VIPL Semifinal Featuring Hunters vs Invincible Armada

In the Vainglory World Invitational tournament that took place in July, the Hunters never got the chance to face off against Invincible Armada, as they fell to the Divine Brothers in the semifinals. After losing to the Divine Brothers they went on to lose to GankStars in the third place match, securing themselves a fourth place finish. The Hunters have an uphill battle, matching against one of Korea’s finest guilds, and potentially moving on for a rematch against the American juggernaut, GankStars.

Invincible Armada was the favorite to win this tournament after they had an impressive showing in the World Invitational and finished first. However, after losing to pQq in the group stage and fighting through the wildcard qualifiers, Invincible Armada knows that every game matters.

If you missed the preview for the other semifinal matches then you should definitely check it out. We’ll be following a similar format, but taking a slightly closer look at each role and the matchups that we can look forward to.

redemption

Hunters never got a chance to face off against Invincible Armada in the Vainglory World Invitational, and now they’ll have their chance, while they also see if they can change their luck in semifinal matches.

lane

I love the information this table gives me! A lot can be extracted from a table like this to find the strengths of a certain player. However, I’m also going to touch on who these teams were playing against when they played well or played poorly.

Sangho’s strongest lane showing was against Victorious, when he was at 45 and 96 creep score at five and ten minutes, respectively with a 16 KDA. However, his weakest lane performance was against pQq, the strongest team in his group, when he only had 72 creep score at ten minutes, and finished with a lowly 1.66 KDA.

Godfather has higher averages across the board, and managed to play a strong SAW game in the group stage. However, Group C was considered to be one of the weaker groups, and possibly didn’t accurately gauge Hunter’s strength.

If these laners play their champions of choice, I expect to see the junglers rounding out the compositions to balance the weapon and crystal damage type.

jungle

I know you want to see more analytical table data breakdowns, so here you go! Jungle stats!

The most interesting part of these stats is that Invincible Armada didn’t run the same jungler in every game, they actually swapped their support to the jungle, and then back again. Wine played jungle in their first and last group stage game, and Ruin played as jungle carry in their loss to pQq as Petal. Wine has shown how versatile his game is. He would be a hard target to try to ban out.

Wands tends to rely on crystal junglers, which compliment the weapon damage dealt by Godfather on Ringo. His Celeste is ban-worthy, which might give Invincible Armada an edge in the jungle. Wands also had a strong farming and KDA game as Skaarf against Hack, when he was 2-1-7. I think Wands is one of the most improved players since the World Invitational, showing impressive records in each game. He may be the difference in this second semifinal.

Support

Saving the best for last, this matchup gets extremely interesting at the support spot. Queen brings this team together, and is normally on a hero designed to empower her allies and improve their game as best she can. Her constant pressure was good enough to help her team rise to a 3-0 lead in the group stage, but will it be enough to muscle out the defending champs?

Ruin hasn’t been a slouch in the jungle, even showing off his Petal skills in their loss to pQq. This shows that Ruin has the drive to want to carry, and he understands how it feels to be in the carry role. This is a fundamental understanding that players need to have to be successful as any part of a jungle duo, or a team in general.

Match

Hunters looked good in the group stage, but the competitiveness of their opponents comes into question. Invincible Armada beat the best of the best in July, but dropped a game and was forced to win in the wildcard round. It’s possible that Hunters can push their win streak even further and power through the strength of the Invincible Armada. Hunters need to be on the same page and play together, or Wine will surprise them from the jungle.

Games air on Thursday at 5 AM PDT / 2 PM CEST on OGN’s Twitch channel. Let us know who you think will win!

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