This article is part of our LoL Recap series.
After a disastrous Week 1, Cloud9 picked up its first win of the 2017 North American League of Legends Championship Series summer split with a 2-0 win over Phoenix1 on Friday in Los Angeles.
Cloud9 (1-2, 3-4 match record) came out of the gate swinging in Game 1, picking up multiple kills in the bottom lane. C9's strong teamfighting composition had plenty of pick potential thanks to support Andy "Smoothie" Ta's Thresh, who punished the apparent lack of cohesion in P1's bottom lane duo. Cloud9 took its early game lead and snowballed heavily in the mid game, taking a 4-for-0 teamfight at 17 minutes to establish total control of the game. With a 10,000-gold lead at 21 minutes, Cloud9 looked unstoppable as it cruised into P1's base after a free 24-minute Baron kill, with Smoothie landing Death Sentences on key targets to finish with a 0/0/9 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) for 75 percent kill participation and Player of the Game honors. Phoenix1 managed to dodge a perfect game by taking the Rift Herald earlier on, but that's all C9 gave up as it took a nearly-perfect win in 29 minutes.
Game 2 saw Phoenix1 change up its roster with substitute jungler William "Meteos" Hartman coming in with a Gragas pick, which worked well for Phoenix1 (0-3, 2-6 match record) in the early game. While C9 picked up first blood in the top lane, P1 managed to take a small mid game lead through strong teamfighting. The game was neck-and-neck up until 20 minutes, when P1 managed to jump ahead with a 2-for-0 fight that led to a Baron kill at 24 minutes. A nearly 5,000-gold lead at 28 minutes evaporated when C9 came out on top of a messy fight, picking up a 2-for-0 and swinging momentum back in its favor. Taking a 32-minute Baron on the back of a 1 vs. 1 outplay by top laner Jeon "Ray" Ji-won's Renekton, Cloud9 pressed its advantage with a massive 4-for-0 teamfight win, flooding into P1's base to finish the 35-minute win and complete the 2-0 sweep.
Cloud9 next take to the Rift on Sunday when it battles Echo Fox at 3 p.m ET, while Phoenix1 will look for its first win of the summer against a struggling FlyQuest side on Sunday at 6 p.m ET.
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Team EnVyUs closed out Week 2, Day 1 of the North American League of Legends Championship with a dominant win over a surging Immortals, taking a 2-0 sweep on Friday in Los Angeles.
While Immortals (2-1, 4-3 match record) picked up an early first blood in the top lane on jungler Jake "Xmithie" Puchero's Lee Sin, EnVy quickly fired back with two kills in the bottom lane as its duo lane outplayed IMT's. The action only heated up from there as the teams combined for more than a kill per minute at the 15-minute mark, with EnVy up 10-6 in kills which contributed to a 2,400-gold lead. EnVy's high damage teamfighting composition saw superstar jungler Nam "LirA" Tae-yoo use his signature Nidalee to great effect, dealing massive damage as EnVy took full control in the mid game. By the 22-minute-mark, the game was all but over, as EnVy picked up a Baron kill, increasing its gold lead even more. It added on another Baron kill for good measure after the 31-minute mark, finally closing the game after a final 4-for-0 teamfight in IMT's base to secure the Game 1 win.
Game 2 was more of the same for Team EnVyUs (2-1, 5-3 match record), as it got ahead early with a plethora of kills. After picking up first blood at six minutes, LirA's Lee Sin snowballed out of control, picking up kills across the map as EnVy took a tenuous gold lead into the mid game. In stark contrast to its Spring Split form, EnVy's macro game carried it through the mid/late game, taking towers and baiting objectives to lure Immortals teamfighting composition into untimely deaths. A 4-for-0 teamfight in the mid lane gave EnVy the space it needed to take a 24-minute Baron, which pushed its gold lead to roughly 11,000 gold. After taking a second Baron at 32 minutes, EnVy stormed into IMT's base, taking a 5-for-1 ace that started with a sick display of skill from LirA. The Spring Split All-NA LCS first team jungler locked up Player of the Game honors with a flawless 6/0/10 KDA for 89 percent kill participation, finishing Game 2 in 33 minutes as EnVy took a surprisingly clean 2-0 sweep over IMT.
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Counter Logic Gaming survived a scare from Echo Fox on Saturday, taking a 2-1 series win to kick off Week 2, Day 2 of the North American League of Legends Championship Series in Los Angeles.
