NALCS Week 2 Day 2 had some insane ups and downs. Since the removal of Banner of Command, teams are moving towards carries in the top lane. Tanks are still prevalent, but it was interesting to see how teams move forward in the meta. Mages, marksman, and positional swaps were all seen on day two. At the end of the day, six different teams are sitting at 2-2, so the standings could shake up greatly as the weeks progress.
FlyQuest vs OpTic Gaming
FlyQuest vs OpTic Gaming’s picks and bans went somewhat expected for the current meta. FlyQuest drafted Lucian-Braum and a Taliyah to round out the first phase. OpTic, assuming the Lucian-Braum were bot, drafted their bot lane of Ezreal and Rakan, followed by an early jungler for Matthew “Akaadian” Higginbotham. OpTic also started top laner Kieran “Allorim” Logue again in hopes to fix their top side problems.
The biggest surprise came out when FlyQuest drafted Darius and Shen, meaning that whoever went mid was most likely taking Smite. OpTic answered back with a new pick, Talon for Tristan “PowerOfEvil” Schrage. OpTic drafted Dr. Mundo for Allorim, and the teams headed to the rift with Jason “WildTurtle” Tran playing Lucian with Smite. FlyQuest’s jungler Lucas “Santorin” Larsen would play Braum with Exhaust.
FlyQuest mid laner Jang “Keane” Lae-young played Taliyah bot with support Kwon “Kwon” Koo Hyuk on Shen. First blood came in at 6:23, where Keane and Kwon engaged a 2v2 fight bot against the OpTic duo, and Kwon received kill credit with an Ignite onto Terry “Big” Chuong’s Rakan. FlyQuest two minutes later executed a three-man dive onto Allorim’s Dr. Mundo, giving WildTurtle the kill at 9:53.
After OpTic picked up a kill onto Kwon, FlyQuest used their Rift Herald to push down mid. OpTic answered with a 5v5 teamfight, where OpTic picked up two more kills and a counter push mid. By 20 minutes, the game remained close, with FlyQuest having a 700 gold lead. Another 5v5 teamfight at 21:20 left it in favor of FlyQuest, who traded two kills for three.
The teams dance back and forth around Baron Nashor until 27:34, when OpTic pick off Santorin and take a clean ace and the Baron. At 36:42, it appears that OpTic might just get the win after taking another advantageous fight, but FlyQuest stall until WildTurtle revives, picks up two kills, and then the Baron at 37:40.
The big change in the game is when FlyQuest start the Elder Dragon, and takes a 50/50 chance at the objective as OpTic are ready to fight. After back-to-back picks onto PoE and Santorin, FlyQuest push into the base and finish the game at 40:56.
Cloud9 vs 100 Thieves
The picks and bans were mostly meta. Cloud9 drafted a 1-3-1 composition with Eric “Licorice” Ritchie on Fiora and Greyson “Goldenglue” Gilmer on Yasuo. 100 Thieves has a solid 5v5 fight, with a Xin Zhao and Aatrox to engage, with a Kai’sa to apply constant damage and a Vladimir to apply burst. Both teams have conventional bot lanes, with C9 having Xayah-Rakan and 100 Thieves taking Kai’sa-Braum.
After a few close skirmishes between the bot lanes, then the jungle-mid duo, first blood comes from Licorice, getting a solo kill onto Kim “Ssumday” Chanho’s Aatrox at 6:20. Cloud9 would continue to apply pressure to Ssumday topside, getting another kill at 10:54. Cloud9 takes a two-for-one fight, but without a solid contest to 100 Thieves all-in, C9 would begin to struggle.
As long as Licorice would be in a side lane, Cloud9 would have the pressure onto 100 Thieves. The Thieves’ decision would be to take 4v4 fights and burst C9 before Licorice could get far. Cloud9 pick up a few more kills until 26:02, where 100 Thieves turn a fight and pick up three kills for nothing. 100 Thieves take the baron, and being to take control of the map.
Although 100 Thieves can’t answer Licorice’s Fiora, they have an advantage in the burst coming from Yoo “Ryu” Sangwook’s Vladimir. As the second baron get started by 100 Thieves, Licorice is pushing top, so the Thieves take the Baron and the ensuing fight at 33:52. Ryu arrives in C9’s bottom lane and shreds through the team. ADC Sun “Cody Sun” Li Yu picks up a triple kill. 100 Thieves finish the game at 35:12.
Team Liquid vs Team SoloMid
The Team Liquid draft is fairly standard, where they pick up melee solo laners in Renekton and Irelia. TL also take a standard bot lane on Kai’sa and Morgana. TL wrap their composition with the tanky and engage jungler Sejuani. TSM take a somewhat similar composition. They pick Olaf jungle, with Aatrox top, and Lulu mid to try and counter the Irelia. TSM also opt in for a standard bot lane of Ezreal and Rakan. The TSM composition wants to scale and let Ezreal carry, with Olaf and Aatrox to disrupt the TL back line. TL also wants to scale somewhat, but finish the game before the Ezreal becomes a real threat. TL wants Irelia and Renekton to burst down Ezreal, with Sejuani to engage and Kai’sa to deal damage and Morgana to Black Shield the Kai’sa.
The game opens up with the TL support Kim “Olleh” Joo-sung landing multple bindings onto the TSM bot lane. Olleh lands a binding onto the TSM support Alfonso “Mithy” Rodriguez and Olleh gets first blood at 4:02. TL at 6:00 rotate topside to kill Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell in a 3v1 dive onto the inner turret. At 7:21, Olleh threads another binding onto Mithy and gets another kill. In a 2v2 skirmish, TSM picks up one kill onto Eugene “Pobelter” Park, putting TSM on the board. Pobelter dies a second time at 12:24, but TL trades another turret topside for the death.
