This article is part of our LoL Recap series.
Team Dignitas vs. Team Liquid
The first match of Week 8, Day 1 of the North American League of Legends Championship Series in Los Angeles on Friday featured Team Dignitas quickly sweeping Team Liquid.
The first match was the first professional game with Liquid ADC Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng and support Adrian "Adrian" Ma in a duo lane together. However, Dignitas feared absolutely nothing as it focused all its attention on the mid lane and Liquid's jungle. From the onset, Dignitas (7-8, 18-19 game record) looked to be leaps and bounds better than Liquid (4-11, 14-25). In a 25-minute rout, Dignitas was able to take a swift 1-0 lead in the series. Dignitas was led by mid laner Jang "Keane" Lae-young, who put up a 6/1/9 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) on Orianna.
The second game started off similarly to the first with Dignitas jungler Lee "Chaser" Sang-hyun affecting lanes with ease, including an incredibly early mid lane gank. However, Liquid learned from some of its mistakes in Game 1 and played safer in the laning phase. Despite this, Dignitas simply looked to be better. After getting a Baron in the midgame, Dignitas used back-to-back pushes to break into Liquid's base and close out the series 2-0. Chaser made his mark on the game, putting up a perfect 8/0/8 KDA on Lee Sin.
With this victory, Dignitas is closer to securing a playoff spot, whereas Liquid has fallen deeper into the relegation zone. Team Dignitas will kick off Saturday's action against Team EnVyUs at 3 p.m. ET, and Team Liquid will close out Saturday's play at 6 p.m. ET against Phoenix1.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CLG vs. Echo Fox
Counter Logic Gaming overcame early mistakes to sweep Echo Fox on Friday during Week 8, Day 1 of the North American League of Legends Championship Series Spring Split in Los Angeles.
Echo Fox (5-10, 13-23 match record) earned a small advantage to kick off Game 1, securing leads in gold and turrets. However Counter Logic Gaming (8-7, 18-19 match record) fought back throughout the mid game to take a lead in kills. Instilled with a sense of confidence, CLG opted for a risky Baron play, securing the buff but ultimately getting aced in the ensuing fight. It wasn't enough to finish off Echo Fox, which continued to stall until the 40-minute mark where it forced a fight around Elder Dragon. Echo Fox danced around the dragon pit as CLG slowly whittled away at Elder Dragon. However Echo was indecisive about when to engage, and when it finally did, it was too late as CLG quickly finished securing the buff then won a teamfight trading 1-for-4. The death timers gave Counter Logic Gaming plenty of time to push down middle lane for the victory.
Counter Logic Gaming had another slow start in Game 2 as early mistakes gave kills and objectives over to Echo Fox. Echo Fox took objectives on the opposite side of the map while CLG dove top laner Jang "Looper" Hyeong-seok's Swain, who often took an enemy down with him. Counter Logic Gaming started to pull together its teamfight coordination and took a lead in gold and turrets leading late into Game 2. Echo Fox managed to break CLG's push with a 3-for-1 teamfight win around the 30-minute mark before starting Baron. Counter Logic Gaming's jungler Jake "Xmithie" Puchero on Olaf and top laner Darshan "Darshan" Upahyaha on Rumble contested the attempt and not only walked away with the Baron buff, but also a quadrakill for Darshan. Following CLG's second Baron buff, Echo Fox was forced to watch its base go to shambles, as CLG aced its opposition before finishing the series.
Echo Fox's quest to make the playoffs continues on Sunday against Team SoloMid at 3 p.m. ET. Counter Logic Gaming next battles against FlyQuest on Sunday at approximately 6 p.m. ET.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
EnVyUs vs. Dignitas
Team Dignitas extend its win streak to four as it defeated Team EnVyUs 2-1 on Saturday during Week 8, Day 2 of the North American League of Legends Championship Series Spring Split in Los Angeles.