While Echo Fox (2-1, 5-2 match record) was playing with substitute jungler Jonathan "Grigne" Armao, its incredibly risky draft in Game 1 featuring zero tanks against CLG's strong pick potential probably wouldn't have worked even with starting jungler Matthew "Akaadian" Higginbotham in the game. CLG jungler Joshua "Dardoch" Hartnett got the ball rolling early as Rengar, picking up kills across the map to put CLG on top. After securing a 23-minute Baron, Counter Logic Gaming (3-0, 6-2 match record) was nye unstoppable with Dardoch picking up a quadra kill shortly afterwards. After CLG took a second Baron kill and its third Infernal Drake, there was nothing that Echo Fox could do, especially when Dardoch kept pouncing on EF's backline to finish with a 9/2/3 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) as CLG took Game 1 in 37 minutes.
Echo Fox came back stronger in Game 2, with Grigne's Lee Sin getting mid laner Henrik "Froggen" Hansen ahead early on as Taliyah. Froggen did what Froggen does best: kill everything around him and make as much gold as possible. Echo Fox rotated well, playing around Froggen's massive damage output and his ability to change teamfights across the map with the Weaver's Wall. CLG threatened to comeback after Echo Fox settled into a late-game lull, but Froggen and EF's teamfighting composition was too much for CLG to handle. Securing a second Baron kill, Echo Fox finally pushed into CLG's base to take Game 2 in 40 minutes and force Game 3.
Tensions were high heading into Game 3, as Dardoch's Graves picked up first blood in the top lane. Echo Fox quickly took control, though, as EF top laner Jang "Looper" Hyeong-seok's Kennen could not be contained in the splitpush. While CLG managed to stay a bit competitive to try and prolong the game for its late-gate scaling composition, Echo Fox still was solidly ahead, and looked to a 24-minute Baron to get the edge it needed to close out the series win, but Dardoch made a spectacular Baron steal and led CLG to a 4-for-0 follow-up fight. Suddenly, CLG was massively ahead with a Baron power play of +7,867-gold, knocking down inhibitors with unbreakable teamfighting. CLG completed the miraculous comeback in 33 minutes with a 4-for-0 teamfight at Echo Fox's Nexus, completing the 2-1 series win to stay undefeated.
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Continuing its early undefeated streak, Team Dignitas took down fan favorites Team SoloMid 2-1 on Saturday during Week 2, Day 2 of the North American League of Legends Championship Series Summer Split in Los Angeles.
The first game of the series hinged around Dignitas'jungler Lee "Shrimp" Byeong-hoon's Lee Sin and support Terry "Big" Chuong's Bard. Shrimp not only found kills in the early game, but also took Rift Herald and stole multiple dragons to put Dignitas (3-0, 6-2 match record) ahead. Mid laner Soren "Bjergsen" Bjerg's Taliyah kept TSM in the game with picks, but every time he tried to use Weaver's Wall to secure an objective, he was shut down by Big's Tempered Fate. This allowed Dignitas to build a massive objective advantage, putting the game out of reach for TSM as Dignitas only had to take one teamfight at 36 minutes to end the game.
Team SoloMid (1-2, 3-4 match record) drafted the coveted Xayah/Rakan duo in Game 2 for the bottom lane, which carried TSM to great effect. Virtually every engagement for TSM hinged on support Vincent "Biofrost" Wang's ability to land his combos with Rakan; TSM crushed fights where he pulled it off, and floundered when he (rarely) failed. All the while, AD carry Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng's Xayah found kill after kill, ending with a flawless 10/0/5 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) and even Flame Horizoning his opponent by going up by over 100 CS. Fittingly, the game ended off of a flashy play from Biofrost, leading to an ace for TSM and a 45-minute victory.
Game 3 saw TSM draft a siege composition into a dedicated pick comp from Dignitas, and the match played out as one would expect from there. DIG went up in kills very early on, largely thanks to the outplays by star top laner Kim "Ssumday" Chan-ho on Fiora, but TSM maintained a gold lead by taking all three outer turrets before Dignitas had taken one. The lead wouldn't last long, however, as TSM jungler Dennis "Svenskeren" Johnsen's Elise gave up Baron after dying for the fifth time at 21 minutes, surrendering control back to Dignitas. Ultimately, the game ended much like the first, with an Elder Drake secure and teamfight victory for Dignitas leading to a 35-minute win.
