This article is part of our LoL Recap series.
In a hotly contested opening series to the 2017 North American League of Legends Championship Series Summer Split, Counter Logic Gaming took a 2-1 victory over Cloud9 on Friday in Los Angeles.
Counter Logic Gaming made the jungle a priority in Game 1, using all of three of its first-round bans on jungle champions. Cloud9 jungler Juan "Contractz" Garcia wasn't fazed by the extra attention, gradually helping his team gain the advantage in teamfights as Olaf. With Contractz, who didn't die once through the first 35 minutes, running in with a head full of steam into every fight, mid laner Nicolaj "Jensen" Jensen's Orianna and AD carry Zachary "Sneaky" Scuderi's Varus were able to bring the finishing touches in pivotal teamfights. CLG had no way back in and fell to C9 in 37 minutes.
Coming off the tough loss, CLG needed a spark to keep hope alive in the second game of the series. That spark came in the form of the team drafting the flashy bottom lane duo of Xayah and Rakan for AD carry Trevor "Stixxay" Hayes and support Zaqueri "aphromoo" Black. While things looked a bit rough for CLG early on when mid laner Jae-hyun "Huhi" Choi's Orianna was picked off twice. Huhi and CLG stabilized during a fairly slow midgame. Once the late-game hit, CLG dominated with gusto. Its bot-lane duo controlled teamfights with the help of Huhi to lock up the win after 41 hard-fought minutes to force a Game 3.
C9 went for a risky team composition in the final game, not drafting a tank and instead opting to rely on the shielding from Andy "Smoothie" Ta's Lulu. The decision ended up backfiring quite spectacularly, with CLG using its bursty composition to shred Cloud9 in teamfight after teamfight. Cloud9 fought valiantly while pushing the game to 53 minutes, but its lack of a tank presence was its ultimate downfall as CLG pushed forward to lock up a win in the first series of the 2017 Summer Split.
CLG will have a quick turnaround Saturday when it takes on Team Liquid at 3 p.m. ET, while Cloud9 faces the defending NA LCS champion Team SoloMid on Saturday at 6 p.m. ET.
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Immortals had a slow start to its opening series Friday during Week 1, Day 1 of the 2017 North American League of Legends Championship Series Summer Split, but still managed to take an impressive 2-1 series win over Phoenix1 in Los Angeles.
Phoenix1 (0-1, 1-2 match record) struck first in Game 1 as support Jordan "Shady" Robison's Karma picked up first blood alongside Spring Split MVP AD carry Noh "Arrow" Dong-hyeon's Varus in a 2-v-2 outplay around 10 minutes in. Immortals quickly took control, however, using its siege composition to take towers for a modest gold lead. P1 stayed in the game with its pick composition by repeatedly harassing IMT AD carry Cody "Cody Sun" Sun's Caitlyn, killing him repeatedly to extend the sloppy series opener.
IMT looked to put the game away with a 32-minute Baron attempt, but P1 jungler Rami "Inori" Charagh stole the Baron kill, putting P1 ahead. From there, P1 secured a charged up Elder Dragon, a second Baron, and a plethora of kills thanks to Arrow, who took player of the game honors with a 5/0/7 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) for 92 percent kill participation as P1 took Game 1 in 44 minutes.
Immortals (1-0, 2-1 match record) came storming back in Game 2, picking up first blood for top laner Lee "Flame" Ho-jong's Renekton in an early jungle invade. P1 then attempted to get its teamfighting comp rolling with a five-man bot lane dive, but disaster struck as IMT turned it around for a 5-for-2 ace before 10 minutes. On the back of its 2,500-gold lead, Immortals had complete control of the map in the mid game, taking towers and kills with strong macro plays. Newly acquired jungler Jake "Xmithie" Puchero made an immediate impact as Elise, making his presence felt across the map by setting up kills for his team. It took a while for Immortals to close out the game after a mid-late game lull, but neutral objective domination gave it three Infernal Drakes, a Cloud Drake and a 33-minute Baron.
