After losing 2 – 1 to Origen in the Semi finals of the Challenger Playoffs, we were placed in the 3rd place match versus Gamers2 to determine which team would earn the last available space in the promotion tournament, where the Challenger team faces off against an LCS team for their spot in the LCS.
Game 1
The first game was mostly even for the first ten minutes, after we took an early first dragon uncontested. With the objective’s second spawn we had superior vision control around the pit, so Kubon and Xayoo joined Celavar and Libik in the bottom lane to get an early triple kill onto Tristana before grabbing the second dragon. From this point on we managed to take a hold on the pace of the game, bringing home a win in 35 minutes with an impressive performance from Celavar’s Tristana going 10/2/2.
Game 2
Game 2 was a completely different story, as the game two was a back and forth affair up until 28 minutes. At this point both teams had 3 turrets, although G2 had a small lead for 4 kills and 1 dragon extra. The Dragon fight that ensued looked like it turned the game into our favour, after a positive trade and a dragon pick up, unfortunately it was fleeting. Both teams headed for the next big objective, the baron, and G2 came up ahead with a 3 for 1 trade before taking down the objective. With the advantage gained, Gamers2 pulled the trigger and used the resulting momentum to end the game shortly after, bringing the series to 1 – 1. No one player on Gamers2 came away with a huge amount of kills, as most of the blood was spilled in teamfights leading to a high assist game
Game 3
This Game. THIS GAME. Not one for the faint of heart, Game 3 was an incredible nail biter and if you have an hour to spare just watch it. Seriously. Just go and open the link right now. If you haven’t done that, well read on ahead….
The series all came down to this, the final game to decide who advances to the promotion tournament. We put together a late game focused team composition with two full tanks in Gragas and Shyvanna, who both built a cinder hulk (that’s right, top lane smite for dueling), while an unconventional ADC Urgot allowed some AD damage while being able to build a frozen heart to prevent Celavar being bursted down. Gamers2 decided to go for a Midgame team, with both Corki and Irelia who benefit immensely from their Trinity Force power spikes.
G2 pulled ahead in the early game, and managed to extend this lead through to the midgame, where their power spiked and they were able to take objective after objective including a 30 minute inhibitor. We planned for the inevitable lead that G2 would amass by this point, but they exceeded expectations and pulling back as the game moved to lategame was an immense challlenge. In every late game teamfight Gamers2 focused down Celavar immediately, making the fights look lost. After losing the penultimate fight, Gamers2 secured a baron and hoped to be able to close the game out with open inhibitor ripe for the picking, but the last teamfight featured Kubon’s incredible Shyvanna casting Dragons Descent across the jungle walls and almost single handedly winning the fight, allowing us to push down mid for an incredibly close victory, to the point where when we destroyed the G2 nexus we were still 3000 gold behind!
If you don’t have time to watch all 3 nail-biting games, then Kenzo has put together an epic highlight reel of this series.
