With more freedom in positioning, Keane took full advantage of the item. During the tournament, Keane build a total of 9 Zeke's Heralds and 7 in his 1st place finishes. As a result, Zeke's was build in 5/7 of the games Keane played. Compared to any other item, Keane definitely put an emphasis on making sure this was in his comp. He made the item look so good that the day after the tournament, a nerf was announced for the item.

And the Faithful shall be Rewarded

Sometimes games don't go your way. When this happens, you need to find some way to stabilize your comp and hope for the best. Game 6 was a prime example of this. After not hitting any of the pairs he needed and having expended all his money, Keane finds himself muttering that this was a "go next game". However the game throws him a bone, and once he gets this bone, he never lets go. An Electric Lux graces his shop, and immediately, Keane opens himself up to the option of Electric. Keane's decision is rewarded, as a couple rounds later, he finds him with a Lux 2, a Zed, and an Ornn, granting him the insanity that is the Electric 4 buff. Electric does a whopping 500 per damage when the champion crits or is crit, so it creates an absurd amount of damage. While it may seem like a lucky high roll, I believe that it is important for people to remember to assess all of their outs in the late game. When you tunnel so hard on what your current comp needs, it is easy to miss what units could shift you to win. Keane initially seemed to be on the road to another Shadow Summoner Comp, but through Lux, he was able to find his own out to find victory through a patient approach that allowed him to calmly assess his options.

Conclusion

Keane's dominance at the Red Bull Rise of the Elements Invitational was astounding, as it set himself apart from his peers. When asked what tip he would give to players, Keane calmly replies, "Just play more and get used to it". So in respect for Keane's words, I implore you to queue into a Teamfight Tactics game and explore new compositions and refine your skills. Have fun with the new set and see all that it has to offer. Find the way that you can win and who knows? Maybe you too can soon be on the stage fighting Keane to win a tournament.

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