LCS: Week Seven Day One Recap

Counter Logic Gaming v Golden Guardians

To start off the LCS week seven, Golden Guardians (“GGS”) defeated Counter Logic Gaming (“CLG”). They accumulated a large gold lead early on, but did take a while to finish it off. At level two, Olleh found a great Death Sentence on Biofrost and got First Blood for Deftly. This was important because it gave the GGS bot lane a ton of pressure, which allowed them to take all the tower plates and the First Tower bonus by 13 minutes. CLG showed they weren't out of it yet by going one-for-one in an early-mid game skirmish.

In the mid game both teams picked off the other team's members for some extra kill gold. At 23 minutes GGS killed Biofrost and immediately turned for Baron. They got another kill on Auto but didn't take the buff yet. GGS did take it five minutes later by burning it down with their two Mountain Dragons before CLG could contest. With the buff GGS destroyed all the towers outside of CLG's base as well as the middle Inhibitor.

Then they ran into a problem. CLG PowerOfEvil decided to commit to a split push in the bottom lane and Hauntzer's Kennen was unable to adequately stop him. Because of this, CLG's mid laner took an Inhibitor and Nexus Tower all by himself when GGS were near Baron.

The game ended in a crazy way. First both four man squads met at Baron. CLG Teleported three members into the GGS base and tried to end the game quickly. They exposed the Nexus, but were Ace'd. GGS took their own chance now to rush CLG's base. They were much more successful, and managed to end the game at 38 minutes.

Team Liquid v Cloud9

Team Liquid (“TL”) removed any doubts of them being the best team in NA with a win over Cloud9 (“C9”). Both teams were active early in the game, but TL's lead was better and they used it well. Their snowball started when Svenskeren ganked mid and Flashed under TL's mid tower, donating First Blood to Xmithie. Licorice was commanding the top lane and even took the First Tower bonus at 15 minutes. TL had control over the bottom lane though, taking a few Dragons and winning a skirmish at 19 minutes four-for-one. This got Doublelift's Kai'Sa ahead and made him a big threat.

Once in the mid game, TL demonstrated their excellence. There were a few different skirmishes and TL won them all except one. They furthered their lead by taking more Dragons and towers while dancing around Baron. At 33 minutes TL chunked out some C9 members and got rid of Svenskeren's ultimate. They thought they could take Baron with this advantage, but Nisqy stole it away from them with his Syndra! They bought some time, but not enough.

A few minutes later, TL decided to start the Elder Dragon. With five Dragons already, the buff would be huge, so C9 attempted to contest. TL killed one C9 member and secured the Elder too. The buff made them too strong to fight, so C9 were forced to give up two Inhibitors to buy some time. But it was too late. The teams met in the middle lane at 39 minutes and a team fight erupted. TL came out ahead three-for-one and pushed into C9's base. They finished off the Ace with two more kills and finally demolished C9's Nexus at 40 minutes.

100 Thieves v Team SoloMid

Team SoloMid (“TSM”) started their LCS week seven with a terrific comeback victory over 100 Thieves (“100T”). 100T replaced Huhi for Soligo, but it didn't prove enough to make a noticeable difference in their mid-late game macro. They did have a great early game though. Ssumday got First Blood in a two-versus-two in the top lane and was far ahead of his opponent. 100T found more kills in two mid lane skirmishes and by killing Broken Blade. All the while they slayed three Mountain Dragons and a Rift Herald, which they used to get the First Tower bonus top.

TSM made moves to close the gold lead. They caught out 100T members at different points and destroyed some towers. Their biggest move came when 100T started Baron. They brought it's health down quickly, but Akaadian flew in and stole the buff away. Unfortunately it didn't lead to much and the game stalled out.

100T were still ahead and destroyed one Inhibitor after getting a pick on Zven, but TSM made it hard for them to push their lead farther. At 38 minutes, 100T killed the Elder Dragon and Baron Nashor shortly after that. While they did, TSM managed to take their bottom Inhibitor and a Nexus Tower. 100T responded by using their buffs to take TSM's bot Inhibitor.

The game was back and forth from here as both teams tried to rush each other's base or secure major objectives. TSM secured the Baron and Elder at 52 minutes and pushed 100T's base, taking all three Inhibitors. At this point 100T, who were so far ahead, were powerless to stop TSM from smashing their last Nexus Tower, and then their Nexus at 53 minutes.

Clutch Gaming v FlyQuest

FlyQuest (“FLY”) asserted dominance over Clutch Gaming (“CG”) in their first game of the LCS week seven. FLY won primarily through WildTurtle, whose Jinx popped off and was very strong. LirA ganked and killed Pobelter for First Blood, but FLY turned it back on CG. Santorin helped Pobelter kill Damonte with a gank, and more importantly WildTurtle got a double kill in the bottom lane in the two-versus-two. From this point FLY's bottom duo commanded the lane, taking the First Tower bonus by themselves at only 10 minutes.

At the 17 minute mark FLY cemented a large lead. Here, they won a team fight dominantly three-for-zero, which led to them taking two middle towers and exposing the Inhibitor. Soon after they slayed an Infernal Dragon. CG had a brief glimpse of hope at 23 minutes, where they won a team fight four-for-two off of a great Damonte flank and Vulcan Alistar combo.

FLY quickly extinguished that hope. They first picked off Damonte, then initiated a team fight where they killed two more CG members. FLY easily secured the Baron buff as CG had no chance to contest. CG did stall their push by killing three members in an extended bottom lane play, but WildTurtle destroyed their middle Inhibitor for it.

CG was still holding on and defended the rest of their base successfully. That was until 32 minutes when the two teams met in the middle lane. One last team fight broke out, and once again FLY came out ahead two-for-zero. They made the call to disregard the Baron and push for the end. They had to fight multiple CG members to do so, but killed them all and finished their Nexus off at 33 minutes.

Echo Fox v OpTic Gaming

OpTic Gaming (“OPT”) impressed many by defeating Echo Fox (“FOX”) in a very clean fashion to finish of the first day of the LCS week seven. Their snowball started early and was grown quite efficiently. Arrow's Kalista got First Blood on Apollo at level one with the help of Braum's passive, propelling her to a huge early lead. Meteos helped his bottom lane dive and kill Apollo again two minutes later. This led to an early Infernal at six minutes too. Notably, Solo was winning against Dhokla in the top lane and even secured the First Tower bonus before OPT could bot.

At 17 minutes Crown went wild. He first solo killed Fenix while his team invaded the FOX jungle, then solo killed Apollo from a bush surprise attack. OPT also slayed their second Infernal Dragon. All the while Dhokla was left alone to split push top and destroyed two towers easily.

The game was completely blown open at 23 minutes. Here a team fight that exploded in the middle lane resulted in a three-for-zero in the favor of OPT. This prompted them to go to Baron and take the buff. While OPT sieged the middle and bottom lanes, Crown killed Solo over his base wall all by himself with disgusting damage. OPT now had their chance. They swiftly destroyed the two Inhibitors and pushed on to push back FOX and take their Nexus just before 27 minutes.

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