NA LCS Day Two is a wrap, and it was a refreshing day for many overwhelmed by the crazy 8.11 meta. The day started off with three quick games, but the last two games were reminiscent of previous patches. There weren’t many solo queue or cheesy picks as some expected. The meta is calming down, at least in North America, as teams find their way back into more standard team compositions.
Team SoloMid vs FlyQuest
TSM are definitely gunning for their first place spot in the league this split. Today, they defeated FLY in a very convincing manner. TSM used a standard composition with an ADC again in the Varus, and it worked greatly. Since the level one red buff invade, TSM kept pressure on FLY all over the map. First blood came out for TSM, capitalizing on the pressure they were able to keep on the mid lane. Bjergsen’s Irelia bullied Keane’s Gangplank throughout the game, starting with a 10 CS lead at three minutes. He grew it to a 60 CS lead by 19 minutes.
The first big fight came around 12 minutes when FLY started Rift Herald. The ensuing fight resulted in TSM taking the Herald Buff and Hauntzer obtaining a quadra kill on Dr. Mundo. The second fight came around the Mountain Dragon, which FLY, once again, started up. This fight ended even worse for FLY, with all their members going down and two towers being taken. Bjergsen came up huge for his team in both of these fights, with his expert ultimates and team fighting skill.
TSM were able to capitalize on the lead they made here. The 5k gold lead at 15 minutes escalated to a 12k lead at 20 minutes. They made great rotations to secure all of the tier two towers and Baron vision. Eventually, they were able to take Baron Nashor with their bot laners. Although Keane was nearly able to pull off a hero play with his Gangplank ultimate, Grig secured it with a Flash Smite. After that, TSM walked into the FLY base, taking inhibitors one by one until they find a fight to finish the game at 25 minutes.
Team Liquid vs Golden Guardians
In this game between the last and first place teams of Spring Split, no one expected much of GGS. That was a mistake. GGS, on the back on Contractz, absolutely destroyed TL. He was able to pick up a double kill from a very early dive on TL’s bot lane. TL was forced back under their tower at level one because of questionable choices of build and lane management from Doublelift. This meant that they were easy pickings. Contractz proceeded to gank top and mid, winning skirmishes all over the map.
Pobelter was the only source of hope for TL, picking up a kill and first tower gold. But that hope was crushed when Contractz turret dove him and set his team up for a three-for-one fight in TL’s jungle. Lourlo’s Aatrox, who was suffering at the hands of Impact’s Ornn, gained a massive advantage from this. He was able to solo kill his opposing top laner and take his tower.
Though they were the champions of spring, TL looked hopeless in the face of the fed Graves and Aatrox. Deftly’s Ezreal came to pick up some crucial kills as well. One team fight in the mid lane resulted in GGS taking two kills and three towers. Because of this, GGS had a 10 kill, 5k gold, four tower and three dragon lead in 20 minutes. Therefore, it wasn’t surprising when Lourlo led GGS in a bot lane inhibitor tower dive. This brought a clean ace for GGS and a Nexus explosion at an impressive 22 minutes.
Counter Logic Gaming v 100 Thieves
CLG made Aphromoo regret changing teams with their win over 100T. Both teams drafted fairly standard compositions with mage mid laners and ADCs in the bottom lane. Although there was action in the early game, it didn’t amount to much. This was until Meteos botched an invade in Reignover’s jungle and gave him first blood. It remained an even game, with CLG and 100T picking up objectives and towers.
CLG began their victory with a team fight that ended in two kills and an Infernal Dragon. Despite this first step, it remained a close match. In the end, they were not able to gain any ground with Ssumday’s split pushing Singed. Instead, Reignover’s Olaf and Darshan’s Ornn were able to hard engage a top lane fight. Huhi’s Syndra stun landed across multiple members CC’d by Biofrost’s Braum, and the fight was over.
CLG took three kills and Baron Nashor. Bot lane inhibitor fell first, and the team reset. 100T put up an admirable defense in mid, but Meteos ended up dying. This caused CLG to push forward to destroy their middle inhibitor. The 10k gold lead from CLG proved too much in 100T’s final, desperate base defense. They finished off the last inhibitor in the top lane along with the two Nexus towers. Meteos and Aphromoo engaged on CLG, only to be killed or pushed back. In the end, CLG demolished 100T and their Nexus just before 30 minutes.
Clutch Gaming vs Echo Fox
In a dominant and rarely seen fashion, FOX won their match against CG. Another role swap occurred for FOX, with Huni playing jungle and Dardoch playing his signature Rengar pick. Dardoch was overconfident against Solo, which allowed LirA to pick up an easy first blood. CG were able to make gain positive outcomes in skirmishes early, especially with a Solo teleport. Apollo gained two kills here, and another elsewhere, and was able to keep the fights even for a while.
Though it wasn’t a stomp, FOX were able to use great rotations to chip out leads for themselves around the map. Fenix on Ryze was very strong; he and Dardoch were able to apply significant side lane pressure throughout the mid game. The comeback was in CG’s eyes when Hakuho made a great engage with his Rakan. The result was an ace, but the two remaining CG members were too low and unable to take Baron. FOX soon seized an opportunity from Febiven dying to claim the Baron buff.
After FOX slayed Baron Nashor, CG tried to engage another fight. FOX ended up killing multiple members, demolishing two towers and their first inhibitor top lane. They rotated down to the bot lane to continue the siege, but then something unexpected happened. All of the members from both teams disconnected from the game. A significant amount of time passed in the studio and on stream, until this statement was given. FOX acquired their win due to their impressive lead, because League officials could not restart the game. They believe it was due to a bug with Taliyah. As such, Taliyah was disabled for the next game.
Cloud9 vs OpTic Gaming
C9 fought the critics and displayed a convincing game win over OPT. It was the longest match of the day, and it sure felt like it too. Macro play was the primary focus of the two teams. Seeing as Licorice was piloting the Shen, though, they had the advantage here.
Akaadian carved out a slight lead for himself in the early stages with control over the Rift Scuttlers. Eventually, he grew this lead by picking up the first two kills in a top lane skirmish. From here, impactful fights were far and few between. There were some that went one for one, and there was a surprising lack of kills throughout the entire game. C9 was able to apply massive pressure first with Keith and Zeyzal, then especially with Licorice later on. This side lane pressure granted them multiple tower and objective leads.
A 32 minute play was started off with Svenskeren’s Nocturne and Licorice finding Akaadian, eliminating him, then taking Dhokla down in the ensuing team fight. This prompted C9 to turn towards Baron, which they secured with little issue. From here, Licorice’s split push went from annoying to fatal. He quickly took the bottom inhibitor, and led super minions in to the OPT base while the rest of his team destroyed the remaining inhibitors. C9’s gold lead amounted to about 14k by this time, and OPT’s desperate attempt at a base defense was pitiful in the face of such a lead. The academy players proved that they had a place on the LCS stage by taking down OPT’s nexus at around 40 minutes. C9 demonstrated very controlled play, and their fans should be happy to see them performing well now.
To watch the NA LCS, visit watch.na.lolesports.com. For more information on the split, teams, standings and players, visit www.lolesports.com. A recap of week one day one games can be found here.
Featured image via Riot Games and LoL Esports.
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