Quick Results
- Afreeca Freecs defeated Phong Vu Buffalo
- G2 Esports defeated Flash Wolves
- Invictus Gaming defeated 100 Thieves
- Fnatic defeated G-Rex
- Team Liquid defeated MAD Team
- KT Rolster defeated Edward Gaming
Afreeca Freecs v Phong Vu Buffalo
Afreeca Freecs (“AFS”) showed up and took a dominating win against Phong Vu Buffalo (“PVB”) to open up the day. AFS seemed unbreakable, and PVB were unable to find any ways to get any advantages. Though they found First Blood in the top lane on Naul, Kuro Teleported to get a double kill, winning the skirmish two-for-one. Another skirmish broke out three minutes later, with AFS coming out one kill ahead here too.
AFS didn’t only find advantages through these fights, they managed to secure every objective on the map and played well around their lanes’ pressures. Mowgli Flashed over the Dragon Pit wall at minute four to take an early Ocean Dragon for his team. From here, he secured two more Dragons and a Rift Herald. The team collectively destroyed all the outer towers relatively early on as well.
The game was still winnable for PVB, despite being down many objectives, at 20 minutes. A 22 minute fight changed this. PVB inititated a team fight in the middle lane and AFS quickly countered the engage. AFS slaughtered three PVB members, and the Baron right after. With the buff, AFS pushed all three lanes, taking all the lane towers. PVB made a last ditch defense of their base with an engage in the bottom lane, but it was no use. AFS knocked down four of their opposition with ease. With only an Ezreal to defend, AFS blasted PVB’s Nexus at 26 minutes.
G2 Esports v Flash Wolves
G2 Esports (“G2”) played a beautiful game to defeat the Flash Wolves (“FW”). Despite having a diffcult composition to execute, G2 played towards their strengths and coordinated their play immaculately. It didn’t start well for them though. FW found First Blood in the middle lane and another kill in the bottom with back to back Moojin ganks. After this though, G2 was impossible to exploit. Perkz found a great kill onto Moojin with the help of Jankos a few minutes later, giving him a lead.
Jankos made two ganks into the side lane to assist Wunder, which resulted in two kills onto Hanabi. The pressure also gave Wunder the First Tower bonus. At 20 minutes, G2 were winning their lanes and had a 3k gold lead. From this point. G2 began to execute on their one-three-one lane assignments, and FW couldn’t handle it well.
The mid game was quiet, with G2 chipping out CS and tower leads without bloodshed. At 30 minutes, the gold lead increased to 7k for G2. Wunder was still pushing the bottom lane, and it prevented FW from playing the 5v5 style they wanted. Despite this, FW did attempt to rush the Baron at 30 minutes. Wunder saw his opportunity and kept pushing bottom. He took the Inhibitor, and as a battle raged on around the Baron pit, he kept pushing, taking the Nexus Towers. FW got two members back to base, but they were unable to stop the Camille from finishing their Nexus in the back door at 31 minutes.
Invictus Gaming v 100 Thieves
Invictus Gaming (“IG”) ferociously obliterated 100 Thieves (“100T”) with the fastest game time of Worlds so far. They suffered a crushing defeat, but 100T got quite a big advantage at only two minutes in the game. IG tried to collapse on AnDa while he was taking the Scuttle Crab, but 100T responded. A small skirmish broke out and 100T got two kills including First Blood. This gave them a 1k gold lead before the three minute mark. 100T did make plays on TheShy, diving him and killing him twice.
But Ning was making his mark elsewhere. He found a successful gank on 100T’s bottom lane at 4 minutes. When IG invaded 100T’s jungle they secured two more kills easily, and a few minutes later another gank bottom gave two kills to JackeyLove’s Kai’Sa. While 100T dove TheShy the second time, Ning killed the Rift Herald, which the team used to great success.
The Rift Herald was used in the middle lane, which got two towers while Rookie got a Tier Two Tower in the top lane. IG found two swift kills in their siege, which allowed them to dive the remaining 100T members and get an Ace. They grouped up a couple minutes later to take the Inhibitor while 100T looked on, too scared to react. IG promptly moved to the bottom lane, where they dove that Inhibitor tower too in their siege. This fight was devastating, with all five 100T players dying for only one IG player. IG, with no interference, destroyed 100T’s Nexus at 20 minutes.