Increasing its gold lead to 11,000 gold at 39 minutes, IMT finally put the game away with a 5-for-0 ace at 41 minutes to take Game 2. In the pivotal Game 3, Immortals seemed to completely shrug off its shaky start to the series by setting a blistering pace in the mid game, taking towers, teamfights and anything else it set its sights on. A 4-for-0 teamfight win at 19 minutes put Immortals up with a 7,000-gold lead, which increased to a 10,000-gold lead at 22 minutes as Immortals exposed P1's top lane inhibitor. Eugene "Pobelter" Park was unstoppable on Orianna, linking up with Xmithie to take P1 out before it could scale into the late game. One final 3-for-0 teamfight later gave Immortals a 17,000-gold lead and a Game 3 win in just shy of 30 minutes to close out the day. Immortals hope to take this momentum into its matchup against reigning NA LCS champions Team SoloMid on Sunday at 3 p.m ET, while Phoenix1 look to bounce back against Team EnVyUs on Sunday at 3 p.m ET.
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Same roster, same problems for Team Liquid, which got stomped by Counter Logic Gaming in a macro-game clinic to kick off Day 2 of Week 1 of the North American League of Legends Championship Series on Saturday in Los Angeles.
It's not often that a professional team gets gifted four kills to start the game, but there Liquid was, enjoying a 1,500-gold lead at just three minutes after Counter Logic Gaming (2-0, 4-1 match record) essentially gave three kills to Liquid AD carry Chae "Piglet" Gwang-jin's Jhin. Liquid was unable to press this advantage, though, allowing CLG to come back into the game through playmaking from CLG support Zaqueri "aphromoo" Black's Bard.
CLG put constant pressure on the mid lane, brute-forcing towers and punishing Liquid's lack of waveclear, which was a problem outlined in TL's draft. Liquid tried to make plays for split-pushing top laner Samson "Lourlo" Jackson's Fiora, but aphromoo defused those attempts with stunning, highlight-reel plays. CLG continued to march up the mid lane with its brutal pick composition, chaining crowd control for easy kills, and giving aphromoo a 1/1/9 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) for 91 percent kill participation before finishing its clinic on macro play with the 26-minute win.
Counter Logic Gaming drafted another high crowd-control siege composition in Game 2, which it used to great effect against a Liquid side that struggled to keep up with CLG's macro game. After a three-man roam gave first blood to top laner Darshan "Darshan" Upadhyaya's Gragas, Darshan was able to fight off a three-man dive from Liquid, trading 1-for-1 and giving CLG time to secure first tower in the bottom lane. Aphromoo came alive in the mid game as Nami, landing Aqua Prisons and Tidal Waves to pick off TL members so CLG could take free objectives. Rather than just running it down mid as in Game 1, CLG dominated Game 2 through objective control, taking two Infernal Drakes, an Ocean Drake and a Cloud Drake that charged up a 38-minute Elder Dragon, all while side wave control and rotations in the late game stymied Team Liquid (0-1, 0-2 match record). With the Elder Dragon buffing CLG's teamfighting, CLG took a final 5-for-1 teamfight at 41 minutes to close out the 2-0 series sweep.
Team Liquid will look to bounce back Sunday against Echo Fox at 6 p.m ET, while Counter Logic Gaming next takes to the Rift to take on Echo Fox next Saturday at 3 p.m ET.
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The return of Jason "WildTurtle" Tran to his former teammates on FlyQuest has yet to pay dividends, as they went down 2-0 to Echo Fox on Day 2 of Week 1 of the North American League of Legends Championship Series Summer Split in Los Angeles.
The series started with Fox jungler Matthew "Akaadian" Higginbotham finding a pair of quick kills on his signature Graves. Shortly after, more than a minute of nonstop action on the map resulted in a 4-for-3 overall trade in favor of FlyQuest, who also managed to grab first turret. A Baron rush at 22 minutes put Echo Fox ahead, and mid laner Henrik "Froggen" Hansen's fed LeBlanc found multiple picks to push the lead. Finally, Echo Fox managed to cleanly ace FlyQuest in a 4-vs.-5 teamfight as the latter attempted Baron, allowing Fox to end the game in 32 minutes.
Game 2 was a clash of conflicting team compositions, as FlyQuest drafted a low-waveclear comp with multiple split-pushers against Echo Fox's dual AD carries and plethora of shields. Froggen shined once again, this time on Lucian, finding early kills and growing an initial CS lead into an eventual Flame Horizon over Hai "Hai" Lam's Kassadin. He made it easy for Fox to take the first two real teamfights, which yielded a Baron at 25 minutes. A pair of heroic base defenses and an Elder Drake secure from FlyQuest put it back in the game, but all it took was a positional map error from Fly for Echo Fox to capitalize and take the open Nexus at 43 minutes.
