LCS: Week Seven Day Two Recap

Golden Guardians v Team Liquid

Team Liquid (“TL”) defeated Golden Guardians (“GGS”) to kick off the second day of the LCS week seven. They were expected to win handily, but GGS actually gave them a run for their money for a while. Contractz was active early, solo killing Xmithie for First Blood and killing him again in a mid lane two-versus-two. He also secured a kill for his bottom lane with a gank. TL started to kick into gear though. They won a skirmish in the bottom river, slayed an Ocean Dragon and used a Rift Herald to take the First Tower bonus top.

The mid game displayed TL's macro game superiority. The best team in NA had great rotations, which resulted in them finding advantageous fights. TL weathered the GGS aggression and turned fights around in their favor. At 27 minutes GGS tried to hard engage and kill Doublelift's Ezreal, but he survived. The TL counter attack was swift; they killed three members and turned to Baron. They secured the buff and two more kills afterwards. It allowed TL to destroy some towers but wasn't enough to do any major damage.

The game stalled as the two teams waited for Baron Nashor to respawn. They finally met in the middle lane at 34 minutes, when a team fight erupted. TL quickly found a kill on Deftly and took their opportunity to rush Baron. They secured it, then caught out both Contractz and Olleh. TL pushed right through middle to take the Inhibitor. After resetting and taking the Elder Dragon, they forced yet another fight on GGS. This time they cleanly Ace'd them and pushed through to the GGS Nexus to win the match at 37 minutes.

Echo Fox v FlyQuest

FlyQuest (“FLY”) made a statement in the playoff race with a dominating win over Echo Fox (“FOX”). FLY stomped the early game and never gave FOX even a hope of coming back. Santorin aided his top laner with an early gank and secured First Blood for himself on Solo. He returned to the top lane a few minutes later, where he and his team won a skirmish two-for-zero. Next, Santorin went to the bottom side of the map, where his team was able to force another skirmish that they got two more kills in.

They weren't done smashing the bottom side though. FLY dove FOX's bottom lane duo, killing them both, and used the Rift Herald to take multiple tower plates and the First Tower bonus. FLY was routing FOX at every opportunity, and FOX's newer jungler Panda was incapable of keeping up.

The only play FOX tried to make was turned back horribly on them. They hard engaged onto Santorin and killed him, but FLY collapsed quickly. FLY killed four FOX members to avenge their jungler, and took multiple towers afterwards.

Three minutes later FLY caught out Hakuho by himself and slayed him. This turned into more kills, a middle Inhibitor take and an 11k gold lead for FLY at only 18 minutes. FLY kept up the pressure, with V1per's Jax contantly split pushing and the team grouping to force FOX away from their top side jungle. At 21 minutes FLY secured an uncontested Baron buff and grouped bottom. They first destroyed the Inhibitor, then forced a final fight. FLY slaughtered FOX in their base, killing members in their Fountain. They finished off their second Nexus of the LCS week seven at a dominant 23 minutes.

Team SoloMid v OpTic Gaming

Team SoloMid (“TSM”) finished off their LCS week seven with a win over OpTic Gaming (“OPT”). OPT drafted strong early lanes with the hopes of snowballing, but TSM stopped that in its tracks, especially in the top lane. Akaadian ganked top twice by 11 minutes, with Broken Blade's Vladimir getting both kills. Before this, Bjergsen managed to get First Blood on Crown, but Crown killed him back. TSM brought down the Rift Herald and used in to open up the mid lane and take the First Tower bonus.

At 22 minutes TSM did slip up. Here, they lost two members in a fight around the Dragon pit. This allowed OPT to secured the coveted Baron buff, potentially putting TSM on the back foot. It didn't matter though, another team fight went the way of TSM three-for-one.

The teams farmed and set up vision in preparation for the second Baron Nashor. At 30 minutes a team fight went awry for OPT in the bottom lane, and they lost three members and the Baron for it. TSM was much more effective with the buff, swiftly destroying multiple towers and two Inhibitors within its duration.

TSM continued to siege even after the Baron buff . It resulted in them taking two more towers and the final Inhibitor, all the while OPT sat back and didn't mount a defense. TSM was content with this, as both the Elder Dragon and Baron Nashor were spawning soon. They took both of them still uncontested.. TSM pushed into the OPT base and immediately started annihilating OPT. They smashed through the remaining structures and finished off the Nexus at 38 minutes while boosting their KDA's with a few extra kills.

Cloud9 v 100 Thieves

Cloud9 (“C9”) rebounded from their loss yesterday and defeated 100 Thieves (“100T”). 100 Thieves obviously continue to struggle and C9 capitalized on their mistakes effectively. The early game was relatively slow, with only a Mountain Dragon dying before 10 minutes. Nisqy was the recipient of First Blood, coming from a two-versus-two skirmish around Rift Herald. Another skirmish in the top lane went in the favor of C9, with them picking up another kill.

100T did show some signs of life at 14 minutes when C9 tried to take the Herald again. They collapsed with their whole team, killed four C9 members in total and denied C9 from picking up the Eye of the Herald. Afterwards C9 slayed their second Mountain Dragon of the game and picked up the First Tower bonus in the bottom lane.

At 24 minutes the game totally broke open for C9. A team fight started in the middle lane and Sneaky popped off. He killed four 100T members in total, and his team clean Ace'd their opponents. With no one to contest it, C9 easily killed the Baron.

C9 went straight to pushing, with four members bot and one mid. 100T seemed incapable of responding, and C9 destroyed multiple towers. 100T continued to simply watch on as C9 demolished their middle and bottom Inhibitors, and even a Nexus Tower. C9 was the one who engaged the last team fight, where they found great success. Three 100T players died quickly, and one more shortly after. C9 smashed the 100T Nexus in a commanding 28 minutes.

Clutch Gaming v Counter Logic Gaming

Clutch Gaming finished off the LCS week seven with a victory over Counter Logic Gaming (“CLG”). They played to their aggressive style and it paid off for them. Lira started it all off with a gank on the bottom lane, where he secured First Blood. There wasn't much more action in the early game, but CG did pick up the Rift Herald and a Cloud Dragon. The Herald was used to great effect, taking the First Tower bonus for CG and propelling their gold lead farther.

CLG did try to shut down CG's bottom lane by four-man diving their tower, but Lira responded by diving and killing Darshan on the other side of the map. CG maintained their lead in the mid game, catching out members in two different instances and taking towers off of the momentum.

It all came together for CG at 25 minutes, where they turned around a team fight and got an Ace on CLG. This also gave them a Baron buff. CG easily destroyed the top and middle Inhibitors before backing, buying and regrouping. CG grouped in the bottom lane and began their siege. They soon grew tired of it and decided to dive CLG instead. They obliterated four CLG members instantly and had their moment. CG pushed on and smashed CLG's Nexus at 31 minutes.

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