G-Rex v Fnatic
Like the IG in the match before, Fnatic (“FNC”) annihilated G-Rex (“GRX”). GRX attempted to make plays in the early game, but FNC’s leads came from countering and capitalizing on these plays. Bwipo outplayed a dive at four minutes, while Caps Teleported in to get First Blood onto Empt2y. Then, Bwipo Teleported to his bottom lane when they got ganked. FNC turned GRX’s aggression on them to find three kills for one.
Broxah’s Lee Sin found three kills there, which set off his snowball. He was always where he needed to be, securing an Ocean Dragon, enabling a bottom lane dive, and helping Rekkles bring down the first tower. A small skirmish occurred near Rift Herald, and while there were no kills, FNC took the Rift Herald. This allowed them to get the middle Tier One Tower.
The game was broken wide open at 21 minutes. Here, Broxah solo killed Empt2y in his own jungle, which allowed FNC to go for Baron Nashor with no fear of a Smite fight. They secured the objective and won the ensuing team fight three-for-one. They took towers across the map, and then grouped in the bottom lane. As they finished off the Inhibitor Tower, they pushed forward and picked another fight. They got four quick kills, then used Cap’s Ryze ultimate to Fountain dive and get the clean Ace. FNC finished the Inhibitor at 24 minutes.
Team Liquid v MAD Team
NA fans were relieved when Team Liquid (“TL”) brought down MAD Team (“MAD”). The match lasted longer than some today, but TL controlled it in a one-sided fashion. MAD did find First Blood onto Olleh at around three minutes and an Ocean Dragon three more minutes later. After this, TL gave MAD no room to breathe. It started with a gank on the bottom lane, which delivered a kill for Doublelift and a Mountain Dragon afterwards. A couple of minutes later, a full blown fight erupted in the bottom lane, where TL won three-for-zero and lead to the First Tower bonus.
At 20 minutes TL had a three kill lead, three uncontested towers and a 5k gold lead overall. The next 10 minutes were quite slow. TL killed another Mountain Dragon and an Ocean Dragon, but the fights came in the form of wards. The teams fought for vision and TL set up for Baron. Finally, at 32 minutes, a team fight started. TL secured one kill, but couldn’t translate it to an objective.
A minute later, TL decided to rush the Baron. Kongyue attempted to steal it, but only ended up trading his life. The Baron was taken by TL afterwards. They went on to base and bring down an Infernal Dragon too. They pushed all three lanes simultaneously and broke open every part of MAD’s base. Two Inhibitors went down, then the last team fight happened. TL slaughtered the MAD members in their base and took their first win of the Group Stage at 37 minutes.
KT Rolster v Edward Gaming
KT Rolster (“KT”) won the last match of the day versus Edward Gaming (“EDG”). They controlled the game from minute one, and they managed to cleanly close out the game with their advantages. Score started it all off with a successful gank onto iBoy for First Blood. A skirmish in the bottom lane netted KT another kill. Two more kills came when KT dove EDG’s bottom lane. With the map pressure, KT was uncontested when taking the Mountain Dragon, the top tower and middle tower. An elongated tower trade gave KT all of the bottom lane towers, including the Inhibitor Tower, at 18 minutes.
At 20 minutes, KT had a three kill and four tower lead. This amounted to a surplus of 4k gold. The game stalled for a while here as KT and EDG positioned for pressure around Baron and vision. KT took their first Infernal Dragon at 25. Finally, at 28 minutes, a team fight exploded in EDG’s jungle. KT came up big, killing two members, which allowed them to secure the Baron too.
They began their push and in three minutes two Inhibitors were cracked. After taking these, KT backed with a 10k gold lead and took a second Infernal Dragon. In such a deficit, EDG was helpless as KT destroyed their final Inhibitor. The siege lasted for a minute until Mata’s Alistar made another snap engage. His team followed up, and KT smashed EDG three-for-zero in the fight. KT finished the fight and the Nexus at 34 minutes.
To watch the 2018 World Championship, visit Riot Games’ Twitch channel. For more information on the tournament, teams, standings, and players, visit www.lolesports.com. Recaps of former games and other LoL content can be found at https://thegamehaus.com/league-of-legends/.
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