FlyQuest will look for redemption against Team Dignitas on Sunday June 4th at 6p.m. ET. Meanwhile, Echo Fox will look to end the week 2-0 against Team Liquid at the same time.
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In a rematch of the 2017 Spring Split finals, Team SoloMid showed that it is still the top dogs in the North American League of Legends Championship Series on Saturday. The team took a hard-fought 2-0 sweep over Cloud9 to close out the second day of Week 1 in Los Angeles.
From the draft phase, TSM's gameplan was clear: get returning AD carry Peter "Doublelift" Peng ahead as Caitlyn. Doublelift showed off his incredible laning phase skills early on, absorbing pressure from C9 jungler Juan "Contractz" Arturo Garcia's Lee Sin, who struggled throughout Game 1. Team SoloMid (1-0, 2-0 match record) appeared to be back to its dominant 2016 Summer Split form as it racked up advantages across the map, leading to a 5,000-gold lead at 18 minutes. Cloud9 wouldn't give up without a fight, though, suddenly taking control after a gutsy 23-minute Baron call. While TSM's early leads gave it several towers and neutral objectives, Cloud9 clawed back into the game, neutralizing TSM's gold lead, but TSM pulled itself together by securing a Baron kill at 31 minutes. From there, TSM showed clever uses of mid laner Soren "Bjergsen" Bjerg's Taliyah ultimate, setting up the Weaver's Wall to take free objectives. After securing an Elder Dragon at 36 minutes, there was little Cloud9 could do to stop Doublelift and TSM as the reigning North American champions took Game 1 in 42 minutes.
TSM's game plan changed in Game 2 with its team
fighting/pick composition, but Cloud9 (0-2, 1-4 match record) jumped ahead early after top laner Jeon "Ray" Ji-won picked up a solo kill in the top lane as Gragas. Both teams were dead even in gold heading into the mid game, with TSM defusing C9's attempted plays through clutch saves from support Vincent "Biofrost" Wang's Tahm Kench, but Cloud9 broke the deadlock with a 2-for-0 teamfight that led to a Baron secure at 22 minutes. Cloud9 used the Baron buff to great effect with its 1-3-1 splitpushing team composition, taking several towers, but got over-confident once the buff expired. TSM took control when Cloud9 tried to force a Baron kill at 30 minutes, with Bjergsen's Syndra picking up a triple kill, en route to his 8/1/6 KDA (kills/deaths/assists), and the Baron secure. From there, Cloud9 couldn't use its engage tools to start fights or deal with the splitpushing from TSM top laner Kevin "Hauntzer" Yarnell's Kennen, crumbling in the late game. TSM showed that it was still the dominant force in North America by cracking open C9's base before a 5-for-0 ace gave TSM the 37-minute Game 2 win to lock up the series sweep.
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In the opening match of the split for both teams, Team Dignitas edged out Team EnVyUs 2-1 on Saturday during the second day of Week 1 of the North American League of Legends Championship Series Summer Split in Los Angeles.
Game 1 was fairly slow, with only four kills before the 17-minute mark. This was a dream for Team Dignitas, whose team composition scaled heavily into the late game. In particular, Jang "Keane" Lae-young's Orianna grabbed assists on both of his team's early kills and went up in CS against the usually lane-dominant Syndra from Choi "Pirean" Jun-sik. This lent Dignitas a gradual lead, which it pushed with a pair of brilliant Baron sneaks. Finally, a teamfight in the jungle of Team EnVyUs gave Dignitas an ace and the game.
Dignitas went for a nearly identical scaling composition in Game 2, but NV wasn't about to let DIG get away with it twice. NV used Pirean's Taliyah in conjunction with Nam "LirA" Tae-yoo's Lee Sin to dominate the early game, finding multiple kills across the map. This granted Team EnVyUs absolute objective control, as it took every single dragon, kept DIG from getting a single turret, and took Baron at 29 minutes. From there, NV kept finding picks and towers, eventually ending the game at 41 minutes after taking a second Baron.