Team Dignitas (8-8, 20-20 match record) fell behind early as jungler Lee "Chaser" Sang-hyun's Lee Sin gave up first blood. That didn't stop Chaser from making plays, though: He participated in the first three kills for his squad. Team EnVyUs (3-12, 11-25 match record) held a small gold lead in the first 20 minutes through first turret gold and Creep Score, but it didn't help at all in the first major teamfight. Dignitas secured the Infernal Drake buff before turning for a 1-for-0 win during the battle at 20 minutes. Dignitas continued to snowball, taking a 5-for-2 ace and Mountain Drake at 26 minutes, which led to a Baron kill. While EnVyUs was able to stall the first Baron push, Dignitas learned its lesson, methodically pushing after securing a second Baron buff before taking Game 1.
EnVyUs jungler Nam "LirA" Tae-yoo had a much better performance on Elise in Game 2 as he focused pressure on the bottom lane. The constant ganks and attention gave AD carry Apollo "Apollo" Price's Caitlyn a huge gold lead, which EnVyUs centered its play around throughout the mid game as it took a lead in turrets, kills and gold. Dignitas lost part of its base before forcing the first 5-vs-5 teamfight of Game 2 at the 35-minute mark which it won 3-for-2. EnVyUs came back and destroyed the rest of Dignitas' base, but still couldn't finish, requiring a Baron buff for EnVyUs to finally push and extend the series to Game 3.
The start of Game 3 had plenty of skirmishes, mainly in the bottom lane. Dignitas AD carry Benjamin "LoD" deMunck thrived as he picked up lots of kills and assists from the fights. Team EnVyUs tried to get a 1-3-1 split push going, but Dignitas easily dealt with it because top laner Shin "Seraph" Wu-Yeong's Maokai was seemingly perpetually overextended. Dignitas slowly built a gold lead as it rotated across the map, picking up objectives and keeping its foot on the gas pedal. Envy's defense held until the third Baron of Game 3 spawned and Dignitas won the teamfight over it 3-for-1. Dignitas needed to win a few more skirmishes but eventually closed out the Game 3 win in 46 minutes.
Team EnVyUs finishes off its Week 8 games on Sunday against Cloud9 at approximately 8 p.m ET, while Team Dignitas' next series is against Cloud9 on March 24 at 6 p.m ET.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cloud9 vs. Immortals
Immortals stayed in the North American League of Legends Championship Series playoff hunt by defeating second-place Cloud9 in decisive fashion on Saturday during Week 8, Day 2 of the NA LCS in Los Angeles.
Although its team composition seemed underpowered on paper, Immortals (7-8, 19-19 match record) led Cloud9 (11-4, 25-12 match record) in tempo during Game 1 and showed a better understanding of how to win teamfights. After a prolonged vision battle early in the game, Immortals eventually secured the game's only Baron kill, picked up a kill on the disengage and took a tier-two turret before backing off. Immortals mid laner Eugene "Pobelter" Park's Syndra was steady throughout Game 1 with a 7/1/2 KDA (kills/deaths/assists). After locking up those three win conditions, Immortals was simply too powerful and surged to victory in under 34 minutes.
Game 1 was a steady march toward victory by Immortals, but Game 2 was a brute-force beatdown by Cloud9, led by jungler Juan "Contractz" Arturo Garcia's Rengar. The C9 rookie got ahead early with six kills before his first death and finished with a 15/3/3 KDA in a player of the game performance. Cloud9 did a great job of playing smart around Contractz as well, not giving up a single turret, Drake, Dragon or Baron. Immortals did what they could to stay afloat in the late game, but Cloud9 eventually secured the 34-minute Game 2 win.
Immortals secured first blood for the first time in the series during Game 3, when jungler Joshua "Dardoch" Hartnett's Lee Sin ganked bottom lane to secure a kill. That maneuver set the tone for his performance the rest of the match. Dardoch showed why his Lee Sin is a force to be reckoned with, earning a 9/1/9 KDA. The game was seemingly decided 11 minutes in as Immortals held the tempo advantage with a 6-to-2 kill lead, which snowballed to a staggering 20-to-5 advantage by the time Immortals broke Cloud9's Nexus in under 25 minutes.
