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A History of Flash Wolves vs. ahq in LMS Finals
ahq and Flash Wolves are doing battle for the fourth time in three years, and there's a whole lot of history behind the matchup.
Since its inaugural split in 2015, the League of Legends Masters Series (LMS) has mostly been a two-horse race between Flash Wolves and ahq eSports Club. Flash Wolves and ahq have enjoyed numerous clashes in the finals over the last three years, with each team having its moments of success and grandeur. Flash Wolves and ahq stand out as the two dragons of Taiwan and symbolize the region much in the same way that Team SoloMid and Counter Logic Gaming symbolize North America.
It’s time for the two teams to meet up again in another final to determine which team gets to go to Worlds as the kings of Taiwan. Another Flash Wolves and ahq final might seem typical or boring, but a distinct story has followed each final as the titans have tugged at each other’s legacies. Three Flash Wolves and ahq finals have occurred up to this point and it is time to take a look back.
ahq claimed the first LMS title as underdogs
© Garena Esports
2015 Spring
The first Flash Wolves and ahq final took part in the inaugural season of the LMS and signified a new era for Taiwan in its first split independent of the Garena Premier League (GPL). Flash Wolves dominated the first split of LMS with a 19-game winning streak after its acquisition of superstar jungler, Karsa, and even earned a top four finish at IEM Katowice. Karsa and Flash Wolves’s 17-year-old mid laner, Maple, immediately clicked and became the most feared duo in the LMS, as they dominated mid lane after mid lane. Flash Wolves eventually usurped the Taipei Assassins as the best team in Taiwan and ended the season in a comfy first place, almost sure to win the very first LMS title.
Meanwhile, ahq eSports Club had nothing close to the glamorous split of Flash Wolves. Ahq retained only star mid laner, Westdoor, and support, Greentea, from its 2014 World Championship roster and struggled with its new lineup for the majority of the split. Westdoor’s dwindling champion pool and lack of star performances left ahq without much of a direction and led to a rough spring for the red pegasus. Ahq was the only top team to lose to the lower-tier teams, looked much weaker than the other playoff teams, and narrowly made the playoffs at fourth place.
The format of LMS playoffs is a gauntlet, which means that the first place team waits at the very top while fourth place battles third place and so on. Flash Wolves sat at the top waiting to be challenged, while ahq was set to go out in its first match against Hong Kong Esports as the 4th seed. Ahq had a poor regular season, but that didn’t stop the team from doing everything it could to make it big in the postseason.
Ahq made a last second role-swap, moving its jungler, Albis, to support, benching Greentea, and bringing jungler, Mountain, off the bench. While Greentea wasn’t underperforming, the synergy between Albis and Greentea as a jungle/support duo was lacking and continually dragged the team down. Later on, it became known that Greentea was a source of shotcalling issues and the new duo of Albis and Mountain was far more successful in scrims. Mountain never really impressed in the past on Taipei Snipers, but he showed up in the tank jungler meta with Albis always by his side on engage supports. It seemed desperate, but ahq finally found the cohesion it was missing all along and proceeded to 3-0 both TPA and HKE on the way to the kings of Taiwan, Flash Wolves.
Flash Wolves held strong one game in the finals, but ahq went all in on the newfound tank meta, even building four-tank compositions to accentuate its strong teamfighting ability. Meatshields all around, AN finally turned in strong teamfight performances for ahq and became recognized as the strongest AD carry in Taiwan. After Flash Wolves ’single win, it wasn’t close; ahq dominated the Wolves 3-1 and successfully ran the gauntlet, becoming the new-crowned kings of Taiwan.
Flash Wolves finally earned its first LMS title
© Garena Esports
2016 Spring
A year later, ahq continued to maintain its headlock over the LMS and while the Flash Wolves trailed behind as second best, it was far from being close to the king. Ahq took the prior Summer Split crown and were poised to do so again in Spring after a dominant regular season with zero game losses to its name. Top laner, Ziv, was on the top of his game and ahq were still the best team-fighting team on the island.
Ahq even adopted the usage of two mid laners, bringing in Chawy to cover up Westdoor’s small effective champion pool. Westdoor was still famous for being the assassin type player who conceded lane pressure and was in trouble if Fizz and Zed got banned out. Chawy came in as the complete opposite, a strong laning player with just about every meta mid laner at his disposal. Westdoor played on blue side and received first pick after first pick, while Chawy played on red and allowed counterpicks for mid lane instead. Ahq were already the at the peak of Taiwan with issues around mid lane; this was just icing on the cake. It was hard to believe that anyone could stop them.