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FlyQuest's losing streak continued on Saturday as it fell Immortals 2-1 in Week 2 of the North American League of Legends Championship Series Summer Split in Los Angeles.
The early stage of Game 1 was all about the diving buddies of mid laner Hai "Hai" Lam's Talon and top laner An "Balls" Le's Jarvan IV from FlyQuest. These two made team fights an absolute nightmare for the backline of Immortals, and claimed all of FLY's early kills. However, FLY ADC Jason "WildTurtle" Tran was pushed onto Ziggs to provide magic damage and looked uncomfortable, getting picked off time and again. As a result, Immortals was able to come back with a 40-minute team fight and Baron. IMT (3-1, 6-4 match record) then charged into the FlyQuest base to end the game in 47 minutes.
In Game 2 FlyQuest's tag team was Hai's Orianna paired with the Rengar of jungler Galen "Moon" Holgate. Less than four minutes in, Hai solo killed Eugene "Pobelter" Park's LeBlanc for first blood, justifying his unorthodox Ignite spell. Meanwhile, Moon's Rengar put in work throughout the mid game, finding numerous picks to eventually earn a 4/0/6 KDA (kills/deaths/assists). Although Moon was never actually used as a ball carrier for Hai's Shockwave, the two of them together provided an enormous threat onto the backline that gave FlyQuest (0-3, 1-6 match record) its first game win of the split in 33 minutes.
Game 3 looked like it would be WildTurtle's chance at redemption, as his Jhin found multiple early kills with his trademark aggressive Flashes. However, once again, he was caught out of position, giving over a 3-for-0 fight and Baron to Immortals at 26 minutes. From there, Jake "Xmithie" Puchero simply took over the game on the new-and-improved Zac. Every single engage was perfection from the IMT jungler as he demonstrated the power of the reworked ultimate, splitting up FlyQuest to take a 33-minute win and the series.
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Week 2, Day 2 of the North American League of Legends Championship Series ended on Saturday with an absolute slugfest as Team EnVyUs took a 2-1 win over Team Liquid in Los Angeles.
Liquid's composition revolving around star AD carry Chae "Piglet" Gwang-jin's Xayah had a strong start when Liquid (0-3, 1-6 match record) picked up an Infernal Drake and first blood at 10 minutes. Piglet began to snowball, picking up a kill in a 2-vs-2 outplay and first tower gold, but EnVy stayed even in gold thanks to a large CS (creep score) lead for top laner Shin "Seraph" Woo-yeong's Jarvan IV. Try as Liquid might, it was unable to push its early kill lead, allowing EnVy's siege composition to lay waste to its towers. TL tried to retake control with a Baron attempt at 27 minutes, but atrocious team fighting led to EnVy (3-1, 7-4 match record) picking up the Baron instead. With the Baron buff in tow, EnVy rotated well in the late game and easily took Game 1 in 36 minutes.
Team Liquid kept its composure despite throwing Game 1, beginning Game 2 on a high note with mid laner Greyson "Goldenglue" Gilmer's Galio and jungler Kim "Reignover" Yeu-jin's Olaf linking up well to lead Liquid to an early lead. Goldenglue, the often maligned mid laner, shined on Galio, absorbing ridiculous amounts of damage and helping Reignover continuously blitz down EnVy's backline. Liquid's high powered team fighting composition quickly out-scaled that of EnVy's early-game focused pick/siege composition, holding an over 10,000-gold lead at 36 minutes. It might have taken a couple of Baron kills and an Elder Dragon, but Goldenglue led the way for TL with a flawless 5/0/12 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) as Liquid forced Game 3 with a 40-minute win.
In a series deciding Game 3, Goldenglue took Lucian into the mid lane, but it didn't matter much as EnVy was given almost all of its power picks. With mid laner Choi "Pirean" Jun-sik back on Taliyah and AD carry Apollo "Apollo" Price back on Caitlyn, EnVy's mid game siege potential was simply ridiculous. Liquid's team fighting composition did a decent job early on as EnVy was occasionally caught out, but EnVy took over the late game largely thanks to Apollo, who dealt a whopping 47,900 damage to enemy champions. It certainly took a while, but Apollo's 9/1/6 KDA led Team EnVyUs to a 42-minute win, securing the series win to go 2-0 on the weekend.
