NA LCS Week 4 is over, and the standings are closer than any would have imagined. Despite not even being half-way through the Split, every game is proving to be crucial for the teams’ placements. If Day One of the week wasn’t exciting enough, Day Two had fans on the edge of their seats the whole time. It’s exciting to see new teams flourish and old giants fall, and it will be great to see how the teams do moving forward.
Golden Guardians v 100 Thieves
The match between Golden Guardians (“GGS”) and 100 Thieves (“100T”) was practically decided at level one. Mickey was able to secure First Blood onto AnDa with help from Matt and Contractz. Mickey was the focal point of the game, and his performance was instrumental to their dominating win. GGS’s bottom lane, the infamous Heimerdinger Fiddlesticks combo, was huge as well. They exerted massive amounts of pressure, found kills and even turned around a gank.
Contractz, like he has throughout the split, chose to camp for his bottom and middle lanes. He set up Mickey to get two more kills before they went bottom. The four man unit dove 100T’s bottom tower, killed their laners and took First Tower bonus. While this happened, Ssumday was winning his lane against Lourlo quite hard. A few minutes later, a team fight erupted in 100T’s jungle. The result was a huge win for GGS, getting three more kills for Mickey, and pushing him to six kills.
In the mid game, GGS cleanly rotated and took multiple towers. They found some more picks, but then 100T engaged on them in the middle lane. It started well for 100T, but with Matt’s Fiddlestick’s Crowstorm and Mickey’s super fed Zoe, they turned it around. They ultimately took three kills and the middle Inhibitor off of this.
Though Ssumday, who was very far ahead, tried to flank and win a team fight for his team, they were too far behind. He took on GGS’s back line one versus three, but the rest of 100T couldn’t do anything. They lost this fight two for five, but GGS were unable to end the game. They did shortly after, however, with another Fiddlesticks engage. GGS took a team fight win, killed all of the 100T members and took the Nexus at 25 minutes.
FlyQuest v Team Liquid
FlyQuest (“FLY”), despite losing to a bottom team yesterday, pulled out a very convincing win against standings leaders Team Liquid (“TL”). FLY nearly had a perfect game, giving over only one death. Santorin was the primary ignition for the teams success because of his impressive early game. He secured First Blood in the top lane, and through repeat ganks and skirmishes top, he neutralized TL’s Darius counter pick. Because Flame now had control of the lane, the top part of the map was strong enough to make plays and force fights.
FLY took full advantage of this top side advantage. TL attempted to invade and take a skirmish, but Flame had a great outplay, leading to TL’s top-jungle duo giving over two more free kills. Doublelift was off of the marksman picks he has proven proficient on, instead playing Vladimir. Like his first game on the champion, it was abysmal. The duo lane of FLY constantly bullied, pressured and even killed the TL bot duo. Wildturtle became very fed, with Olleh and Doublelift dying multiple times. Though Doublelift did get a kill in a top lane fight, that was the only redeeming play from any member of TL.
At 20 minutes, FLY had a massive 8k gold lead. They also had six towers to none and twelve kills to one. With this lead, they easily took Baron nearly on spawn, and TL tried to take a fight afterwards, which only gave FLY two more kills. Two minutes later, the bottom and middle Inhibitors were down. As FLY grouped to take down the final Inhibitor, TL engaged a last fight. The engage was good, but they were too far behind to grab any kills. TL was clean Ace’d, and FLY took their Nexus at a swift 23 minutes.
Team SoloMid v Echo Fox
To the joy of Echo Fox (“FOX”) fans, they beat Team SoloMid (“TSM”) to be back in contention for first place. Because both teams had late game scaling compositions, the game was slower. But this doesn’t mean the teams failed to be proactive. FOX, known for proactivity, carved out a decent advantage for themselves early. Dardoch played his aggressive jungler, Graves, very well. He helped dive Hauntzer for First Blood and was far enough ahead to invade and pressure out Grig. TSM did kill him during an invade, but it wasn’t enough to set him or his team back.
