This article is part of our LoL Recap series.
Phoenix1 vs. Cloud9
No. 2 seed Cloud9 convincingly swept No. 3 Phoenix1 in the first series of the North American League of Legends Championship Series Spring Split semifinals 3-0 Saturday in Vancouver, Canada.
The teams traded a handful of kills in the early stages of Game 1 as well as objectives, but both were even in gold at the 30-minute mark, with the same turrets taken on each side. A pick onto P1 support Jordan "Shady" Robison's Karma blew the game open for Cloud9. After winning the subsequent 5-vs-4 fight and taking Baron, Cloud9 ended the game with the buff still active at 34 minutes.
Game 2 was all about the junglers: Both C9's Juan "Contractz" Arturo Garcia's Graves and Rami "Inori" Charagh's Rengar maintained 100 percent kill participation in the early game. However, Contractz, the NA LCS Rookie of the Split, managed to help out his team more early on, leading to a sizable advantage for Cloud9.
Phoenix1 did an admirable job trying to claw back into the game and found a handful of picks, but Contractz snuffed out the enemy's hopes with his quadra kill in the game's final teamfight. He maintained his perfect kill participation and finished with a 6/1/5 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) in the victory.
The final game of the series was the worst of the bunch for Phoenix1, as William "Meteos" Hartman, a former Cloud9 player, had even less success than Inori after being subbed in. He found nothing for his team in the early game, and Cloud9 was able to win two major teamfights before the 20-minute mark.
With its enormous lead, C9 had no trouble systematically tearing P1 to shreds, including a final ace before ending the game in just over 25 minutes to complete the 3-0 sweep and earn a spot in the finals.
Cloud9 will find out whether it will face its old rival Team SoloMid or former sister team FlyQuest following the 3 p.m. ET semifinal match Sunday between those. Phoenix1 will face the loser of that match April 22 in the third/fourth-place game.
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TSM vs. FlyQuest
Tensions were high on Sunday as a Team SoloMid faced off against FlyQuest in Los Angeles for a spot in the North American League of Legends Championship Series Finals. In dominating fashion, TSM secured a 3-0 sweep to punch its ticket to Vancouver.
Game 1 showed off strengths from both teams as FlyQuest looked strong in the early game with its mastery of chaotic teamfighting. Mid laner Hai "Hai" Lam had a textbook early game on Talon, impacting the side lines with roams. Although FlyQuest stayed ahead early on, once TSM started picking up items, FlyQuest's AD heavy composition became much less potent. TSM took control through clutch Redemption uses from support Vincent "Biofrost" Wang's Karma, giving TSM superior sustain alongside massive damage in the mid game. Additionally, top laner Kevin "Hauntzer" Yarnell's Nautilus used his plethora of crowd control to pick off FlyQuest members to devastating effect, dominating a late game teamfight that allowed TSM to take a Baron kill and build a huge lead gold lead before closing out the Game 1 win.
In Game 2, TSM struggled in the early game as FQ jungler Galen "Moon" Holgate's Ivern secured first blood early on. Initially, FlyQuest lead the game in objective tempo while falling behind in kills, but could not keep up with TSM's blistering mid game pace. TSM routinely picked off FlyQuest players, often catching support Daerek "LemonNation" Hart's Karma trying in vain to maintain FQ's vision in the jungle. FlyQuest threatened to turn the game around with a Baron that helped FQ chip at TSM's gold lead, but TSM weathered the storm. Team SoloMid got the better of FlyQuest in an elongated fight which started as a 5-vs-3 but ended with the reigning kings of North America crushing FlyQuest's defenses to knock down the Nexus to force match point.
Game 3 started like the others when Moon secured another first blood, this time on Kha'zix. After earning a small kill lead in early game, FlyQuest wasted little time in surrendering control over to TSM, who took a teamfight win in bot lane followed by a tower and Mountain Drake. From there, TSM ramped up its aggression and seemingly rode the momentum, and Søren "Bjergsen" Bergs's Weaver's Walls, to decisive fights. TSM was quicker to roam across the map and turn skirmishes into all-out teamfights, where Hauntzer's Nautilus was unkillable, routinely landing Dredge Lines on high priority targets for easy kills. In general, the coordination and map awareness of the TSM allowed it to steamroll through FlyQuest on its way to victory, easily securing its spot in the 2017 NA LCS Spring Split finals.
Team SoloMid looks to put together back-to-back Split Championships when it takes on Cloud9 at 3 p.m ET on Sunday the 23rd, while FlyQuest fights Phoenix1 on the Rift for third place at 3 p.m ET on Saturday.
