The final day of week one of the NA LCS rounded out every team with a second game. With a lackluster showing from TSM in day one, will they bounce back to secure their first victory? Will Cloud9 and Team Liquid continue looking dominant? Let’s dive into the recap and find out.
(1-1) Team SoloMid 2-1 Immortals (1-1)
Game one started off strong for IMT. Taking advantage of Olaf’s strong early jungle presence, Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett gave IMT the quick 2-0 kill advantage. However, he overstepped his boundary and TSM replied with two kills of their own. Since Dardoch had a huge early advantage, IMT looked around the map for picks. After they spread the wealth throughout the team, IMT took clear control of the map and forced TSM to play more passive. Once IMT got baron, they made a strong push down mid, but TSM replied with an Ashe arrow to take down two members of IMT and managed save their inhibitor. Failed siege attempt after failed siege attempt left IMT desperate to win. TSM won the final fight that left IMT on 60 second death timers. An easy push allowed TSM to secure the nexus and game one.
Despite a slow start in comparison to game one, game two kicked off when Dardoch went top once again for an easy first blood. Despite TSM’s efforts to find picks, IMT had control of most of the map. IMT’s bottom lane was dominating TSM, landing key CC one after another. As they translated their advantage across the map, TSM were left to pick up scraps in order to come back. IMT made a mistake that gave TSM just enough footing to get back into the game, giving TSM a baron steal. After eight or so minutes of nothing really happening, IMT traded baron for elder drake, which gave them a power spike since they had two infernals. The game had now hit a stalemate, until TSM made a risky baron call. Getting aced, TSM gave IMT the perfect opportunity to tie up the series.
The final game of the series began with everyone on champions they were comfortable with. With Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen on Lee Sin, it was no surprise that he secured first blood. TSM easily translated this early lead into more kills and a clear advantage around the map. TSM took it very slow, cutting off IMT from the middle of the map and established dominance. Despite Dardoch’s attempt to win the game for his team, TSM slowly dismantled IMT at every turn. After cutting off everything from IMT, TSM made one last push to take game three and win the series.
(1-1) Counter Logic Gaming 2-0 Team EnVyUs (0-2)
Diving into game one, NV looked like they were ready to prove themselves, going head to head with CLG. Kills were traded back and forth until CLG managed to find a clear lead and pushed ahead of NV. Trevor “Stixxay” Hayes and Choi “Huhi” Jae-hyun both popped off, netting eight kills between them at 25 minutes. However, NV were not ready to give up just yet. They managed to catch a few picks here and there that allowed them to start fighting CLG. Unfortunately for NV, they picked a bad fight and allowed CLG to ace them and take the nexus. Game one went to CLG.
As game two went underway, CLG had the clear advantage in terms of champions, and it showed. They had a four kill advantage on top of getting the first tower before 10 minutes had passed. Thinking they had more power than they actually did, CLG attempted to take a risky fight, which resulted in NV getting four kills. This newfound power allowed NV to make plays all around the map. By the 20-minute mark, there were 24+ kills across the board with almost all of them in NV’s favor. Even with the clear gold and kill advantage, CLG surprised NV with traded kills. As the game progressed, CLG evened up the game through solid rotations and picks. At this point, the game exploded into a clown fiesta with kills being traded around the map with no clear leading team. Not even baron throws or aces were enough to allow either team to close out the game. After finally getting a favorable fight and acing NV, CLG closed out game two in order to take the series.
(1-1) Team Dignitas 1-2 Cloud9 (2-0)
In a surprise move, Jeon “Ray” Ji-won entered the series as Cloud9’s starter in the top lane instead of Jung “Impact” Eon-yeong. After a short bit of farming, Dignitas’ Lee “Chaser” Sang-hyun ganked Cloud9 mid laner Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen and secured first blood with a very well-placed Q. Despite C9 finding a few kills here and there, they couldn’t touch the carries. Similar to the style of SK Telecom T1, DIG slowly and methodically shut down C9. Despite DIG having so much pressure on C9, Jensen exploded during a fight in the top lane, secured a triple kill and turned the game in C9’s favor. With this huge shift in power, rookie Juan “Contractz” Garcia found three assassinations to close out the final fight that allowed C9 to storm the nexus and win game one.