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Cloud9 certainly impressed Sunday in its 2-0 sweep of Echo Fox on Week 2, Day 3 of the North American League of Legends Championship Series, picking up both the longest and fastest wins of the Summer Split in Los Angeles.
Echo Fox (2-2, 5-4 match record) took an early lead in Game 1, but constant back-and-forth fighting kept things relatively even into the mid game. Cloud9's teamfighting composition required time to scale up, giving Echo Fox a window in which its pick comp could take over the game. When the team needed a playmaker, EF turned to mid laner Henrik "Froggen" Hansen's LeBlanc, who dealt massive damage and was a huge splitpushing threat. After securing a Baron at 26 minutes, Cloud9 (2-2, 5-4 match record) did what it could to stem the EF tides, but Froggen's pressure on the backline was too much to deal with. Things were going great for Echo Fox, who looked poised to take Game 1, but then its historic late-game woes returned. Unable to make proactive plays and unsure what to do in the late game, Echo Fox squandered its lead, going so far as to knock down C9's Nexus turrets before Cloud9 took control in an hour long Game 1, eventually scaling up and taking down Echo Fox in 61 minutes.
Echo Fox found another early lead into Game 2, mostly on the back of substitute jungler Jonathan "Grig" Armao's Lee Sin. Grig's early pressure gave Echo Fox a distinct tempo advantage, allowing EF's pick comp to rotate around the map and take relatively free towers. Crisp rotations made it appear as though Echo Fox's horrendous shotcalling late in Game 1 was a thing of the past, but, like all things Echo Fox, hope quickly turned into bitter disappointment. In what most would consider an unnecessarily risky move, Echo Fox attempted a Baron kill at 21 minutes while all of C9 was healthy and nearby. Cloud9 slaughtered Echo Fox with a 3-for-0 teamfight, taking the Baron kill and swinging momentum violently in its favor. Pushing down the mid lane, Cloud9 rendered Echo Fox's meager attempts at base defense useless, taking the fastest game of the Summer Split in 23 minutes to close out a comically tragic 2-0 sweep.
Echo Fox will hope to shake this loss off on Friday with a series against Team EnVyUs at 9 p.m. ET, and Cloud9 prepares to take on Immortals at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday.
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Two streaks ended on Sunday, as Team Liquid found its first win of the split by handing Team Dignitas its first loss, 2-1, in Week 2 of the North American League of Legends Championship Series Summer Split in Los Angeles.
The universe revolved around Dignitas top laner Kim "Ssumday" Chan-ho on Fiora in Game 1. While he wasn't involved in many early kills, he created immense map pressure throughout the game. Team Liquid (1-3, 3-7 match record) attempted to counter the split-push by drafting the hard engage tandem of Rengar and Taliyah for jungler Kim "Reignover" Yeu-jin and mid laner Greyson "Goldenglue" Gilmer, respectively, to force 5-vs-4 teamfights, but the execution simply never came together. By the end of the 34-minute win, Ssumday's Fiora had accrued over 100 CS more than his TL counterpart, picking up a flame horizon as well as a 4/0/2 KDA (kills/deaths/assists).
TL gave Taliyah to Goldenglue again for Game 2, and it paid off in spades. Team Dignitas (3-1, 7-4 match record) drafted a brutal 5-vs-5 teamfight composition, but Goldenglue made excellent use of Weaver's Wall to split DIG up and create picks, maintaining perfect kill participation for 27 minutes. Dignitas got back into the game with a beautiful combination of Explosive Cask from jungler Lee "Shrimp" Byeong-hoon's Gragas and Command: Shockwave from mid laner Jang "Keane" Lae-young's Orianna, but one final Weaver's Wall set up a 4-for-0 fight for Liquid at 45 minutes, sending the series to a Game 3.
The early stage of the deciding game was all about jungler Reignover's Olaf, who participated in four kills for Liquid before the 10-minute mark and put his team out to a huge early gold lead. Ssumday, on Jarvan IV this time around, put in his best effort to carry Team Dignitas again, finding mid-game kills and initiating a brilliant teamfight at 35 minutes to get DIG an ace despite its deficit. However, Team Liquid's siege composition had lent it an objective lead that could not be overcome, and as such it only took one teamfight win at 39 minutes to end the series.
Team Liquid will be able to hold its head a bit higher when it faces Immortals on Friday at 6 p.m. ET. Team Dignitas, meanwhile, will look to rebound against a struggling Phoenix1 on Saturday at 6 p.m ET.
