OpTic Gaming vs Cloud9

Cloud9 ("C9") really brought the heat in the first match of the day up against OpTic Gaming ("OPT"). They played extremely fast and brutally dominated OPT through the early game. C9 caught out and killed Big for First Blood, then Nisqy killed Crown right after. From here, it became an absolute massacre. There was over a kill a minute for a while, as C9 moved around the map and killed every single OPT member. Crown suffered the most as C9 ganked him several times and he dropped six kills quickly.

OPT did manage to show some signs of life though. Dhokla had two fantastic fights, one in the bottom lane and another top, where he killed multiple C9 members to give OPT some hope. But C9 wouldn't let that hope live very long. At 21 minutes they rushed the Baron and secured it, and OPT engaged a fight to contest them. C9 turned it right around al killed three from OPT. Empowered with the buff, C9 went to work dismantling OPT's base. Instead of sieging the bottom lane Inhibitor tower, C9 chose to dove into OPT's base. They slaughtered all five before claiming OPT's Nexus.

QUICK STATS:

Time: 25:56

Kills: 9-24

Turrets: 2-9

Gold: 41.3k-52.9k

Dragons: 1-3

Barons: 0-1

100 Thieves vs Counter Logic Gaming

100 Thieves ("100T") won a crucial game over Counter Logic Gaming ("CLG") to keep their playoff hopes alive. It wasn't an easy game by any measure though. 100T did amass a decent lead early on, as Amazing ganked the top lane to get First Blood for FakeGod and taking the First Tower bonus in the bottom lane later. On top of this, they found a few picks. But CLG wasn't a pushover. They won some skirmishes and capitalized on a middle lane tower dive to find a few kills.

During the mid-game, both teams caught out and killed multiple members. There wasn't a ton of impactful action between 20 and 30 minutes, but at 32 minutes it kicked back off. Here, 100T killed one CLG member in a team fight and turned towards Baron. They burned it down but PowerOfEvil stole it away! In response, 100T killed two from CLG and ran down mid. They destroyed the Inhibitor and two Nexus towers, but CLG pushed them out and killed four. The game stalled out for a few more minutes, but out of nowhere, 100T caught out Ruin in the mid lane. This led to more and more deaths from CLG until 100T had Ace'd them. This allowed them to run straight into CLG's base and smash their Nexus.

QUICK STATS:

Time: 42:47

Kills: 18-16

Turrets: 8-3

Gold: 78.9k-73.7k

Dragons: 3-3

Barons: 0-1

Team SoloMid vs Team Liquid

With their playoff bye locked, Team Liquid ("TL") decided to whip out the full Glacial composition to lay some hurt of Team SoloMid ("TSM"). Though they had some suboptimal champions, TL played as they usually do. Xmithie's Nunu & Willump started his team's snowball by ganking the bottom lane to get First Blood for Doublelift. After this, they had full control over the Dragon pit and amassed a decent amount of them. They did mess up a dive in the bottom lane, which resulted in three kills for Zven, but Impact solo killed Broken Blade and put TL ahead.

Once the mid-game rolled around, TL grouped up and used the ridiculous CC from their composition to find picks and win fights. TSM managed to kill Jensen one time, with Bjergsen getting the kill, but TL's immense pressure made him essentially useless. At 22 minutes, TL furthered their lead by winning a team fight three-for-zero and claiming an Infernal Dragon. This helped them to kill Smoothie at 27 minutes, then take an uncontested Baron. TSM couldn't withstand TL, and TL only needed one more fight in TSM's jungle to Ace them and neatly close the game.

QUICK STATS:

Time: 30:30

Kills: 4-17

Turrets: 3-7

Gold: 48.5k-57.5k

Dragons: 1-3

Barons: 0-1

Clutch Gaming vs Golden Guardians

Clutch Gaming ("CG") earned their spot in playoffs and avoided a tiebreaker match by bringing down the Golden Guardians ("GGS"). Their aggressive style looked refine as they made play after play to get significant advantages. The first advantage was put on Cody Sun, as he got First Blood in a bottom lane team fight, while his team picked up one other kill. CG looked to fight often after this, finding four beneficial fights in the middle lane and jungle by 20 minutes. They also held control over the majority of dragons and the Rift Herald.

CG almost took their first Baron after killing two in the middle lane, but GGS managed to push their opponents back and stop their take. Because of this, CG had to wait to make their move. When they found their opportunity, CG pulled the trigger on GGS and Ace'd them. The Baron fell shortly after. This buff enabled CG to destroy the bottom lane Inhibitor and get a kill onto FBI. GGS won another fight narrowly, which stopped any further damage to their base. It was only temporary, as CG went to Baron, won a team fight and blew through GGS' base.