Immortals looks to upset another top NA LCS team Sunday at 3 p.m ET when it faces Phoenix1, while Cloud9 looks to return to its winning ways against Team EnVyUs Sunday at 6 p.m ET.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TSM vs. FlyQuest
FlyQuest put up a fight against North American League of Legends Championship Series leaders Team SoloMid on Saturday but couldn't close out the series as TSM ended Week 8, Day 2 with a 2-1 series win in Los Angeles.
FlyQuest (8-7, 18-18 match record) was gifted a dream start to Game 1 when TSM jungler Dennis "Svenskeren" Johnsen's Gragas gave up first blood and double buffs to FQ top laner An "Balls" Le at three minutes in a poor invade attempt. FlyQuest snowballed ahead as jungler Galen "Moon" Holgate's Rengar popped off, picking up kills across the map and securing first turret gold at six minutes. Hurtling ahead in the objective game by securing Elemental Drakes and turrets, FlyQuest looked unstoppable, led by mid laner Hai "Hai" Du Lam's Syndra who finished with a 6/2/6 KDA (kills/deaths/assists). Securing an early 21-minute Baron, FQ smashed Team SoloMid (13-2, 26-14 match record) in back-to-back teamfights, ending the game with a 5-for-1 ace for a 26-minute Game 1 win.
Making up for a poor Game 1 performance, TSM top laner Kevin "Hauntzer" Yarnell got rolling early as Camille in the second round, teleporting to the bottom lane around four minutes to pick up a double kill in a 2-for-1 skirmish win. With Hauntzer monstrously fed off of five kills at 10 minutes, FlyQuest camped TSM's bottom lane for a couple of kills, eventually taking the first turret at 12 minutes. After securing four more kills across the map and a Baron kill at 30 minutes, TSM took full control in the late game, with Hauntzer earning a KDA of 8/3/4 as TSM took a final 4-for-2 teamfight to close out the 37-minute win.
TSM showed why it holds a 10-0 record in Game 3's as it snowballed early off of a Svenskeren's first blood kill on Lee Sin at three minutes. TSM racked up four kills before the five-minute mark and spread the experience around. Every member of TSM was able to contribute big damage in mid game skirmishing, which further increased the team's lead. After winning a 3-for-2 fight at 17 minutes and then taking the follow-up fight 3-for-1 a minute later, TSM was too far ahead for FlyQuest to deal with, thanks in part to mid laner Soren "Bjergsen" Bjerg's Vladimir. Bjergsen popped off, diving fearlessly into FlyQuest and dealing a game-high 26,900 damage to enemy champs while securing a 10/1/5 KDA. Holding a 11,500-gold lead around 23 minutes, TSM cruised through FlyQuest's base to secure the Game 3 win in just under 26 minutes.
Team SoloMid look to continue its winning streak Sunday against Echo Fox at 3 p.m ET, and FlyQuest hopea to stop the bleeding and secure a spot in playoffs tomorrow against Counter Logic Gaming at 6 p.m ET.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Liquid vs. Phoenix1
Phoenix1 gained ground with a third place finish in the standings as it dispatched Team Liquid in a 2-0 sweep on Saturday during Week 8, Day 2 of the North American League of Legends Spring Split in Los Angeles.
The beginning of Game 1 was slow and steady as both teams farmed until the 11-minute mark when a teamfight broke out in middle lane. Phoenix1 (10-5, 24-11 match record) gave up first blood as top laner Derek "Zig" Shao's Nautilus died but picked up two kills in return. Team Liquid (4-12, 14-27 match record) made some bad calls in the mid game, such as overextending and taking poor turret trades that put it behind 4,000 gold 20 minutes in. TL scraped together a few kills late, but lost vision control over Baron, giving Phoenix1 an opening. After Phoenix1 forced and won a 4-for-1 teamfight over Baron at the 31-minute mark, thanks in large part to mid laner Yoo "Ryu" Sang-ook, who Charmed his way to a 8/1/2 KDA (kills, deaths, assists) as Ahri, it quickly rotated to the exposed top lane inhibitor to push and finish Game 1.