At 20 minutes, TL have a 4k gold lead, and are up four turrets to one. Jungler Jake “Xmithie” Puchero steals an infernal dragon from TSM, and gets out for free. At 22:26, Hauntzer gets solo killed by TL top laner Jeong “Impact” Eon-Young. TL take the Baron at 29:24, take a 5v5 fight against TSM, and get a clean ace in order to finish the game at 30:10
Clutch Gaming vs Counter Logic Gaming
Clutch and CLG’s drafts spell for an exciting game. Clutch first pick Swain, leaving CLG the opportunity to pick Aurelion Sol for Choi “Huhi” Jae Hyun, a champion which Huhi is famous for. Huhi’s record in the NALCS for Aurelion Sol is 10-3, meaning CLG have a good chance to win based off that stat alone. The rest of the draft is fairly standard. Aatrox top, Olaf jungle, and Kai’sa-Tahm Kench for the bot lane of CLG. Clutch pick Olaf counter, Trundle, as well as Clutch support Nickolas “Hakuho” Surgent pocket pick of Thresh and Lucian for Apollo “Apollo” Price.
CLG find an early first blood with a four-man invade onto Nam “LirA” Taeyou. Huhi takes the first kill and CLG look to continue to pressure the map and rotate their advantages. At 2:29, three members of CLG dive Colin “Solo” Earnest’s Dr. Mundo, and with two teleports being used, trade a kill. CLG keep fainting topside, looking to dive Solo again, but vision from LirA shuts down the attempts.
A 3v3 fight breaks out at 10:15, where Clutch get the advantage, trading two kills for three, getting Solo a double kill and keeping him even in gold. CLG pick up first turret at 11:58, and save Darshan “Darshan” Upadhyaya from the Clutch bot lane diving him top. At 18:00 another fight breaks out, this time involving all 10 players. CLG comes out with a kill, and Clutch have to back off the dragon.
Apollo gets an amazing solo kill onto Trevor “Stixxay” Hayes, as Apollo’s Lucian shreds down the CLG carry at 20:53. After Hakuho lands a death sentence onto Huhi and gets Clutch another kill, they start the Baron. Darshan flies into the Baron Pit 4v5 and Stixxay’s Kai’sa remained untouched for the ensuing fight. CLG jungler Kim “Reignover” YeuJin flashed into the Baron Pit and during the fight, stole the Baron away from Clutch. Huhi returned from base and CLG traded three kills for four and the Baron.
After a quick collapse and kill onto Solo, CLG reset the map and take a Cloud Dragon. Darshan eventually gets the bottom lane inhibitor turret at 31:43, and so Clutch looks to take a 4v3 fight. What Clutch didn’t initially see is Stixxay teleporting into the Clutch base with Darshan and Huhi starting to take down the Nexus turrets. CLG take one Nexus turret, but lose four members in the exchange. Clutch take the second Baron at 33:16.
An important fight occurs at 39:36, where Darshan engages using Aatrox’s Passive Revive and a Guardian Angel to have three lives at his disposal. Huhi gets the only kill of the fight.
Using both buffs, Stixxay pokes down members of Clutch using Kai’sa’s long range void seeker, and almost kills the Swain in three hits. CLG had three members top and two bot, using both buffs to push Clutch into their fountain and CLG won the game in 42:30.
Echo Fox vs Golden Guardians
The last game of the day between Echo Fox and Golden Guardians was an all-out brawl. Echo Fox drafted Graves jungle to have a marksman. Fox also picked up Yasuo for Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon, and a Galio to knock up all of GGS. The Fox bot lane played Vladimir and Braum to round out the composition. GGS picked Camille top lane, with Swain and Kai’sa to provide magic damage. GGS had Rakan and Xin Zhao to engage, so both teams were looking for a fight.
First blood gets picked up by GGS top laner Samson “Lourlo” Jackson flashing over the wall. It becomes a two for one in favor of GGS, as Lourlo picks up an early double kill, and leaving both junglers without any buffs.
Another fight breaks out at 4:45, giving GGS another kill, leaving the fox jungler Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett dead again. At 5:26, GGS dives Huni and gets Lourlo on a killing spree. Huni gets caught out yet again at 7:09 and dies a third time. With more members of both teams joining, GGS win out, trading three kills for two.
Echo Fox starts to come back as the bot lane finally picks up a kill onto ADC Matthew “Deftly” Chen. Immediately after, Fox gets the shutdown kill onto Lourlo at 8:40. Echo Fox’s superior teamfighting begins to take hold as the team rotates top and gets two kills and a turret for free. At 16:48, Lourlo is able to roam top and solo kill Fox mid Kim “Fenix” Jae Hoon alone without vision.
Another fight breaks out at 19:55, and after the extended chase from GGS, the trade is even, with bot team getting three kills. Lourlo loses a dual to Huni at 23:20, and the joining members from Fox give them the advantage, picking up another kill after Lourlo.
At 28:41, GGS support Matt “Matt” Elento tried to engage on Rakan, but got quickly bursted as Fox bot laner Johnny “Altec” Ru flanks GGS and picks up another kill. GGS try to stall out Fox and get Lourlo ahead by having him splitpush bot side.
Once again, GGS try to fight with Matt’s Rakan, but Fox are too tanky and Altec is able to shred though GGS, picking up a triple kill. After Fox picks up the baron, the begin to push into the GGS base bot-side. GGS try one last ditch effort, but get wombo’d by the Fox composition. The game ends at 34:40, with all of GGS dead and Fox brawling their way to another win.
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