LGD Gaming victorious in Tencent Games Arena Grand Prix - Day Recap

After a back and forth final series, LGD Gaming defeat Vici Gaming in TGA Grand Prix Winter 2013 finals. Both LGD and Vici earn a spot in the LPL 2014 summer Promotion.

After an extensive group and bracket stage, LGD Gaming and Vici Gaming were named top two of twenty eight teams in the TGA Grand Prix for Winter 2013. This secured both teams spots in the LPL 2014 Promotion, but they still duked it out in the best of three finals for an extra $8,204 and bragging rights.

Game 1

TGA Grand Prix's finals began with a delayed red buff invade by LGD Gaming. LGD's duo AD and support, Styz and Pyl, used their bottom side control to invade red buff and secure first blood against Dgc's Jarvan. Vici weren't out for the count, however. Though Renekton stalled out the duo push top so that Ezreal and Sona went to face Caitlyn and Thresh, they were outplayed by Thresh almost immediately, netting Vici's SimAlz a double kill. From there, the game became the story of the snowballing Caitlyn. Fights were consistently started by Dgc's Jarvan, who managed to easily zone out Styz's Ezreal. Caitlyn was left to safely pick off members of LGD Gaming while Rui's Jax split pushed in the bottom lane. A second near-ace at Baron for Vici resulted in LGD surrendering the first game of the series.

>>Game 1 VOD<<

Game 2

In the second game, LGD banned Jax to avoid the threat of his tower-crushing late game. Otherwise, Vici Gaming's team remained largely the same, switching out the split pushing Jax for a split pushing Shen. Some smart warding by Vici Gaming netted them a Thresh hook onto Pyl, but Blitzcrank's passive got him out unscathed while the rest of LGD chased Vici Gaming down for three early kills: two going to Styz's Ezreal, and the other to 3Y's Orianna. For the next three minutes, lane swaps between top and bottom were initiated no less than five times before LGD resigned themselves to 2v1 with Blitzcrank against Shen in the bottom lane. They decided to go for an early dragon fight, and LGD got four more kills and a dragon for one death, extending their lead even further. Despite the fact that LGD made several mistakes throughout the rest of the game, Vici Gaming could not overcome the massive early gold lead, and LGD took a win at twenty seven minutes.

>>Game 2 VOD<<

Game 3

In the third game, afraid of a repeat performance, Vici Gaming picked for early game power with Xin Zhao on Dgc and Lucian on SimAlz. Successful ganks by Dgc gave Vici Gaming a quick lead, but a fight at eighteen minutes went in LGD's favor and gave Styz's Caitlyn three kills. Several sloppy fights and two barons saw LGD take the first inhibitor of the game. Vici Gaming came back with renewed vigor when LGD went for the third baron, however, taking half of LGD's base in trade. After a poor fight, 3Y's Syndra had to defend her team's broken base against three members of Vici Gaming, but his zone control kept them from taking the game. The series finally culminated in a showdown between Simalz and Styz in Vici Gaming's base. While one might question Styz's Infinity Edge, BoRK, Blood Thirster, double Phantom Dancer, and Last Whisper build, it got the job done, and LGD took a hard fought fifty seven minute victory.

>>Game 3 VOD<<

While this series may not have been of the same caliber as the LPL Summer Playoffs that followed between OMG and World Elite, it still featured some smart reactive decisions by both teams. They shook of their losses and corrected their picks and bans to shore up their weaknesses, which is something that even Royal Club arguably failed to do in the Season Three World Championships against SKT T1's Jax pick. The final match showed just how even both teams are, despite the one-sided games preceding it, and it's lucky there are two slots open in the LPL Promotion.