Although they have a new name, Pentagram is no stranger to the international scene. Pentagram used to be known as Rampage, but the team rebranded at the beginning of this year.
As Rampage, this team dominated the Japanese region. They won three straight LJL titles before changing names and did make it to both the Mid-Season Invitational and Worlds last year.
Both events were a learning experience for the team. At MSI 2017, they won just one game, knocking off Dire Wolves en route to finishing last in their group. They fared even worse at Worlds despite being placed in the one group without a team from a power region. Rampage failed to win a game against either 1907 Fenerbahce or Hong Kong Attitude.
Odds to win MSI Group B (Courtesy of BetDSI)
BAU SuperMassive -225
KaBuM! eSports +200
Dire Wolves +1500
Pentagram +2000
Backstory
Two teams have ruled the LJL since its inception, Pentagram and DetonatioN FocusMe. Detonation won the first three LJL titles, but they have been stymied by Pentagram since that point. Although Detonation has finished the end of the regular season in first place for each of the last three seasons, they continue to lose to Pentagram in the finals.
This was the worst defeat yet for Detonation. They went undefeated in the regular season, while Pentagram struggled to 6-4. However, Pentagram turned it on when it mattered most. They beat Unsold Stuff Gaming 3-1 in the semifinals, and then they shocked Detonation 3-0 in the finals to win their fourth straight LJL title. Their struggles in the regular season have many pegging this team to finish last though.
What to watch for
The LJL is known for its passive early games. Junglers camp lanes looking for ganks much less often than any other region by a wide margin. That’s the case with Once. Hong Kong Attitude’s former jungler spends much of the early game farming in order to help his team in the late game. That tendency makes vision extremely important for Pentagram.
Moreso than any other team at MSI, Pentagram relies on its bottom lane. The kill percentage numbers for Yutorimoyasi and Gaeng are off the charts. Yutorimoyasi has been involved in 82.4 percent of the team’s kills, while Gaeng has been involved in 84.2 percent of the kills. Those numbers show how this team wants to fight.
Opponents may not want to let top laner Paz have Gnar. He used the champion in all three games of the LJL Finals, and his play was a key reason why Pentagram was able to pull off the upset. His regular season numbers on the champion weren’t great, but his playoff performance on it might be worthy of a ban.
Prediction
It seems clear that this is probably the weakest team at MSI. Pentagram has not fared well in international play in the past, and they are unlikely to perform well this time around. They will struggle to handle the early game pressure that other teams are accustomed to providing. This team may not win a game at MSI.