Flash Wolves, on the other hand, dealt with the same issues that ahq had in 2015 Spring. Team shotcaller Steak retired and the team was learning how to play without its veteran presence in the top lane. Flash Wolves even tried to move away from veteran AD carry, NL, who always stood out as a liability due to his poor laning and teamfighting, to no avail. The wolves still ended up in second place to end the split, but it was a far cry from its dominance over a year ago. Flash Wolves were the second best in Taiwan, but ahq was set to be an unstoppable force in its path.
Come the final, everything changed in the blink of an eye. Flash Wolves found its footing with MMD as the new top laner and looked like a brand new team, no longer in need of Steak’s shotcalling. The team found its direction and even played around MMD to alleviate Ziv’s overwhelming lane pressure. Ahq had the brilliant blue/red side strategy of Westdoor and Chawy, but neither mid laner could stop the opposing mid laner, Maple, from dominating the laning phase or from crushing ahq’s dreams of a third straight LMS title. Ahq had always been on the winning side of a one-sided series, but this time, the wolves struck back and handily dispatched ahq 3-0 in the finals. Finally, Flash Wolves won its first LMS title and knocked ahq off its year-long throne.
A year later, ahq continued to maintain its headlock over the LMS and while the Flash Wolves trailed behind as second best, it was far from being close to the king. Ahq took the prior Summer Split crown and were poised to do so again in Spring after a dominant regular season with zero game losses to its name. Top laner, Ziv, was on the top of his game and ahq were still the best team-fighting team on the island.
Ahq even adopted the usage of two mid laners, bringing in Chawy to cover up Westdoor’s small effective champion pool. Westdoor was still famous for being the assassin type player who conceded lane pressure and was in trouble if Fizz and Zed got banned out. Chawy came in as the complete opposite, a strong laning player with just about every meta mid laner at his disposal. Westdoor played on blue side and received first pick after first pick, while Chawy played on red and allowed counterpicks for mid lane instead. Ahq were already the at the peak of Taiwan with issues around mid lane; this was just icing on the cake. It was hard to believe that anyone could stop them.
Flash Wolves, on the other hand, dealt with the same issues that ahq had in 2015 Spring. Team shotcaller Steak retired and the team was learning how to play without its veteran presence in the top lane. Flash Wolves even tried to move away from veteran AD carry, NL, who always stood out as a liability due to his poor laning and teamfighting, to no avail. The wolves still ended up in second place to end the split, but it was a far cry from its dominance over a year ago. Flash Wolves were the second best in Taiwan, but ahq was set to be an unstoppable force in its path.
Come the final, everything changed in the blink of an eye. Flash Wolves found its footing with MMD as the new top laner and looked like a brand new team, no longer in need of Steak’s shotcalling. The team found its direction and even played around MMD to alleviate Ziv’s overwhelming lane pressure. Ahq had the brilliant blue/red side strategy of Westdoor and Chawy, but neither mid laner could stop the opposing mid laner, Maple, from dominating the laning phase or from crushing ahq’s dreams of a third straight LMS title. Ahq had always been on the winning side of a one-sided series, but this time, the wolves struck back and handily dispatched ahq 3-0 in the finals. Finally, Flash Wolves won its first LMS title and knocked ahq off its year-long throne.
Flash Wolves were on a tear in 2017 Spring
© Garena Esports
2017 Spring
A year after Flash Wolves stole the crown from ahq and earned its first LMS title, the team was poised to retain its place on the throne in 2017 Spring. Not only that, but Flash Wolves were aiming for its third straight title after winning both Spring and Summer of last year, and just like ahq years ago, were set to do just that.
Flash Wolves had the most dominant split of any team in the history of the LMS, earning themselves a perfect 14-0 record in Best of 3s with a 28-1 map record to boot. The inclusion of rookie AD carry, Betty, after a disappointing Worlds campaign in 2016, proved to be the catalyst for a new Flash Wolves. NL stood out as one of the biggest problems on Flash Wolves for his poor laning and teamfighting positioning, but with Betty, Flash Wolves had a strong laner with a great sense for initiating fights with Varus and Ashe.
Flash Wolves didn’t only beat every team in Taiwan, but also went on to defeat Europe’s top 3 teams at IEM Katowice 2017, earning themselves and the LMS some much needed respect internationally. Ahq had dominant splits in the past, but this was different; This was a team that hit a level never before seen in Taiwan. The west took notice and eagerly awaited Flash Wolves’s next international appearance.