Team Liquid subbed in support Matthew "Matt" Elento for Adrian "Adrian" Ma in Game 2, but Phoenix1 ended up pressuring the top lane early as jungler William "Meteos" Hartman's Elise, support William "Stunt" Chen's Nautilus, and Ryu's Talon roamed there often. The early P1 roams allowed Team Liquid to make plays on the opposite side of the map to keep the gold fairly even heading into the late game. Phoenix1's 1-3-1 split push kept getting broken up, but Liquid wasn't able to take any objectives after. Both teams fought for control around Baron 33 minutes in when Ryu found a flank onto Liquid's back line, shredding them for a 3-for-0 P1 teamfight that led to a Baron kill. Liquid watched its turrets quickly fall to the Baron empowered 1-3-1 split push, and were slowly picked off trying to defend its base as Phoenix1 finished off the series.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TSM vs. Echo Fox
Team SoloMid put together a dominant showing Sunday in its series sweep of Echo Fox during Week 8, Day 3 of the North American League of Legends Championship Series Spring Split in Los Angeles.
Team Solomid (14-2, 28-14) got rolling in Game 1 thanks to jungler Dennis "Svenskeren" Johnsen's Rengar stellar performance. Svenskeren was making plays all over and participated in the first 11 of TSM's kills on his way to a 7/1/9 KDA (kills/deaths/assists). Echo Fox (5-11, 13-25) couldn't disengage and kite away from teamfights as Team SoloMid's winning trades gave it control of the map and all neutral objectives. After Team SoloMid secured Baron it squashed any resistance Echo Fox put up and pushed to win Game 1.
Echo Fox was fine with giving TSM's jungler Svenskeren the Rengar pick again in Game 2 as both teams drafted pretty much the same compositions as Game 1. Predictably, Team SoloMid ran out to an early lead as it won the early teamfights and lane trades. Once the map started to open up in the side lanes, Echo Fox kept getting picked off as it overextended. Echo Fox continued to contest Team SoloMid's attempts to take objectives, but got aced when fighting over the Baron 26 minutes in. TSM used the Baron to take down two inhibitors before resetting, then making the series-ending push to lock up Game 2.
Team SoloMid will look to further cement its first-place status as it plays ninth-place Team Liquid on Saturday at 3 p.m. ET. Echo Fox still has a shot at a playoff spot, but it'll need to win in Week 9, starting with FlyQuest on Friday at approximately 9 p.m. ET.
Phoenix1 squares off with Immortals to open Sunday's action at 3 p.m. ET, while Team Liquid steps onto the Rift against Team SoloMid next Saturday at 3 p.m. ET.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
P1 vs. Immortals
Phoenix1 flexed its muscles as it swept a surging Immortals team in Sunday's Week 8, Day 3 North American League Championship Series match in Los Angeles.
Game 1 demonstrated the range of tools Phoenix1 (11-5, 25-11) bring to the Rift when they squared off versus Immortals (7-9, 19-21). With an off-meta composition featuring William "Meteos" Hartman on Zac in the jungle and No "Arrow" Dong-hyeon playing Kalista at ADC, P1 were able to accelerate through the early-mid game transition. Before the game got out of hand, Immortals were tying its win condition to Joshua "Dardoch" Hartnett, the strategy that led to its victory over Cloud9 Saturday. However, after a strong start, Dardoch's Rengar was caught on a sloppy invade of P1's red buff and was never able to regain momentum. Meanwhile the opposite jungler was the player of the game as P1's William "Meteos" Hartman went 4/0/10 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) on Zac while managing to participate in 82 percent of his team's kills. P1 took Immortals' Nexus in 25.5 minutes.
In Game 2, Meteos once again played Zac and was equally devastating. Although he didn't start quite as fast as he did in Game 1, he fully displayed his power in a late game teamfight with Baron buff. Immortals forced an engage and Meteos made them pay by answering with a quadra-kill that all but wrapped up the game for P1. Arrow once again highlighted his diverse champion pool as he brought out Draven. Although the game was much closer than the first, there was one position where Immortals were outclassed from start to finish: the mid lane. P1's Ryu "Ryu" Sang-wook actively roamed to provide pressure with his Ahri pick and was even able to solo-kill Eugene "Pobelter" Park's Orianna as he bursted to a 6/1/7 KDA.