Huni, who had struggled in the past few weeks, had a great game. With the advantage he received, he bullied and put heavy pressure on Hauntzer. Through the mid game the pace slowed down. There were less kills, but the teams traded objectives. A number of towers and Elemental Dragons went down, and the players danced around each other. At 20 minutes, FOX had a respectable 4k gold lead.
The game picked up again at 28 minutes. A very close team fight around the TSM jungle and middle lane netted FOX two kills for one. Since FOX’s came out with more health, they turned for Baron. They easily secured the buff and a kill on Mithy. They based and grouped to push top. Once there, they pushed and got the Inhibitor, and immediately a fight broke out. It was over quickly, and three TSM members were dead. The final two died defending the Nexus, but were unable to keep it standing against the FOX onslaught. FOX took the well deserved win just before 32 minutes.
Counter Logic Gaming v Cloud9
The fourth match of the day kept fans of both teams on the edge of their seats. In the end, Counter Logic Gaming (“CLG”) outplayed Cloud9 (“C9”) and took the win. Staying true to their style, CLG was able to make moves in the early game to create an advantage. First Blood was taken by Reignover when he ganked the C9 bottom lane after his red buff. He commanded the early game, taking dragons and securing leads for his side lanes.
CLG’s bottom lane duo performed well too. They killed not only their opposing bottom laners, but also Jensen in Mid. They exerted pressure and Stixxay ended up grabbing multiple kills, propelling his build. Licorice was, as he has been the entire split, the only real positive for C9. He took First Tower top, and was able to put on so much side lane pressure.
CLG was able to take the first Baron buff at around 25 minutes. With it, they were able to take two Inhibitors. They won a team fight around the last one, and Darshan and Reignover attempted to end the game. Licorice saved the game, killing Darshan and nearly killing Reignover.
The game slowed down as the second Baron dance started. C9 eventually caught out Reignover, which allowed them to take Baron. They weren’t able to crack the CLG base, but they did equalize the gold lead. C9 also won a fight around Elder Dragon two for zero, but crucially CLG got the Elder Dragon buff. With four dragons amplifying it, they were able to take the third Baron and win a fight afterwards three for two. They took two Inhibitors once more, and grouped for the final one Top. A botched Svenskeren initiation started a team fight, and Huhi’s Orianna Command: Shockwave came up huge. Biofrost lead the engage, as he masterfully did all game, and with Huhi’s follow-up, C9 got deleted. CLG Ace’d C9 and destroyed their Nexus at 48 minutes.
OpTic Gaming v Clutch Gaming
In the final game of the day, Clutch Gaming (“CG”) took a narrow comeback win versus OpTic Gaming (“OPT”). Even though they got the win, they were on the back foot the entire game. Kills were traded between top laners with the help of their respective junglers, but after that, OPT took over. A nasty combination of Nocturne and Orianna Ultimates carved out a huge lead in the middle lane. After this, the game slowed down for well over 10 minutes.
During this mid game, some objectives were taken and Dhokla applied massive pressure on CG’s bottom lane towers. Finally, at around 33 minutes, the game picked up again. OPT managed to finally secure the Baron. Subsequently, CG engaged and secured two kills. But, Dhokla, who split pushed the entire time, broke down CG’s bottom Inhibitor Tower.
Shortly after Dhokla took the open bottom Inhibitor, PowerOfEvil survived a one versus three, which set up his team to get a kill on LirA. Now, they were able to take the top lane Inhibitor. Though OPT took another Baron buff, CG took an Elder Dragon. Because each team had a buff, niether wanted to pull the trigger and take a fight, so the game dragged on.
Later, at 46 minutes, a team fight was disengaged by OPT, which gave Dhokla time to retake the bottom Inhibitor. Crucially, CG were able to kill him, but lost their middle Inhibitor. Dhokla tried to keep splitting bottom to end the game, but a couple of minutes later CG managed to secured Baron. They won the team fight afterwards three for zero, and the base race too, taking OPT’s Nexus at 49 minutes.
To watch the NA LCS, visit watch.na.lolesports.com. For more information on the split, teams, standings, and players, visit www.lolesports.com. Recaps of former weeks and other LoL content can be found at https://thegamehaus.com/league-of-legends/.
Featured image via LoL Esports Flickr.
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