Day three of the M2 World Championship featured an incredible showing by Japanese squad 10S Gaming Frost.
The Japanese team powered through an intense series against MPL MY/SG Season 5 Champion, RSG, and delivered a reverse sweep upset to secure a slot in the playoffs.
10S Gaming Frost’s Sevnea surprised by pulling out Popol and Kupa, a non-meta pick, in the last two games of the series. Here’s a closer look at how they made it work:
Popol and Kupa aggressively disrupted opponents
Sevnea playing Popol and Kupa delivered on so many levels. The 10S player played the hero as a tank with items like Awe Mask and Thunder Belt, which offered a lot more lane aggression and opponent disruption.
RSG drafted some killer picks such as Hanzo in the second game, but Popol acted as a substantial counter to the elusive ninja assassin. Even though Hanzo could slice and dice through their team, Popol’s Surprise was so effective in slowing his movement down in the fray.
As a tank, Popol and Kupa were also soaking up a lot of damage by jumping in with the added shield from Kupa, Help!.
Kupa acted as an additional attacking and scouting unit
Popol’s trusty frost wolf is more than just for show. As a second controlled unit for the player, Popol and Kupa comes in as a robust early-game contender, dishing out two damage outputs to opponents that stack between each other. This is because Kupa inherits the traits of Popol’s items, while every fourth attack by Kupa empowers Popol’s next basic attack.
Kupa can also scout out bushes and areas that could potentially spell danger and opportunity for the team. Since RSG was playing around Selena, Kupa acts as a counter to most of her abilities. The frost wolf can act as a trigger for her Abyssal Trap, and block any Abyssal Arrows that could incite a trade.
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Popol’s spear is a targeted stun that was used in sync with the team
Last, but not least, Popol and Kupa’s first skill, Bite ‘Em, Kupa!, is an excellent peeling ability for the entire team. Acting as a targeted 1-second stun, Popol and Kupa can instantly lock down a backline opponent like Hanzo and rush in for the 4v5 advantage.
Though it may seem like a simple point-and-click skill, Sevnea shows that it takes well-coordinated, perfect timing to be effective on this pick, especially since Bite ‘Em, Kupa! only turns into a stun in Alpha Wolf Form. On top of that, there’s still a delay after the spear hits, so if you want to truly maximize the usage of the stun, you’ll have to be in sync with the rest of your team.
With the stunning upset over RSG, 10S Gaming Frost will meet Alter Ego once again in the lower bracket playoffs on January 22.
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