Fans got an extra day of NA LCS this week, as the NA LCS Tiebreakers occurred today! The split ended with a big tie, which keeps with the closeness of the rest of the split. These established the seeding for playoffs, deciding who will play who in the post-season. With teams fighting their way towards the Summer Split Finals and even Worlds, competition is certainly fierce!
Team SoloMid v Echo Fox
Echo Fox (“FOX”) won a dominant first game of the day against Team SoloMid (“TSM”). The match was very close for much of the game, as both teams played smartly. However, FOX typically pushed the tempo of the game. Dardoch constantly bullied Grig, and got First Blood for Damonte by invading TSM. Bjergsen did find a response kill on Dardoch, but FOX came out ahead. Dardoch also secured an Ocean and an Infernal Dragon, and Rift Herald for his team, while also helping Huni take the First Tower bonus while TSM made a play bottom.
FOX grabbed a larger lead through an extended play in the bottom lane. Here they pressured down the Tier One Tower, and continued to push the Tier Two. When TSM tried to defend, FOX dove them to get three kills and the tower. TSM did make plays of their own to keep the gold relatively close, but couldn’t stop FOX from amassing a 4k gold lead at 20 minutes.
Right at 20 minutes, FOX made a bold play to start the Baron on it’s spawn. They burned it down quickly, and took Grig’s life as he tried to steal it. FOX rushed down mid and managed to take a couple towers and the Inhibitor. TSM, to their credit, did trade two towers and caught out two FOX members to delay the Baron push. But when FOX pushed bottom while Bjergsen split push, they made another big play. They once again dove the TSM defenders, taking multiple member’s lives. FOX easily brought down the Inhibitors and the Nexus just before 25 minutes.
100 Thieves v FlyQuest
100 Thieves (“100T”) stole an exciting win versus FlyQuest (“FLY”) in the second match. Although they emerged victorious, 100T had a miserable early game. FLY controlled the first 20 minutes of the game, and they found many kills and objectives. Cody Sun struggled in particular, dying to Wildturtle solo twice and two more times. FLY commanded team fights, constantly coming out on top and pushing the pace of the game. 100T were in a tough spot in the mid game, and had to play well to avoid disaster.
100T did a good job of this, winning a team fight right after 20 minutes two-for-zero and played around Ssumday’s split push well. They slowed down the pace of the game for almost ten minutes, especially when FLY started Baron. They tried to burn it down, but AnDa had a miracle steal and got the buff for his team. The ensuing team fight was messy, and the teams went three-for-three. 100T weren’t able to take much with it, but still managed to stall the match.
The game really broke open for 100T at 35 minutes. A team fight exploded in the middle lane, and 100T won it four-for-one, which allowed them to get two middle towers and the Inhibitor. A minute later, they found a pick onto JayJ and took the Baron. It turned into a bloody team fight, but 100T won it four-for-three. Soon after, they all killed the Elder Dragon. A final team fight happened in the FLY jungle, and Ssumday popped off to help his team get an Ace. 100T crashed into FLY’s base without any contest and finished the Nexus at 40 minutes.
Team SoloMid v FlyQuest
TSM pushed FLY down to sixth seed with their match win. The match was close for the early game, with both teams making moves to gain advantages. Santorin found First Blood onto Grig in the river, while TSM found a successful gank in the middle lane to create a lead there. A careful team fight around Rift Herald resulted in a kill or FLY but the buff going to TSM. When Bjergsen found an assassination onto Wildturtle, TSM capitalized and took the First Tower bonus in the top lane to create a better lead.
Soon after, Zven found a great solo kill onto Wildturtle. A few minutes later, TSM found themselves a great team fight. They obliterated FLY and killed three members, while losing none of their own. Because of this, TSM established a 3k gold lead at 20 minutes. From here, the game slowed down quite a bit. Besides a kill onto Zed and TSM taking a bottom tower, the game was quiet.
Finally, at 30 minutes, a team fight erupted in the top lane. TSM played it extremely well, focusing on priority targets and dominating FLY. They won this four-for-one, which also allowed them to kill Baron Nashor. TSM proved unstoppable with the buff, and three minutes later they had all three Inhibitors destroyed. FLY was helpless in the face of TSM’s pressure, and TSM easily finished FLY and their Nexus at 34 minutes.
100 Thieves v Echo Fox
100T secured third seed with their win in the last match versus FOX. It started quite slowly, with little action happening in the first ten minutes. At nine minutes though, 100T did win a team fight two-for-zero. It became scrappy from here, with more skirmishes turning into team fights. 100T came out ahead in most of these, but not by much. FOX did trade some kills and objectives back, so when 20 minutes rolled around, 100T only had a 1k gold lead. 100T were in the driver’s seat, but it wouldn’t last long.
Some plays were made in the mid game, but none were more important than the one at 25 minutes. At this point, a team fight began as the teams decided to clash. FOX dominated 100T here, winning the fight four-for-zero. This allowed them to take an easy Baron buff and another kill onto Ssumday. FOX used this buff to take all of the towers outside of 100T’s base, but crucially, they couldn’t crack the base.
There were some more fights after Baron ended, but the deciding one happened around 33 minutes. After Huni was picked off by 100T, FOX made a questionable play to move into 100T’s jungle to start a four-versus-five fight. They inevitably lost it, and gave 100T two kills and a Baron. FOX again made another high-risk play when they started the Elder Dragon. A team fight broke out here as well, with 100T getting a clean Ace on FOX with Cody Sun’s Jhin picking up the Pentakill. With no one to defend, 100T quickly demolished FOX’s base and Nexus at 37 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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