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In the latest iteration of the most famous rivalry in North American League of Legends Championship Series history, Team SoloMid took down undefeated Counter Logic Gaming in a 2-1 series on Week 2, Day 4 in Los Angeles.
Counter Logic Gaming (3-1, 7-4 match record) gave mid laner Choi "Huhi" Jae-hyun a surprising Fiora pick to counter the Galio of TSM mid Soren "Bjergsen" Bjerg. CLG (3-1, 7-4 match record) jumped ahead through strong skirmishing, taking a Baron kill right as it spawned at the 20-minute mark. Team SoloMid (2-2, 5-5 match record) did its best to stem the tide, but CLG's kept the pressure on with clutch Rocket Grabs from Zaqueri "aphromoo" Black's Blitzcrank. TSM showed some life late as it attempted a Baron secure around the 34-minute, but that allowed Huhi to split push down two inhibitors and a Nexus turret while the rest of CLG won a teamfight and took its second Baron kill of the game, knocking down TSM's Nexus shortly afterwards.
The early game action in Game 2 was mainly found in the side lanes again as CLG focused on top while TSM focused on bottom. TSM's commitment to the bottom lane gave it a modest gold lead with three kills and first turret gold by eight minutes. TSM showed better rotations throughout the mid game, securing several picks, a Rift Herald, an Infernal Drake, and a huge turret advantage. CLG found some picks later in the game, but TSM stayed on top through superior teamfighting and jungler Dennis "Svenskeren" Johnsen had an amazing performance on Lee Sin in Game 2 as his 13/0/12 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) earned him a 89 percent kill participation. CLG's final stand fell flat with 3-for-0 teamfight loss in its base as TSM pushed to even up the series.
Team SoloMid opted for a split pushing composition in Game 3, which worked up to a point. While TSM managed to build small CS leads in the solo lanes, CLG funneled resources into AD carry Trevor "Stixxay" Hayes' Xayah and tried to force 5-vs-5 teamfights. Neither team gained much in the first 20-minutes as kills, turrets and gold were relatively even. TSM started to pull away late in the game, but CLG had one good fight left in it, conquering TSM at 37 minutes and threatening to end the game with a dramatic final push. Team SoloMid respawned just in time to save its Nexus by killing three members of CLG, pushing into CLG's base with a huge wave of super minions to finish the 2-1 series win.
Team SoloMid's next match on the Rift is against Team Liquid on Saturday at 3 p.m. ET, and Counter Logic Gaming faces off against FlyQuest at 6 p.m. ET.
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FlyQuest picked up its first series win of the split in Week 2 of the North American League of Legends Championship Series Summer Split with a 2-0 sweep over Phoenix1 in Los Angeles.
FlyQuest (1-3, 3-6 match record) drafted aggressively in Game 1, bringing five damage threats to the table against the dual tanks of Phoenix1 (0-4, 2-8 match record). FQ's draft allowed it to shine the game's early skirmishes, as P1 didn't yet have the necessary bulk to survive the damage coming from FlyQuest top laner An "Balls" Le's Rumble or mid laner Hai "Hai" Lam's Viktor. P1 mid Yoo "Ryu" Sang-wook did his best to keep his team in the game as Cassiopeia, but couldn't provide enough damage all on his own to keep P1 competitive in the late game. FlyQuest took a 3-for-1 fight to take Baron buff at 29 minutes, which it used to end the game in 34 minutes.
In an effort to claw back into the series, Phoenix1 turned the Game 2 draft on its head by picking a shocking Urgot for top laner Derek "zig" Shao in Game 2. Alongside Ryu's Lucian and Noh "Arrow" Dong-hyeon's Kalista, Phoenix1 looked to dominate teamfights with a triple marksman composition, particularly in the late game. Initially, P1's crazy plan seemed to work out, as zig kept up with Balls' lane-dominant Kennen. However, outside of a couple of early picks, Phoenix1 couldn't find much of anything in this game as FlyQuest surged in the mid game. FlyQuest won several fights in a row starting at 18 minutes, thanks to a stronger early teamfighting composition, quickly finishing the game after taking a Baron buff at 25 minutes to wrap up the 2-0 sweep.
FlyQuest looks to maintain its momentum when it takes on Counter Logic Gaming on Saturday at 6 p.m. ET, and Phoenix1 looks to pick up its first win of the split against Team Dignitas at 6 p.m. ET on Saturday.
