The first semi-final of All-Stars 2017 is between the two gatekeepers of Western League of Legends, at least that’s their assumed role at this tournament.

NA and EU fans came into the tournament expecting to split their groups with the usual powerhouses of LCK/LPL, but instead were met with two dark horses that had something to prove.

LMS came into the event with a chip on their shoulders after a poor showing at the World Championship, boasting a super team only rivaled by South Korea’s at the tournament. Karsa likely making his last appearance as a regional rep meant the region had one last shot at shocking the world alongside their superstar jungler.

SEA's narrative couldn't be more the opposite, the region surprised at the WC and had a roster disaster as opposed to a super team coming into the event. Four out of the five Vietnamese All-Stars couldn't acquire visa so an emergency team was thrown together where players communicated in three different languages.

Despite differences in origin, the teams share a very similar team identity and vision when it comes to how they formulate and execute their gameplans.

This stems from both teams revolving around a nucleus, their shotcalling superstar junglers.

1. Captain Karsa vs Captain Levi

Levi smiles as the SEA All-Stars storm the rift.

Since his debut at All-Stars 2016, Levi has looked like the protege of Karsa emulating an extremely similar style, from champion pool to using his mechanical prowess to force plays on the map.

The junglers share a nearly identical kill participation (68% and 69%) and 2 of 3 champions (Lee Sin and Kha’Zix) at the event so far, signifying their clash will start in champ select and carry over to the rift.

However, looking at how they command the map and their teammates around reveals much deeper similarities.

As much as Karsa and Levi are known for aggressive junglers and making plays early in the game, their style is actually guided by macro-advantages. Using whichever of their laner’s has match-up advantages both the junglers pressure and exploit early weaknesses in enemy compositions.

The SEA all-stars destroyed first turret in all 3 of their matches and Levi was instrumental in securing first brick gold in their two wins.

Though LMS only got first turret it 2 out of 3 games Karsa’s measured approach led to macro leads being built slower, but safer and more consistently.

Captain Karsa and the LMS are well versed in knowing when they can and can’t push for a macro advantage. Despite all the starpower on the LMS roster, this presence of mind for the macro game is what poses the biggest threat to SEA.

2. Shared Macro Focus

While exciting players like Levi, Karsa and FoFo can distract from the macro spectacle, it’ll ultimately be what decides this series more than flashy Lee Sin kicks.

Though this is true for every League of Legends game, when two teams have such a similar identity it becomes emphasized—which team can transcend the mirror match?

The onus to do this is on SEA because the LMS team has incubated this aggressive macro focused style for much longer and has players that are veterans at commanding this style.

In the games SEA won, Levi abused winning match-ups bot lane and forced down first turret with the help of Kra on an engage-focused support. Afterward they’d put a focus on rotating for the remaining outers while top laner Jisu split pushed.

The pair’s way of maneuvering around the map is roughly reminiscent of what Karsa and SwordArt have been doing on Flash Wolves for years. SEA’s rough imitation of the LMS style makes for easy to expose weaknesses for teams experienced in dealing with this approach.

We saw this in SEA’s lost to LPL where they got an early lead off turrets, but their emphasis on forcing that advantage allowed LPL to rout them in every other aspect of the game.

On the other hand, LMS has a pristine undefeated record, even besting the South Korean all-stars with their balanced macro approach.

Part of this consistency comes from the fact Ziv and FoFo are more versatile than their counterparts.

3. The Ziv Factor

Ziv standing at his station after a victory in the group stage at All-Star 2017

Taiwan’s long-time unmovable boulder in the top lane has the self-less playstyle of a team fighter but enough mechanical ability to be a split-pusher.

Though he’s spent the past couple years honing the latter, his ability in a side-lane is more than enough to bully every top laner at the tournament barring 957 or CuVee.

This presents a dual threat for SEA because Jisu’s entire style at the tournament has been focused on split pushing, even conceding an Infernal to LPL by blatantly giving 957 TP advantage.

Not only can Ziv match Jisu’s pressure in a side lane given the proper match up, but he excels at beating players with a split-pushed focused style.

Ziv’s legacy is built upon being the player that never loses lane while always placing priority on roaming for teammates and being an immaculate team fighter. Ziv put this on display by going 2-1-12 victory on Mao’kai against Cuvee’s Gnar in their victory against LCK during group stage.

The champion he beat Cuvee on, Gnar, works as a multifaceted tool for Ziv and hasn’t been played by Jisu yet at the tournament, meaning it’s likely to be pivotal in the series.

Though Jisu is quite cornered by his playstyle and champion pool, his solo lane counterpart Patrick has it even worse.

4. Mid Champion Pool

Replacing Maple as the chosen mechanical talent of the LMS, FoFo has come into his first international showing off flashy champions.

FoFo has shown to be on-par with Maple mechanical while playing a more conservative, patient style on 2 games of the released Zoe and a game on Azir. In his home region he’s known for picks Corki and Orianna, two champions that can control the laning phase and aggress in short bursts.

To contrast, Patrick on SEA has only won games where he picked Malzahar and is essentially known as a passive player requiring a champion with low mechanical skill.

Pinching a passive player’s champion pool becomes even easier when you have a versatile, mechanically adept mid laner like the LMS does. Not only will FoFo likely force a ban on at least Zoe, but removing the current strong passive champions like Malzahar and Xerath will make Patrick stick out like a sore thumb.

Karsa and Maple controlling the game through their 2v2 was a staple of the Flash Wolves playbook and FoFo’s strong performance over this weekend signals we may see a new duo control the map for LMS this series.

Though their team is overall more well-rounded, FoFo is the clear player with an outstanding skill gap over his opponent and focusing on enabling his success will lead to easy victories for the LMS in the semi-finals.

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Sources: lolesports flickr, lolesports, gamepedia