Team Dignitas NA LCS Week 4 Preview: DIG vs. Immortals/ Team Envy
Team Dignitas move on with Week 4 matchups against Immortals and Team Envy.
Ending Week 3 with losses to FlyQuest and Counter Logic Gaming, Team Dignitas will regroup for Week 4 matches against Immortals (IMT) and Team Envy (NV). With early game hurdles understandable for a newly assembled unit, look for DIG to bounce back against two teams that also field restructured rosters. Particularly for Week 4, communication and team coordination will be paramount in measuring Team Dignitas' current strength relative to their peers in the NA LCS.
Top Left to Right: IMT Dardoch, NV Apollo, and DIG Xpecial. Photographs courtesy of LoL Esports Flickr.
#DIGIMT Game Preview - February 10, 2017
Battle Theater (NALCS1) 6:00 p.m. PT / 9:00 p.m. ET
Game Summary
Team Dignitas (1-5) on Friday evening faces off against a revamped Immortals bearing four new members. The best-of-three series will take place in Battle Theater (NALCS1) approximately 6:00 p.m. (PT) following Cloud9 vs. Team Liquid.
Immortals (2-4) similar to Team Dignitas is coming from a 0-2 week, with losses to Phoenix1 and FlyQuest.
Fueling Immortals' victories is their jungler Joshua "Dardoch" Hartnett. Formerly of Team Liquid, Dardoch commands his team's early game shot calling while setting plays for his carries. Even in two losses, Dardoch remained the most unscathed out of his peers, with an average KDA of 3.7 during Week 3.
With Team Dignitas' sole best-of-three victory spearheaded by Chan-Ho "Ssmumday" Kim, all eyes will be on the top lane matchup between South Korean imports Ssumday and Ho-Jong "Flame" Lee. Known as one of the most dominant top laners in Season 3, the CJ Entus Blaze product has toured across multiple teams searching for his former self, including LGD Gaming, Incredible Miracle, and Longzhu Gaming. Mired by communication issues, Flame has seen instances where his over-aggression and positioning has resulted in unfavorable team fights and losses.
Ssumday meanwhile has shown the ability to accrue gold advantages independently throughout the laning phase. Among NA LCS top laners, Ssumday leads his peers in average gold difference at 10 minutes (279), and second in average creep score difference at 10 minutes (7.7). Putting his advantages in perspective as the game progresses, Ssumday also commands some of the most resources out of his top lane counterparts, leading his peers in average monsters and minions killed per minute (9.2) as well as average share of team's total gold (24.5%). For Team Dignitas to be victorious, look for Team Dignitas to become more assertive around Ssumday as the game moves onward, mobilizing their top laner's strengths into mid to late game skirmishes and teamfights.
#DIGNV Game Preview - February 12, 2017
Battle Arena (NALCS1) 3:00 p.m. PT / 6:00 p.m. ET
Game Summary
After facing Immortals, Team Dignitas will have Saturday off before battling against Team Envy. Sunday's match will take place in Battle Arena (NALCS1) approximately 12:00 p.m. (PT) following Echo Fox vs. TSM.
Team Envy (1-5) acquired its first victory last Friday, beating Team Liquid 2-0.
One member responsible for Team Envy's victory is their new jungler Tae-Yoo "LirA" Nam, who acquired first blood both game as Rek'Sai. In order to mitigate Team Envy's early game advantages, Sang-Hyun "Chaser" Lee will be responsible in mirroring LirA. As of Week 4, both Chaser and LirA hold similar responsibilities for their respective teams as play makers. Both junglers rank in the lower echelons of average damage to champions per minute (227 and 289 respectively) as well as average damage percentage to champions (13.3% and 14.9% respectively). While not damage threats for their teams, Chaser and LirA rank first and second in average wards placed per minute (0.77 and 0.69 respectively), asserting themselves as support-centric junglers with an incessant desire for constant information.
Aside from the jungle matchup, the AD Carry duel between Apollo "Apollo" Price and Benjamin "LOD" deMunck will be particularly fascinating, as Team Dignitas and Team Envy essentially swapped both marksmen. Opting to not re-sign Apollo from his tenure in Apex Gaming, Team Dignitas elected to pursue LOD, whose contract with Team Envy expired three months ago. With LOD's departure, Team Envy found themselves with a new AD Carry that was replaced by their former ADC. For both marksmen, look for each of them attempting to shine in front of their former teammates.
Where to Catch the Action
LoL Esports: Website Broadcast
YouTube: LoL Esports