As game two went underway, we saw Jensen fall back to Azir, an old mage he used to play frequently. Unfortunately, he couldn’t stop Jang “Keane” Lae-young’s Twisted Fate from teleporting around the map and gaining a big advantage. Thankfully for C9, they managed to keep the gold fairly even. Knowing that C9 had the better teamfight, DIG sent Keane down bottom lane to split push while C9 tried to force fights near the baron. Keane managed to take an inhibitor before C9 sent someone down to stop him. At this point, DIG had the clear advantage over C9, which forced C9 to take a risky fight. DIG won the fight and secured baron. Baron gave DIG the power they needed to brute force through C9’s base to bring the series to game three.
For game three, Impact returned to Cloud9’s top lane. Not long after game three began, DIG caught Contractz out to get an early first blood. On top of that, they forced C9 to use many of their summoner spells. At this point, Chaser had Contractz’s number and stumped any attempt he made to secure a kill. However, Impact came down from top lane in order to make a huge impact and got two kills for C9, which evened out the game. DIG thought they had an easy kill on Impact in the top lane, but Impact stalled them long enough for C9 to take two towers, a kill and a drake. However, DIG was aware that C9 was taking drake, so they snuck baron before C9 had time to react. After DIG took multiple towers from C9 during the baron buff, C9 reset at mid lane for a huge fight. Despite it looking like DIG was winning the fight, C9 turned it around and won. They couldn’t take the nexus, however, because Xpecial managed to clear the minions before C9 could take the nexus turrets. While DIG was forced to protect their base, C9 took baron and looked to siege. When the final fight began, it was clear that C9 had the advantage. They pushed into DIG’s base and took the nexus, winning game three and the series.
(2-0) FlyQuest 2-1 Team Liquid (1-1)
Game one started and jungler Galen “Moon” Holgate made a quick gank mid lane for first blood on TL’s Greyson “GoldenGlue” Gilmer using Kindred, an unconventional pick in the current competitive meta. On top of that, Moon used the ghost summoner spell as opposed to flash. However, Reignover wasn’t going to let Moon steal the limelight, as he began getting kills of his own. A strong engage from FLY’s bot lane allowed them to take back the lead and establish map control. At this point, Moon and AD carry Johnny “Altec” Ru were mid-game monsters, which forced TL to give up objectives and map control. Sharing the wealth with Hai “Hai” Lam, FLY looked poised to take the game. TL’s top laner Samson “Lourlo” Jackson began putting the team on his back and applied map pressure everywhere he could. A solid 6/0/3 scoreline at the 35-minute mark showed Lourlo was ready to carry the game. After some map pressure had been established, TL began to win fights, eventually gaining a 10k gold lead. One last team fight allowed TL to ace FLY and take the nexus.
As game two went underway, Moon secured a quick and easy first blood on AD carry Chae “Piglet” Gwang-Jin. A teleport down from Lourlo allowed TL to trade back a kill and even out the early game. After a few failed gank attempts from both teams, Moon managed to help Hai secure two kills. With a clear power advantage, FLY looked to take the outer turrets and cut-off Lourlo from resources. At this point, FLY had three infernal drakes and a healthy spread of wealth, so the game looked very clearly in their favor. Taking down three members of TL gave FLY free reign over TL’s base. This last push allowed FLY to win game two of the series.
The final game of the series kicked off with FLY giving Altec a big early game advantage. Since Altec was going “blue” Ezreal, it played a big role in FLY’s early-to-mid game dominance. Given that FLY had Hai on LeBlanc, it was apparent that they were destined to win the mid game. Every gank attempt made by TL was shafted by FLY’s sheer power and rotations. As they translated their power into the late game, FLY didn’t allow TL any breathing room as they pressured them back into their base. The final teamfight allowed FLY to ace TL and take the last game of the series.
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