Echo Fox vs Golden Guardians

The first match of the day featured the Golden Guardians ("GGS") defeating Echo Fox ("FOX"). The focus of their strategy was on the bottom lane, as they dove bottom to get Huhi two kills and unlocked him to roam. Huhi went middle and top with his team to help secure them more kills. On top of this, GGS took two Infernal Dragons. FOX fought back by taking the First Tower bonus and with Solo solo killing Hauntzer, and their top side of the map was relatively strong.

It wasn't enough for them though. GGS was very strong in the mid-game, and because Apollo was on a mage, they lacked the consistent backline damage to win team fights. FOX caught out and killed Contractz at 28 minutes and turned for Baron. GGS contested in and killed all five opposing players, plus the Baron. This Baron went a long way, as GGS destroyed multiple towers and two Inhibitors with it. After the buff wore off, GGS grouped top to siege the last one. They picked off Apollo and easily knocked down some towers. Desperate, FOX engaged one last fight against GGS, but were Ace'd by their opponents and watched as they destroyed their Nexus.

QUICK STATS:

Time: 36:28

Kills: 11-24

Turrets: 3-11

Gold: 62.7k-70.7k

Dragons: 1-4

Barons: 0-1

Cloud9 vs Clutch Gaming

Cloud9 ("C9") dominated Clutch Gaming ("CG") in the second match of the day. They did so by moving Nisqy's Twisted Fate around the map, especially to the top lane. At seven minutes C9 three-man dove Huni there and killed him for First Blood. They made multiple return visits to his lane, killing him over and over and nullifying the Cassiopeia pick. Next, C9 snowballed their lead towards the bottom side of the map, where they took an Infernal Dragon and a kill onto Vulcan.

C9 really broke open the game at 17 minutes. Here, they killed all five CG members at Rift Herald, then took the Herald and the First Tower bonus mid. From this point C9 ran the map, taking towers and winning skirmishes across it. At 23 minutes Kumo died in the bottom lane but gave his team the time to take Baron Nashor. This buff was crushing for CG, as C9 easily demolished two Inhibitors right off the bat. CG tried to engage one last fight in the top lane, but C9 turned it around on them. They picked up multiple kills and ultimately the Nexus too.

QUICK STATS:

Time: 28:05

Kills: 20-7

Turrets: 11-0

Gold: 56.1k-42.4k

Dragons: 3-1

Barons: 1-0

100 Thieves vs Team Liquid

The third game was a long one, but in the end Team Liquid ("TL") emerged victorious over 100 Thieves ("100T"). Despite their win, 100T was close to winning and could have taken the match. They killed Doublelift in the 2v2 bottom for First Blood and got a kill in the top lane. TL was more successful in team fights and skirmishes though, taking towers and dragons off the backs of these fights. But 100T did find a crucial team fight win at 20 minutes. They killed three before destroying two middle lane towers.

Once in the mid-game, the game slowed down considerably. There were a couple of fights between 20 and 30 minutes, but there were only a couple of kills for each side. At 31 minutes 100T caught out Doublelift and secured the Baron buff. They didn't get much from it though and the game dragged on. After a couple more insignificant fights, TL started to set up the Elder Dragon. It was a major objective for them, as they had four dragons already, so 100T contested it. TL fought them, killing three and the Elder. With it, they pushed straight down mid, got an Ace, and finished 100T's Nexus.

QUICK STATS:

Time: 43:02

Kills: 14-20

Turrets: 6-7

Gold: 70.0k-77.1k

Dragons: 1-5

Barons: 1-0

Counter Logic Gaming vs Team SoloMid

Counter Logic Gaming ("CLG") revived the rivalry by defeating Team SoloMid ("TSM") after not doing so for over 1,100 days. CLG perfectly capitalized on TSM's mistakes and it netted them a significant advantage. TSM dove the bottom lane twice, but each time CLG countered the dive and secured five kills for one overall. The pressure they accumulated helped them take two dragons to boot. At 16 minutes TSM did find a successful dive onto Ruin, which led to an Infernal Dragon, but CLG won a team fight and took two towers to pull the lead their way.

TSM won a team fight at 19 minutes and appeared to be still in the game, but then disaster struck. In the top lane, Wiggily solo killed Bjergsen's Cassiopeia and fought off Akaadian on low health. CLG collapsed and killed the enemy jungler, and with him out of the way, easily grabbed themselves a Baron buff. After backing, CLG regrouped and pushed down mid. A team fight erupted in the jungle and two from TSM fell. During the next two minutes, CLG destroyed all three Inhibitors and pushed farther into TSM's base. It only took them one more fight to finish off their rival's Nexus.

QUICK STATS:

Time: 24:55

Kills: 18-7

Turrets: 11-1

Gold: 52.2k-39.2k

Dragons: 2-2

Barons: 1-0

OpTic Gaming vs FlyQuest

FlyQuest ("FLY") wrapped up the day with a win against OpTic Gaming ("OPT"). It all started with Pobelter, who had a great game on Azir. He set up Santorin for First Blood at six minutes and was a huge force in the later fights. The early game was relatively quiet though, as other than that kill there were only neutral objectives killed in the first 15 minutes. But in the mid-game, they turned online and found some big team fight victories. These fights allowed them to destroy some towers and secure more dragons.

Especially important was the team fight at 31 minutes. At this point, FLY killed four from OPT and obtained the Baron buff. This buff helped FLY to smash multiple OPT Inhibitors, but OPT caught out V1per and won a team fight that led them to a Baron of their own. Just like that OPT was back in the game as they sieged the middle and bottom lanes and blasted the Inhibitors in both lanes. The game was very tense now, but soon a team fight erupted. FLY came out back on top with a clean Ace and ran it straight down into the base to get a much-needed win.

QUICK STATS:

Time: 43:47

Kills: 15-6

Turrets: 11-8

Gold: 81.2k-76.8k

Dragons: 4-3

Barons: 1-1

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