The LCS has entered its third week and the teams are certainly amping up their play. Some are continuing to underperform, while others are defying expectations. As the meta continues to develop, the excitement never stops in NA’s League of Legends scene!
Evil Geniuses vs Counter Logic Gaming
The first game of the week was also the first win for Counter Logic Gaming (“CLG”), as they took down Evil Geniuses (“EG”). The early game wasn’t that explosive, but when the team fights began, CLG’s composition was absurdly powerful. That said, Svenskeren was still a menace in the opening minutes. First, he ganked and killed Crown mid for First Blood. Then, he went and took a Mountain Dragon. After that EG won a team fight two-for-one and secured an Ocean Dragon at 10 minutes.
A couple of picks came out in the mid-game though that set EG behind. First, CLG caught out Jiizuke at 16 minutes. This also netted them their first dragon, a Cloud variant. At 20 minutes, CLG found a pick onto Kumo too, which led to them gaining more map pressure. A 25-minute team fight initially resulted in a one-for-zero win for CLG, but EG killed three of them after they took the Baron. Because of this, CLG’s first Baron didn’t do much but did help them win a team fight two-for-one at 28 minutes and claim their third Cloud Dragon.
The real breaking point came at 32 minutes. Here, EG had a beautiful engagement to a team fight, but CLG’s backline stood tall and pumped out damage. When the smoke cleared, CLG had Ace’d EG and made their way to Baron. Empowered with their second Baron buff, CLG first took Cloud Dragon Soul before smashing all three towers in the bottom lane. After they entered the base they never left, and after a long siege, CLG was able to brute force the Nexus Towers down, Ace EG once again and demolish their Nexus.
QUICK STATS:
- Time: 36:17
- Kills: 11-23
- Turrets: 5-9
- Gold: 56.2k-66.4k
- Dragons: 2-4
- Barons: 0-2
100 Thieves vs Team Liquid
The second match of the day was a long 40-minute tussle, but in the end, 100 Thieves (“100T”) defeated Team Liquid (“TL”). It wasn’t simply a defeat though, 100T absolutely devastated the squad who won four LCS splits in a row. It all started with a great roam from Stunt, as he hooked Shernfire on a rotation and set up Meteos to get First Blood. Things went well for them after that too, as 100T won a skirmish two-for-zero at five minutes and slew a dragon. They also grabbed the Rift Herald and used it to take the First Tower bonus after 100T dove and killed Impact.
With this lead, 100T constantly pushed it further. The side obtained the second Rift Herald at 16 minutes, which allowed them to destroy two middle towers and a second dragon. TL managed to catch out Ryoma, but something horrible happened for them on the other side of the map. Ssumday, on his monstrous Aatrox, solo killed Impact at 22 minutes. A minute later Ssumday did it again, which led to 100T claiming the Infernal Soul. Being so far ahead, it was easy for 100T to rush and secure the Baron at 29 minutes. On top of that, they also got the Elder Dragon.
This rotation of uber buffs enabled 100T to push hard and destroy two Inhibitors and a Nexus tower. Even after it wore off 100T was able to knock down the final Inhibitor in the top lane. But as 100T went for their second Baron, TL showed up to contest it. Miraculously, Jensen’s Syndra stole it away and put the buff on his team instead. Thus, the two teams met at the Elder Dragon three minutes later, but due to minion pressure, TL had to concede this buff to 100T. 100T promptly pushed into TL’s base, where a major team fight erupted. Ssumday’s Aatrox came in on a flank where he devastated TL. He got a Quadra Kill as 100T Ace’d TL and pushed to smash their Nexus.
QUICK STATS:
- Time: 41:43
- Kills: 13-5
- Turrets: 11-1
- Gold: 73.9k-66.6k
- Dragons: 6-0
- Barons: 1-1
Team SoloMid vs Team Dignitas
They might’ve had a bad start in Week One of the split, but Team SoloMid (“TSM”) showed they’re bouncing back as serious contenders with a convincing win over Dignitas (“DIG”). Honestly, it was a clinic of a game, as TSM looked pretty clean besides a couple of mistakes. Dardoch had great objective control early on, taking the Infernal Dragon and Rift Herald within the opening eight minutes. They did misstep after the Herald though, as TSM fought a 2v2 top but Broken Blade dove the enemy tower and donated First Blood to Grig.
All in all, this death mattered very little. TSM exacted revenge on Grig by picking him off at 10 minutes then taking a second dragon a minute later. The game was quiet for a few minutes after this play, but eventually, TSM traded an Ocean Dragon to DIG to get themselves the First Tower bonus mid. DIG struck back at 21 minutes by winning a team fight mid, but TSM recovered quickly. They won a huge team fight mid, four-for-two, which led to TSM opening the map further with a second middle tower demolition.
During the next five minutes, TSM applied quite a bit of pressure to DIG. They won a couple of skirmishes and caught out Aphromoo, all the while taking more towers around the map. But crucially, TSM had yet to win a fight hard enough to pick up a Baron or Inhibitor. That changed at 32 minutes though, when TSM beautifully engaged a fight. A Sett ultimate led to TSM grouping up for a multi-man Irelia ultimate. This was followed up by Miss Fortune’s Bullet Time, which in turn led to a slaughter and clean Ace for TSM. With this, TSM wasted no time and rushed bottom to push through the base and win the game.
QUICK STATS:
- Time: 33:30
- Kills: 13-6
- Turrets: 9-3
- Gold: 61.2k-52.7k
- Dragons: 3-2
- Barons: 0-0
Cloud9 vs FlyQuest
Cloud9 (“C9”) devastated FlyQuest (“FLY”) in the final match of the day. With yet another win, the question that remains is who will bring them down? It’s hard to see anyone doing it while they’re on this form, as every part of their game is impeccable. The opening minutes were pretty quiet, until C9 killed the Herald at eight minutes, then went top to get Zven First Blood on V1per. This one advantage quickly turned into a large one, as C9 claimed a Mountain Dragon and the First Tower bonus in the bottom lane.
Blaber accelerated the pace of the game further. He ganked and killed PowerOfEvil in the middle lane first. Next, he helped his team outplay a team fight in the middle lane, where C9 went four-for-zero. FLY did happen to pick off Nisqy at 16 minutes, but C9 responded with a Cloud Dragon and a Rift Herald secure. The proceeding few minutes featured C9 forcing more picks and more successful skirmishes, accumulating more dragons during the duration.
At 26 minutes, C9 decided it was time to force their lead even more. They started up the Baron and secured it, before turning for a team fight. The C9 squad ran down FLY in their jungle and cut down three of them. The next fight broke out around the dragon, where C9 engaged for Zven, who pumped out insane damage. He picked himself up a Quadra Kill before getting the Infernal Dragon Soul. With this advantage, C9 swiftly blasted the middle Inhibitor. After resetting and regrouping top, they pushed down the Inhibitor top too. From here, it was only a matter of time until C9 killed a couple more FLY champions and finished their Nexus.
QUICK STATS:
- Time: 30:16
- Kills: 17-2
- Turrets: 10-2
- Gold: 56.3k-43.4k
- Dragons: 4-0
- Barons: 1-0
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