We next see Phoenix1 in a battle of top ranked teams as they face Cloud9 on Saturday, March 25 at 6 p.m. ET. Immortals looks to make its final playoff push vs. Counter Logic Gaming on Saturday March 25 at 3 p.m. ET.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
CLG vs. FlyQuest
Counter Logic Gaming overcame slow starts Sunday throughout their 2-0 series victory over FlyQuest during Week 8, Day 3 of the North American League of Legends Championship Series Spring Split in Los Angeles.
FlyQuest (7-9, 18-20 match record) gave up first blood in Game 1, but a five-man gank into bottom lane six minutes in earned them two kills and first turret gold. Both teams traded objectives and kills throughout the mid game, but Counter Logic Gaming (9-7, 20-19 match record) started to pull away when they found a turret advantage from splitpushing side lanes. FlyQuest made a desperate attempt to take Baron off the map but got caught by CLG and gave up four kills plus the buff. FlyQuest couldn't stop the Baron-empowered push and was aced as Counter Logic Gaming pushed to finish off Game 1.
Game 2 started off almost entirely in FlyQuest's favor as they ran up a lead in kills, turrets and gold. Counter Logic Gaming were always just a step behind as they gave up objectives and kills until their gold deficit reached 5,000 by 16 minutes. However FlyQuest's siege kept breaking because CLG started to successfully flank and win teamfights. After Counter Logic Gaming won a 3-for-0 teamfight, they secured Baron and used the buff to take control, pushing all the way to the Nexus. FlyQuest managed to protect the Nexus from CLG but couldn't stop minions from finishing off the series.
FlyQuest continues to fight for its playoff spot as they face Echo Fox on Friday at 9 p.m. ET. Counter Logic Gaming also has their work cut out as they square off with a hungry Immortals squad on Saturday at 3 p.m. ET.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
EnVyUs vs. Cloud9
Cloud9 used patience and clean shot calling to defeat Team Envy 2-1 on Sunday during Week 8, Day 3 of the North America League of Legends Spring Split in Los Angeles.
Game 1 became interesting before it even got started as Nam "LirA" Tae-yoo brought out the off-meta jungle champion of Nidalee. LirA quickly showed the power of his pick as he took first blood on a mid lane gank of Nicolaj "Jensen" Jensen's Cassiopeia. By the time the match was over, the surprise pick proved to be the right one as LirA was player of the game and had a 100 percent kill participation with a 10/1/8 KDA (kills/deaths/assists). Additionally Envy (3-13, 12-27) was rewarded with Apollo "Apollo" Prince's Ziggs pick at ADC despite the risks associated with the champion. In the end he had a 5/2/6 KDA by the time NV broke the Cloud9 (12-4, 27-13) Nexus.
Game 2 was a much more slow and controlled for both teams. At 10 minutes there were zero kills and zero turrets taken by either team. First blood did not come until Jung "Impact" Eon-yeong exploded for a double kill plus an assist just after the 16-minute mark. The story of the game was Cloud9 waiting for NV to make unforced errors which it then transitioned to taking objectives. C9 won with patience, accumulating a number of small advantages instead of trying to force big plays in 50/50 situations, pushing the series to a deciding Game 3. Jensen made up for a relatively weak showing in Game 1 by playing strong on Zed in Game 2 for a 6/1/7 KDA.
The last game of the series picked up where the second left off. Game 3 also featured a slow and controlled early, mid, and late game by Cloud9 on its way to a 55-minute victory. The game could've easily went NV's way if it weren't for Juan "Contractz" Garcia's precise play, winning 50/50 smite fights at Baron, then Elder Dragon a few minutes later deep into late game. Additionally, Zachary "Sneaky" Scuderi played clean, posting an 4/0/6 KDA on Ezreal, leveraging perfect positioning into critical kills for his team.
Cloud9 will try to keep its second place position intact vs.Team Dignitas (8-8, 20-20) Friday, March 24 at 6:00 p.m. ET. Envy hopes to avoid the NA LCS relegation tournament as it takes on Echo Fox (5-11, 13-25) Saturday, March 25 at 6:00 p.m. ET.
