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3 Key Takeaways from HLE vs Fly Quest: What We Learned

Oct 11, 2024

5 min read

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The routine proceedings for Korean powerhouse HLE nearly transformed into the most significant upset of Worlds. In the initial two games of the matchup, Fly Quest had a strong chance to secure a series sweep and advance to the knockout stages of the tournament, but ultimately fell short.


Here are 3 important lessons that the series has taught us:


1. Yasuo is not a one-for-one replacement for Yone


After winning game 1, Zeka locked in Nightbringer Yasuo, an ode to Pzzang, Korea's, and arguably the world's greatest Yasuo solo queue player it was clear that HLE wanted to experiment in game 2.


It's fair to say that this pick needs to be put back in the box as he is significantly less forgiving than Yone.


Yasuo thrives in split-pushing scenarios after dominating lane, where he can easily take 1v1's against his counterpart, but when his counterpart is an exceptionally wide Bwipo on Olaf, and HLE were not significantly ahead at any moment to 1-3-1, the pick was rendered useless.


Yasuo has a specific role in the competitive scene, particularly in counter-pick scenarios against Gnar and more recently against Aurora (who ideally should not be included in drafts, but we will address this later). Let's not misunderstand the significance of Yasuo's presence in certain situations.


Yasuo has emerged victorious in his past 4 matches in the top lane against those specific champions. However, he has not managed to win any games in the top 4 leagues while playing in the mid lane since Damwon's Showmaker went up against FearX almost two months ago. This particular match was widely expected to end in favor of DK.

The damage meters speak for itself. Aside from the support roles, it performed at the bottom of the pile. Let's dive into why this occurred.


Exhibit A.


While the encounter with Yasuo did not result in a kill, it foreshadowed future events. Leona initiated with Solar Flare followed by Nunu's snowball. This forced Yasuo to use his flash. Had Yone been chosen instead, he could have effortlessly used Fate Sealed to escape after the crowd control was applied.
















Exhibit B.


Fly deserves credit for having a strategy in place: targeting Yasuo. This approach proved to be successful, with Olaf, immune to crowd control, swiftly taking down Zeka's Yasuo in a move reminiscent of the previous play.