LCS: Week Three Day One Recap

100 Thieves v Clutch Gaming

100 Thieves (“100T”) started off LCS week three with a win over Clutch Gaming (“CG”). The team compositions shown above are in fact correct, despite the craziness of CG's poke composition. The game was the longest of the split so far, even though 100T had an early lead. They got First Blood and turned around ganks in the top and bottom lanes, outplaying their opponents. 100T amassed a 4k lead at 20 minutes with these plays, as well as two Infernal Dragons, the First Tower bonus and additional kills and Towers.

A 21 minutes team fight resulted in CG coming out on top, and managed to stall the game. Though they lost a team fight soon after, they kept finding picks to keep 100T at bay. After 100T won a 31 minute team fight two-for-zero, they secured Baron. With it, they took multiple Towers and an Inhibitor

100T went for their second Baron at 39 minutes. LirA made a miracle steal, and though he paid his life for it, he allowed his team to stall the game further. CG killed off the Bang's fed Vayne at 44 minutes, which translated into them getting and Elder Dragon. Three minutes later, a team fight erupted in 100T's Jungle. It was a one-for-one in the end, but 100T killed the enemy top laner and only lost their support. They turned for Baron and secured it, only losing one member.

Now at a tiring 50 minutes, 100T grouped in the middle lane. Huhi stayed hidden on the side until CG grouped up as well. He engaged a team fight perfectly, catching all the CG members off guard. CG was Ace'd and 100T finally won the game at 51 minutes.

FlyQuest v Team Liquid

Team Liquid (“TL”) remain uncontested at the top of the ladder with a win against FlyQuest (“FLY”). It was actually a very close match between the first and second teams. Santorin ganked bottom to help WildTurtle kill CoreJJ for First Blood. Xmithie visited the bottom lane soon after, getting a kill for Doublelift to even out the lane. TL slayed an important Infernal Dragon at 11 minutes and had decent map pressure.

FLY wouldn't sit back and let the game go out of their control. They won a skirmish in the middle lane and even pushed TL off the second Infernal Dragon spawn, taking it for themselves. This play expanded with FLY using the Rift Herald in the bottom lane and taking the First Tower bonus. Pobelter even solo killed Xmithie a few minutes later.

TL regained control of the match at 23 minutes. They won a fight three-for-two and secured an Ocean Dragon off of it. Two minutes later, they destroyed the middle Tier One Tower, finishing off all the outer Towers. FLY managed to take their middle Tower a few minutes later, but TL traded a Cloud Dragon for it.

At this point the match was still quite even. But TL, in TL fashion, proved their supremacy in the late game. Just around 31 minutes, a team fight broke out in the middle lane. TL smashed FLY, killing two of their members while losing none of their own. They turned to Baron, secured it, and killed the three FLY members who tried to contest.

TL was swift with the buff. They quick demolished two Inhibitors and forced FLY to fight them. They killed enough members to take down FLY's Nexus at 35 minutes.

Team SoloMid v Cloud9

Cloud9 (“C9”) pulled off a hard fought victory over Team SoloMid (“TSM”). Licorice debuted the new champion, Sylas, for North America and looked great. The match was very even early on. C9 invaded the TSM Jungle and killed Akaadian for First Blood. But TSM had a lot of map pressure, winning skirmishes and controlling all of the objectives. They secured two Dragons and all three outer Towers. TSM slayed the Rift Herald too, but funnily enough forgot to pick up the Eye.

Though TSM was ahead, C9 wasn't too far behind. This showed in a 24 minutes team fight, where C9 won two-for-zero. TSM swung the pednulum back, winning a team fight two minutes later and taking a second Infernal. C9 grabbed hold off a solid lead at 27 minutes, when they started the Baron. After a long team fight, C9 found three kills and a Baron buff.

C9 pushed their lead effectively. Within three minutes, they brought down multiple Towers. As they pushed for the bottom Inhibitor, TSM engaged a team fight. Despite winning the fight two-for-one, TSM lost their Inhibitor.

At 40 minutes, a team fight started around Baron Nashor. It lasted a very long time, going all the way from the pit to the bottom lane. By the end, C9 amassed five kills and only lost one. This led to C9 picking up a second Baron buff at 42 minutes.

They quickly smashed the middle and bottom Inhibitors. As Nisqy pushed the wave forward in the top lane, Bjergsen channeled a Teleport behind C9. He engaged the last team fight, quickly killing Licorice. It wasn't enough, and C9 killed three TSM members. C9 destroyed TSM's Nexus immediately after, just before 45 minutes.

Echo Fox v Counter Logic Gaming

In another long game, Counter Logic Gaming (“CLG”) managed to defeat Echo Fox (“FOX”) in their first LCS week three game. It was a very quiet match in the early game. FOX did secure some neutral objectives, slaying a Cloud Dragon and Rift Herald early on. CLG, on the other hand, secured First Blood with a kill on Fenix and won a skirmish two-for-one at 14 minutes. They took an Ocean Dragon shortly after while FOX claimed the First Tower bonus.

There was much more action after the 20 minute mark. The two teams constantly fought over objectives, and while FOX secured some, CLG ended up securing some of their own with some kills. FOX looked as though they were about to come back after killing Darshan and Biofrost. They almost killed the Baron, but Wiggily stole it. FOX killed all the CLG members for that, so neither team got the buff. Ultimately, Wiggily's steal was crucial to keeping their team in a decent position.

The real breaking point of the match began at 37 minutes. Here, CLG fought the Elder Dragon, but FOX showed up to contest it. CLG won the ensuing team fight and secured the Smite on the Dragon. They immediately turned for the Baron and took that too.

CLG promptly pushed their lanes to siege FOX's base. They demolished multiple Towers, and the middle Inhibitor was the first to go. They rotated bottom, and sieged the next Inhibitor. It went down as FOX engaged one last, desperate team fight. CLG once again came out on top, and ended up killing multiple FOX members before smashing their Nexus at 42 minutes.

Golden Guardians v OpTic Gaming

Golden Guardians (“GGS”) finally won their first game of the split against OpTic Gaming (“OPT”). They did so from an initial deficit too. OPT had some strong early pressure all around the map. They secured the first Ocean Dragon and First Blood onto Crown with a great bottom lane roam. OPT picked off more players and used the Rift Herald to also get the First Tower bonus at 14 minutes. Crucially, GGS grabbed an Infernal Dragon for themselves, which would prove useful in the later stages of the match.

However, GGS turned on after 20 minutes. They started off by diving Dhokla, killing him and then Crown who Teleported to help him. Soon after, they won a team fight two-for-zero and slayed a second Infernal Dragon. Later, at 27 minutes, GGS started up Baron and forced OPT to come to them. A team fight erupted, and when the smoke cleared two OPT members were dead. Though it took a while, GGS managed to kill Meteos as well and secure the Baron buff.

GGS quickly destroyed the structures, including the Inhibitor, in the middle lane. Then they grouped top and did the same there. As they continued to lead their Minions into OPT's base, a final fight broke out. GGS obliterated two OPT members and had their chance. They pushed through the Nexus Towers and finished the Nexus at 32 minutes.

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