The deciding game was a grueling affair, with no action taking place until a teamfight at dragon gave Dignitas a 4-for-0 at 11 minutes. DIG only found more kills over 20 minutes later, when a pair of picks in the top lane granted it Baron at 35 minutes. NV's scaling, however, allowed it to hold on despite a nearly 10,000-gold deficit, and take its own fight and Baron at 46 minutes. In the end, Dignitas' secure of Elder Drake at 51 minutes helped it take the final teamfight, ending the game through mid lane.
Team EnVyUs will hope to bounce back against Phoenix1 on Sunday June 4th at 3 p.m. ET. Meanwhile, Team Dignitas will look for a cleaner victory against FlyQuest Sunday at 5 p.m ET.
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In the biggest upset during Week 1 of the 2017 North American League of Legends Championship Series Summer Split, Immortals knocked off defending champion Team SoloMid in a swift 2-0 series on Sunday in Los Angeles.
Immortals (2-0, 4-1 match record) had a clear goal in the opening game of this series, and it was to pick TSM (1-1, 2-2 match record) to death. With a team composition focused on getting clean engagements, namely from the Bard of support Kim "Olleh" Joo-sung, Immortals executed this strategy to perfection. Immortals made it a point to harass TSM top laner Kevin "Haunzter" Yarnell's Fiora early to get the snowball rolling, resulting in three kills by the time 20 minutes had passed.
TSM had a sliver of a hope in the midgame when it took a decisive fight around Baron to secure the buff, but the buff only served to even up the gold between the two teams. From then on, Olleh, who finished with an MVP-earning 3/1/10 KDA (kills/deaths/assists), continued to secure picks for his team at every angle, which eventually overwhelmed TSM and allowed Immortals to pick up the 37-minute win.
Immortals took its momentum from Game 1 and hit the ground running in the second game with another first blood, with Jake "Xmithie" Puchero, this time on Gragas, once again being the catalyst for the pick. While TSM pushed back with a couple of kills shortly after, Immortals went for a haymaker in the form of a 3-for-0 teamfight win just 12 minutes in.
That was the only boost that Immortals needed to start picking up fights all across the map. Despite having drafted a 5-vs-5 composition centered on teamfights, TSM was too often spread out, which allowed Immortals to easily hold its lead into the midgame. TSM's tendency to spread out culminated with Immortals securing a massive 4-for-0 teamfight win that allowed it to waltz into the base and lock up the series sweep with a 32-minute Game 2 win.
Immortals will be back in action Friday at 9 p.m. ET to take on Team EnVyUs, while TSM will face Team Dignitas on Saturday at 3 p.m. ET.
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Team EnVyUs took down Phoenix1 on Sunday in a hardfought three game series during Day 3, Week 1 of the North American League of Legends Championship Series Summer Split in Los Angeles.
In Game 1 both teams drafted fairly mirrored team compositions, but Team EnVyUs (1-1, 3-3 match record) put together the better early game. Team EnVy's jungler Nam "LirA" Tae-yoo's Nidalee made a successful gank in the bottom lane that secured first blood and a kill for AD carry Apollo "Apollo" Price's Ashe. Phoenix1 (0-2, 2-4 match record) could not get ahead in any lanes heading into the mid game and tried forcing fights that did more harm than good. EnVy turned around nearly all of the engages to win teamfights and take down objectives. Phoenix1's last hope was jungler Rami "Inori" Charagh who tried his best to steal Baron from EnVy at the 38-minute mark but failed and died in the attempt. Once Team EnVy had a Baron buff it reset and easily pushed to a 1-0 lead in the series.
Phoenix1 drafted a protect AD carry composition in Game 2 that got punished early. AD carry Noh "Arrow" Dong-hyeon's Twitch got caught face-checking a bush at level one and was forced back to base, losing out on minion waves early. Team EnVy kept exploiting the early weakness in the bottom lane by rotating there often, securing kills and objectives. However Phoenix1 weathered the first half of Game 2 and started to turn things around once Arrow got a few key items. After the 23-minute mark, Phoenix1's teamfight dominance started to come alive. Arrow's Twitch doled out Sewer Skewers for everyone on his way to racking up the most damage done to champions in Game 2. Phoenix1 easily ripped through EnVy's base and tied the series up after scoring an ace.
