100 Thieves punched their ticket to Oakland earlier today with a 3-0 victory over FlyQuest in the NA LCS playoff quarterfinals.
100 Thieves came into today’s quarterfinal match as the clear favorites. Not only were 100 Thieves facing the playoff sixth seed as the third seed, but 100 Thieves had beaten FlyQuest in last week’s tiebreaker matches, too.
But despite being the favorites, 100 Thieves’ three wins today weren’t clean. Although they lost all three games, FlyQuest found huge leads throughout this series. Here’s how 100 Thieves overcame FlyQuest’s challenge.
Game one – 100 Thieves win
.@FlyQuestSports take the Baron, but @100Thieves collapse and take down two in response! #NALCS pic.twitter.com/RPhwX6vp32
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) August 26, 2018
FlyQuest jungler Lucas “Santorin” Tao Kilmer Larsen started game one fantastically as Nocturne. Santorin’s Nocturne Paranoia not only found many early kills through ganks and tower dives, but halted many potential engages from 100 Thieves.
But as the game progressed, FlyQuest couldn’t translate their lead to teamfights. 100 Thieves found their way back into the game through better skirmishing and all around macro play. And with two late-game carries in Ryze and Tristana, 100 Thieves quickly outscaled FlyQuest.
Game two – 100 Thieves win
Game two saw both FlyQuest and 100 Thieves pull a game one run-back, redrafting the same compositions. Sadly for FlyQuest, though, this drafting decision didn’t go according to plan.
Unlike game one, Santorin was unable to create any early leads as Nocturne. Instead, 100 Thieves found kill after kill through better map movement. And with their lead, 100 Thieves’ carries hit their power spikes much earlier and quickly became damage-dealing powerhouses.
Game three – 100 Thieves win
.@100Thieves make an epic comeback and sweep @FlyQuestSports to book their tickets to Oakland! #100WIN #NALCS pic.twitter.com/NbFduGKXcD
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) August 26, 2018
With their Nocturne composition proving ineffective, FlyQuest switched up their strategy for game three, drafting a splitpush composition with Camille top lane. And like in game one, FlyQuest managed to find an early lead—though this lead came off the back of FlyQuest top laner Lee “Flame” Ho-jong.
Thanks to a combination of stellar play and ganks from his teammates, Flame found a major lead in the top lane. But instead of trying to teamfight with Flame’s lead like in game one, FlyQuest chose to splitpush. This decision proved correct as FlyQuest managed to push into 100 Thieves’ base, almost taking inhibitors.
But FlyQuest’s players soon started getting caught out of position, allowing 100 Thieves to make yet another comeback, taking objectives like the Baron. 100 Thieves’ multiple catches onto FlyQuest gave them the opening to tear through their opponents’ base.
With FlyQuest handily defeated, 100 Thieves will prepare to face the Spring Split champions in Team Liquid in the semifinals, which is set to take place on Sept. 2.