QUICK STATS:

Time: 34:37

Kills: 20-10

Turrets: 9-1

Gold: 64.5k-55.8k

Dragons: 4-1

Barons: 1-1

Echo Fox vs FlyQuest

The fifth game of the day was one long grind, but Echo Fox ("FOX") ended their year with a win over FlyQuest ("FLY"). It was a very low action game, with most of FOX's lead coming from their draft. Santorin killed Apollo for First Blood, but MikeYeung ganked bot later to get two kills, plus the First Tower bonus there. After this, there were some picks here and there, but the majority of time was spent taking objectives and farming. The mid-game usually boasts a lot of team fight action, but this one failed to.

FOX finally started being more proactive at 29 minutes, when they started the Baron. They secured it and only had to lose Solo for it. FLY seemingly rolled over as FOX took one, then two, then three Inhibitors. But FLY pulled off a great fight, as FOX engaged on them and FLY killed five-for-two. This forced FOX to take both the Elder and Baron buffs, but even with these FLY somehow repelled them. So once more FOX had to wait and take the two major buffs. Finally, it was enough, as they Ace'd FLY in a middle lane team fight and closed out the match.

QUICK STATS:

Time: 43:26

Kills: 15-12

Turrets: 11-1

Gold: 83.8k-75.3k

Dragons: 4-3

Barons: 3-0

Tiebreaker: OpTic Gaming vs 100 Thieves

OPT crushed 100T's playoff hopes and put themselves in another tiebreaker with a great victory. It was a very close game, but OPT's team fighting was superior when it mattered. Crown grabbed First Blood in a 2v2 mid, and later OPT took a Mountain Dragon, won a mid lane skirmish and took the First Tower bonus bottom. But after this, 100T took the lead by catching out multiple OPT members and boosting their kill count.

At 22 minutes, it seemed as though this advantage was going to snowball. 100T killed two from OPT and went to Baron, but unfortunately were pushed off and settled for one additional kill. Three minutes later, OPT found themselves in a similar position, but they secured the valuable buff. Though only two towers fell, OPT put themselves back in the driver's seat of the game. This meant that at 32 minutes OPT was prepared to win a mid lane team fight and obtain a second Baron buff. It didn't take long after that for OPT to smash one last team fight, claim the 100T Nexus and stamp their tickets to the playoffs.

QUICK STATS:

Time: 34:56

Kills: 10-5

Turrets: 8-3

Gold: 62.6k-53.9k

Dragons: 4-0

Barons: 2-0

Tiebreaker: Cloud9 vs Counter Logic Gaming

C9 dominated CLG in the seventh match of the day to win themselves a playoff bye. Like their game earlier, this was another strong game from C9. They began by looking towards their powerful bottom lane duo, choosing to dive CLG at three minutes to get Nisqy First Blood. Though Wiggily ganked him shortly after, C9 controlled every single objective, including two Mountain Dragons, the First Tower bonus and Rift Herald. On top of this, C9 destroyed towers quickly and capitalized on 2,000 gold worth of tower plates.

It wasn't as bloody as their earlier match against OPT, but C9 seemed to snuff the life out of CLG similarily. After taking another tower and Cloud Dragon, C9 baited CLG to come to the Baron pit, where they killed Wiggily. Without their Smite, CLG had to give over the buff to C9, which they happily accepted. The top and middle Inhibitors fell quickly as C9 clinically tore down CLG's base and forced CLG further into their base. C9 had to stay in their base and siege for a while but did eventually kill enough opponents to open up the Nexus and claim it for themselves.

QUICK STATS:

Time: 24:32

Kills: 10-2

Turrets: 9-1

Gold: 48.4k-36.5k

Dragons: 3-0

Barons:1-0

Tiebreaker: OpTic Gaming vs Golden Guardians

This match held a lot of weight for the teams, as it was fought for the last available playoffs spot. But when the smoke cleared, OPT stood victorious over GGS. They played quite cleanly, for example, diving top at five minutes to kill Hauntzer for First Blood. Meteos focused hard on the top side, even using the Rift Herald there to claim the First Tower bonus for Dhokla. GGS did show a spark of life when they won a team fight near the dragon pit at 15 minutes, but OPT had a firm handle on the game.

After 20 minutes, OPT picked off multiple GGS members. Each of these picks led to more towers, expanding their map control and gold lead. Dhokla was a menace in the side lane during this time, being so bold as to take an Inhibitor Tower by himself. OPT caught out Huhi at 31 minutes, which led to Froggen getting killed too. OPT seized this opportunity to take the middle Inhibitor and reset. Finally, at 32 minutes, the teams met at the Mountain Dragon for another team fight. OPT slaughtered three from GGS then instantly bolted for the base. They had to siege for a couple of minutes but did indeed take this important Nexus to obtain their playoff spot.

QUICK STATS:

Time: 34:10

Kills: 12-4

Turrets: 10-2

Gold: 63.1k-55.5k

Dragons: 3-2

Barons: 0-0

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