Once again, while one of the dragons was at the very top, the other lagged behind. Ahq eSports Club weren’t exactly weak this split, but the decline of star support Albis’s laning led to the bot lane’s performance falling off a cliff, and the gradual decay of Chawy’s laning ability wasn’t doing the team any favors.
Superstar top laner, Ziv, was even eclipsed by Machi Esports’s rising top lane talent, 3z, at the time. On top of all that, Westdoor spent nearly the entire split on the bench, and without his leadership, it felt like a lost split. Flash Wolves bulldozed everything in its path and even won an international title, but ahq merely stagnated, hoping to catch a glimpse of its former glory.
In game score, the 2017 Spring final was closer than 2016 Spring, but realistically, it was just as one sided. Flash Wolves were firing on all cylinders, but still showed the one chink in its armor, its inability to play around top lane. Ahq properly snowballed one time against this weakness with Ziv and Mountain taking advantage of Flash Wolves’s lack of attention to top laner, MMD. It was a moral victory in the end, as the Flash Wolves still won out 3-1, but it proved that the kings could still bleed.
ahq is looking to even the score Summer
© Garena Esports
The Upcoming Summer Final
Despite the dominance of Flash Wolves and ahq in the LMS, this will be the first time they meet in consecutive finals. Traditionally, there’s always been that one outside LMS team that rises in Summer, but this time Flash Wolves and ahq are set to do battle for the fourth time in three years. Also, for the first time, both teams haven’t bulldozed their way into the finals. Flash Wolves are still the favorites this time around, but both teams have taken a number of hits this split.
Flash Wolves came into this split after a disappointing fourth place finish at the Mid-Season Invitational, looking to diversify its strategy and hopefully improve for the World Championship this year. Ultimately, Flash Wolves still earned 1st place, but it lost four series, an all-time high for the team. The superstar and center of the team, Maple, has looked off compared to past seasons and his tried and tested jungler, Karsa, looks weaker as a result. Maple’s pressure has traditionally given Karsa an infinite amount of options, but when that falls, he is left with much less to do on the map.
It doesn’t help Flash Wolves that MMD has also regressed in his champion pool effectiveness and laning ability, leading to the top side of the map becoming fodder for top lane focused teams. The saving grace for Flash Wolves is that Betty and SwordArT are still an elite bottom duo in the laning phase. SwordArT, specifically is rocking the tank support meta with Thresh and Alistar in fashion. His ability to pressure other lanes for Flash Wolves and consistently choke the enemy out of vision has really kept the wolves on top. Flash Wolves are still the best team in the LMS thanks to its strong bottom lane, but are just not the same as the prior split.
Ahq aren’t exactly set to pounce on a weaker Flash Wolves with the continual decay of AN and Albis’s laning ability down bot, but chances of beating the wolves are the best they’ve been in a long time. Ahq defaulted back to the veteran leadership of Westdoor in the regular season and team cohesion was much improved as a result. Westdoor selfless play also went a long way in accentuating Mountain’s performances in the jungle, as he was always there to back him on up jungle invades. Perhaps most importantly, Ahq’s star top laner, Ziv, has also regained form and is back to dominating opposing top laners.
Additionally, Ahq has already played two playoff series because of the gauntlet format and looked much improved against both J Team and Raise in 3-2 and 3-1 victories. Chawy even had a chance to slot back into the mid lane and as a pleasant surprise, worked very well with Mountain to get leads for ahq. The dual mid-laner setup is back in action and may prove pivotal in the final.
The final will be a battle of side lanes for both teams, as ahq look to blitz MMD in the top lane, and Flash Wolves look to weather down AN and Albis down bot. The X-factor for the matchup will certainly be the performance of the mid laners as they dictate a great amount of pressure in the game. Maple needs to step up and be the carry for Flash Wolves while Westdoor and Chawy have to be the heel for Mountain and Ziv.
Both teams are already confirmed for the World Championship, but this is a true battle for the top, with the final set to be the closest in years. Flash Wolves vs ahq is a classic battle between two dragons fighting for one spot at the top of the hill. No matter the result or the odds, the final is always tense with a lot on the line. The victor has the opportunity to represent the LMS at the World Championship as the best the region has to offer, but what really matters is that one team is spoiled while the other team rises again as the kings of Taiwan.
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