LCS: Week Two – Day One Recap

Echo Fox v Team SoloMid

Team SoloMid (“TSM”) defeated Echo Fox (“FOX”) in the first game of the week. The game was close in the beginning though. FOX secured an early Ocean Dragon at five minutes and then Solo made a two-versus-one outplay under his top lane tower that got him two kills for his death. FOX continued their pressure by sending three members top again to kill Broken Blade for a second time. But it wasn't long until TSM got a hold of the lead at an Infernal Dragon fight. Here, they killed Rush, took the Infernal and asserted pressure over the map.

The mid game was filled with a ton of skirmishes, where TSM usually came out on top. Despite this, FOX was able to find some picks onto TSM members and get some return kills, keeping the gold somewhat even. FOX had a shimmer of hope at 20 minutes, where again Solo turned around a two-versus-one to get a kill on Broken Blade, which led to a team fight where FOX got three more kills.

TSM was quick to recover though. They picked off Solo's fed Aatrox and Rush's Lee Sin multiple times in the mid-late game. This allowed them to keep control over Baron Nashor and constantly force FOX to approach them.

The game was bloody but stalled out for a while. Finally, at 32 minutes, TSM killed Rush again and turned to Baron. FOX tried to contest, but only ended up getting Ace'd and losing the buff to TSM. TSM was clean with the buff, taking all three Inhibitors and even an Elder Dragon. With these huge advantages, TSM easily won one more team fight in FOX's base and won the game at 38 minutes.

Cloud9 v Golden Guardians

Cloud9 (“C9”) began their weekend with a dominant win over Golden Guardians (“GGS”). The only time they ever faltered was in the very beginning, when GGS collapsed on Svenskeren when he invaded their Blue Buff and killed him for First Blood. After this, C9 played immaculately. Their bottom lane stayed alive in a counter matchup, while the top lane was focused. Svenskeren helped Licorice get a kill on Hauntzer to get him a lead. A few minutes later a skirmish near the middle lane netted C9 another kill and a Rift Herald. The Herald was huge when summoned, as it allowed C9 to smash two middle lane towers.

Meanwhile, GGS did at least take some objectives for themselves. They brought down a couple of towers and all of the Dragons, but it didn't amounted to any real advantages. C9 dominated the vision on the map and GGS had to wander in darkness. This darkness made it easy for C9 to sneak a Baron at 21 minutes, while Nisqy solo killed Contractz. Shortly after, Froggen stalled the C9 push by deleting Sneaky, but it didn't stop him from his team losing multiple towers and an Inhibitor.

C9 won a couple more fights, and after killing Contractz and Froggen, secured their second Baron of the game at 28 minutes. Four GGS members tried to set up a trap in the C9 red side Jungle, but couldn't kill Licorice. Seeing an opportunity, Sneaky Teleported top to destroy the tower and Inhibitor there. The not-so-sneaky GGS members frantically tried to return to base, but were cut down as they ran. After killing three, the full C9 roster smashed through what remained of GGS' base. They destroyed the Nexus at 30 minutes.

100 Thieves v Team Liquid

Team Liquid (“TL”) dismantled 100 Thieves' (“100T”) unique team composition in the third game of the day. They did so by playing through their bottom lane, who were far more effective than their counterparts. Doublelift killed Bang for First Blood in the two-versus-two, and their pressure let them take an easy Infernal Dragon a couple of minutes later. At 11 minutes, 100T ganked top while TL ganked bottom. Both resulted in kills for the offensive players, but TL's bottom duo was set up to do far more than Ssumday's Yorick.

100T did take the Rift Herald and get the First Tower bonus top at 13 minutes. Meanwhile, the TL bot duo took their tower and pressured the middle lane. At 19 minutes, 100T committed to taking a Cloud Dragon, but TL ended coming out ahead when they traded it for three towers. Now TL was winning all the skirmishes, while 100T looked unable to convert their lead on Ssumday, who couldn't even kill Sion in the one-versus-one.

At 26 minutes, the first Baron went down to TL in a fifty-fifty Smite fight. It didn't do much, and 100T was able to stall out the siege and even won a team fight. The match stalled for a few minutes, until the teams met in the middle lane at 33 minutes. One last team fight erupted, and it went terribly for 100T. TL killed two members instantly, and forced 100T back. TL took the middle Inhibitor and continued to push. The remaining 100T members tried desperately to defend their Nexus Towers, but were slaughtered for their efforts. After a clean Ace, TL demolished 100T's Nexus at 34 minutes.

FlyQuest v Counter Logic Gaming

In what seemed like the longest match ever, Counter Logic Gaming (“CLG”) ended up defeating FlyQuest (“FLY”). It was a low action, macro intensive game, but early on it had some more activity. At seven minutes, CLG sent three members to the top lane to kill V1per; PowerOfEvil picked up the First Blood. There were two Ocean Dragons killed by FLY in the first 15 minutes, and FLY leveraged more advantages. They slayed the Rift Herald and it helped them to destroy all three outer towers.

FLY had a 4k gold lead at 20 minutes and looked to be in firm control. Only two fights occurred between 23 and 26 minutes, and CLG won out in both. But FLY didn't lose very hard, as it was in the second of these fights Wildturtle's Draven obtained a 1400 gold cash in. After these fights, the game became sluggish. The teams hesitated to engage and fight, so they danced around Baron for over 10 minutes. At 37 minutes, FLY gave the Baron to CLG and took the Elder Dragon for themselves. Neither of these buffs were really utilized, and the match stalled longer.

Finally, at 43 minutes CLG caught out V1per and got a middle Inhibitor. A couple of minutes later they took both the Elder Dragon and Baron, as FLY seemed unable to react. CLG used these buffs efficiently, taking the top Inhibitor and grouping bot. At long last a true team fight occurred, and CLG decimated FLY. They lost no members and killed four. Spectators rejoiced to see this game come to an end as CLG brought down FLY's Nexus at a long, drawn out 49 minutes.

Clutch Gaming v OpTic Gaming

Intro. OPT came out swinging in the early game. It all started with the team collapsing on LirA, helping Dardoch to get First Blood onto him. A couple of minutes later, a skirmish broke out in OPT's top side Jungle. They won out huge here, getting four kills for one. Dhokla's Sion got three kills here and helped him nullify Huni's pressure on Jayce. This paved the way to take their first Infernal Dragon too.

At 13 minutes OPT visited top again, got another kill and used the Rift Herald to get the First Tower bonus. OPT continued to ramp up pressure, killing Piglet and taking towers all over the map. At 23 minutes, they rushed the Baron. CG showed us to contest and won the team fight, but Dardoch made a clutch Smite to secure the buff. This was used to destroy multiple towers and propel OPT's gold lead further.

A little later, CG decided to try to send multiple members to kill Dhokla's fed Sion. They couldn't break through his health bar and ended up losing their ADC, middle Inhibitor and Baron for it. It only took OPT a couple of minutes to find one last team fight. They forced themselves into CG's base and sieged it for a long time. Eventually, they destroyed multiple Inhibitors and the Nexus Towers, and at this point CG was powerless to stop OPT from taking their Nexus at 32 minutes.

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