With a shorter schedule than most regions – 14 games in total as opposed to China's 44 or even the 18 of NA/EU LCS – each week of CBLoL is more significant to the overall standings. Week 5 saw a few shakeups in the standings and a few more roster swaps as the top tier teams try to hang on to their position while the rest of the field nips at their heels.
Jungle Roleswap Fever
There are now three Brazilian players who have role-swapped into the jungle this split. The first two are INTZ's Luan "Jockster" Cardoso from support, and INTZ Red's Jonas "Caos" Vriesman from top lane. This past week, KaBuM! Orange's Gustavo "Minerva" Alves – who has now played every position professionally sans top lane – joined them in an attempt to give the struggling lineup a much-needed boost.
One of the more complimentary things that can be said about any jungler is that an opponent fears their presence, regardless of their overall jungle style. Increasingly, Jockster is becoming a threat to INTZ's adversaries, complimenting the team's already strong lanes. While Minerva wasn't necessarily bad in the jungle, Jockster and INTZ proved a superior understanding of macro strategy – they shut out KaBuM! from all objectives in the first game – as well as significantly better team play.
At Jockster's side is Leonardo "Alocs" Belo. Best known for his performances last year on CNB e-Sports Club, the veteran support struggled in his first few weeks with INTZ. Jockster needed time to adjust to the jungle, and Alocs needed time to adjust to his new team. Now that the latter has acclimated himself to the team, his in-game performance has changed dramatically.
No longer hesitant trading in lane or roaming, Alocs' vision coordination with Jockster has benefitted the entire team. With their newfound laning synergy, micaO is able to trade more aggressively and efficiently. Additionally, Alocs' proactive initiations on Alistar this past week revealed that INTZ is still a dangerous teamfighting threat.
Giant Robo
In their run through the promotional series to make it into 2015 CBLoL Winter, INTZ Red were known for their relentless aggression. This changed when they chose top laner Jonas "Caos" Vriesman over Leonardo "Robo" Souza, and Alocs was moved to sister team INTZ.
Accompanying the departure of these two players was Red's proactive nature. Their wins were tentatively earned and their losses were even more passive, as opponents would push for a win with little resistance. Red role-swapped Caos to the jungle and jungler Leonardo "Leoxuxo" Camícia to the top lane in Week 4 with limited success.
Week 5 saw the return of Robo to INTZ Red, and with him their prior aggression. Many will immediately point to his 1v1 outplay of paiN Gaming's Matheus "Mylon" Borges as an indicator of his skill.
While this play was certainly dramatic, more significant was Robo's map awareness and overall synergy with the team. His Teleports were precise and well-timed, and his teamfight targeting selection was impressive. Running a poke composition with Varus mid and Corki bot, Red sent Robo's Ekko to split-push, spreading paiN's resources thin so Red could take objectives.
Robo is a playmaker, always opting for the more combative option in both of Red's games against paiN. Red found far more success with Robo's aggression in the first game than the second, but on the whole the team still looked a lot more coordinated and scrappy, able to press every last ounce of their advantages.
A Bard Sublime
With the addition of star jungler Gabriel "Revolta" Henud overshadowing the rest of Vivo Fibra Keyd Stars, little to no attention has been given to Keyd's captain: Caio "Loop" Almeida. Like INTZ's Jockster and Alocs, the core of Keyd's map pressure and vision control relies on developing synergy between the two roles of jungle and support. While Revolta and Loop have room to grow, their coordination has also improved by the week. It's additionally safe to say that AD carry André Pavezzi's 14.77 KDA on the season can also be attributed to Loop's superb support play and teamfighting.
If there was one support player in the region that fans were waiting for to bring out Bard, it was Loop. This week he fulfilled fans' wishes by playing Bard in both of Keyd's Week 5 games. Loop capped off his Bard performance by hitting a five-man Bard ult across the entirety of KaBuM! Black, thoroughly eliminating any chance of the latter team coming back from Keyd's already significant gold and objective lead.
Like the aforementioned Robo and his 1v1 in top lane, caution should be exercised when judging the whole of Loop on this one highlight. Loop's true strengths cannot be measured by or boiled down to a single play, and his impact in game is always more meaningful than a champion ultimate. Still, what a champion ultimate this was.
You're missing out!
If you aren't getting enough Brazilian League of Legends in your life, register on LiquidLegends.net and join us in the discussion on our forums!