In Game 3, Phoenix1 drafted another protect AD carry composition with Arrow on Kog'Maw. The early game wasn't disastrous for Phoenix1 like Game 2, but it still went in favor of Team EnVy as LirA's Lee Sin made pivotal ganks that resulted in kills and turrets. EnVy's lead allowed it to successfully keep 1-3-1 split push pressure on throughout the mid game as Phoenix1 sunk further into its gold deficit. Phoenix1 struggled to find the right engages to break the split push as EnVy rotated between pushings lanes and Baron. The dance between objectives slowly bled Phoenix1 of turrets, forcing it to make a desperate group push in the mid lane. The call to push cost Phoenix1 the series as it gave Seraph's Jayce an opening to teleport into base and knock down the Nexus for Team EnVy's first series win of the summer.
Phoenix1 will face off against Cloud9 on Friday at 4 pm ET, with Team EnVy following that match with its own against Immortals at approximately 7 pm ET.
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FlyQuest continued its rough start to the North American League of Legends Championship Series Summer Split losing in another sweep, this time at the hands of Team Dignitas on Sunday in Los Angeles.
The story of the first game in this series was Dignitas' top laner Kim "Ssumday" Chan-ho picking Lucian, a carry champion typically seen in the bottom lane, into the Kennen of FlyQuest top laner An "Balls" Le. It paid off well for Ssumday, who completely dominated his lane to give his team a huge advantage from the very start. FlyQuest (0-2, 0-4 match record) tried its best to keep things even with some trade kills, but Dignitas' pick-focused composition easily took far too many fights for FlyQuest to keep up. FlyQuest AD carry Jason "WildTurtle" Tran's Varus found a late triple kill after Dignitas (2-0, 4-1 match record) secured the Baron, but even that wasn't enough. Another big teamfight win, this time a 4-for-1, was all Dignitas needed to lock up the 35-minute win. Ssumday was a dominant force throughout, posting a 7/1/8 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) while also accounting for 7,000 of his team's 12,700-gold lead by the game's end.
While Ssumday didn't pick a straight up AD carry for his champion in Game 2, he did go with the explosive Fiora, and he was once again electric. The game started off with both teams making some trades across the map to bring things to a bit of a stalemate. FlyQuest tried to look for a spark in the form of kills, with mid laner Hai "Hai" Du Lam's Syndra leading the way, but Dignitas continued to hold onto a sizable lead through strong control of the objectives. After taking the Baron around 25 minutes, Ssumday, who finished with a 6/1/3 KDA in Game 2, proceeded to split-push relentlessly. He took down an inhibitor and a Nexus turret on his own while his teammates pushed for objectives elsewhere on the map. Unable to recover from Dignitas' immense pressure, FlyQuest were taken down in 34 minutes.
Dignitas will be back on the Rift next Saturday against Team SoloMid at 3 p.m. ET, while FlyQuest will look to bounce back from an 0-2 first week of the Summer Split against Immortals on Saturday at 6 p.m. ET.
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Echo Fox finished Week 1 undefeated, securing a 2-0 sweep on Sunday over Team Liquid on Day 3 of the North American League of Legends Championship Series Summer Split in Los Angeles.
In Game 1, Echo Fox (2-0, 4-0 match record) saved a nifty counter pick for its mid laner Henrik "Froggen" Hansen, setting him up with Ekko to go against Andrew "Slooshi" Pham's Syndra. Froggen got an early lead thanks to gank help and was able to aid by pressuring the side lanes. Team Liquid (0-2, 0-4 match record) contested objectives initially, but conceded them rather than giving over kills to Echo Fox. The passive play allowed EF to methodically expand its sphere of influence over the Rift, and the third Baron allowed it to take Game 1.
Echo Fox drafted a split push composition in Game 2, giving first pick priority to Jang "Looper" Hyeong-seok's Kennen. Looper was given gank help to enable his split push pressure, drawing a lot of attention from Team Liquid throughout the mid game. Team Liquid sent squads of 3-5 people to deal with Looper's split push, securing kills, but giving up objectives on the opposite side of the Rift. The rest of Echo Fox made the most of Loopers distractions and knocked down all three inhibitors by the 26 minute mark. Team Liquid couldn't hold on much longer as the super minions tore through its final two turrets and Echo Fox finished off the series. Froggen's Taliyah earned Player of the Game honors as he finished with a 4/0/2 KDA and had a 48 percent share of Echo Fox's damage dealt to champions.
