Today’s opening match featured Cloud9 against Team Liquid. Deciding to field Jeon “Ray” Ji-won, C9 came into this series looking to test their substitute top laner. Tonight’s second game saw Immortals face Team Dignitas. For both of these teams, who are in the bottom of the LCS standings, a win tonight would be extremely beneficial, especially seeing as the spring split is almost at the half mark.
Cloud9 2-1 Team Liquid
Game one went back and forth, with Cloud9 and Team Liquid alternating leads. TL had a strong start to the game, with their bot lane, who have been struggling throughout this split, bullying their lane opponents. C9 found their way back into this game through a Baron steal by Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi. C9 then decided to put all their eggs into a split push by Ray’s Jayce. Late in the game, a team fight erupted in C9’s base. C9 used this fight as an opportunity to hold TL off while Ray split pushed. Having his teammates cancel TL’s recalls, Ray managed to destroy the nexus, taking game one for C9.
Like the previous game, TL entered the mid game with another lead. But unlike game one, C9 could not steal the Baron. TL played out the mid game quite well, forcing Ray to stop his split push (now on Renekton). A clever play by Matthew “Matt” Elento to stop Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen’s recall late in the game allowed TL to freely take all three of C9’s inhibitors. Facing a crumbling C9 base, TL easily closed out game two, evening out the series.
Game three was quite slow for the most part. Neither team came into the mid game with a lead. Hesitant to fall behind, most of the team fights this game resulted in only one or two kills for either side. C9 finally found a team fight at Baron that ended in their favor. Unlike the previous skirmishes, C9 fully committed and were rewarded with three kills and a Baron buff. Now, with the clear lead, C9 used the next 10 minutes to slowly close out the game, keeping their undefeated series record.
Immortals 2-0 Team Dignitas
Game one was… something. This game started quite normal, with a few kills going to each side. But after a sneaky Baron take by Immortals, Dignitas proceeded to roll over and die. IMT were able to take an Elder Drake, another Baron and the whole enemy base with literally no response from DIG. To put this into perspective, there was a 24-minute lull where no kill was taken. After IMT destroyed their nexus turrets, DIG finally decided to take action, but it was far too late. IMT easily brushed DIG aside as they ended the game.
IMT came into game two looking much more decisive. Grabbing three kills in the first few minutes, IMT found themselves with a noticeable gold lead quite early in the game. IMT transitioned their lead into the mid game quite well, taking a relatively early Baron. DIG, most likely realizing they needed to fight if they wanted to win, actually tried to engage on IMT this game. Unfortunately for DIG, IMT had much better team fighting this series, decimating the boys in yellow. IMT swiftly ended game two with a huge lead.
What was your favorite moment of the night? Let us know by tweeting us @GAMURScom.
Article by Malcolm Abbas. Follow him on Twitter @SmashhLoL.
