In the 2019 Summer Split Third Place match, Counter Logic Gaming found themselves down 2-0 to Clutch Gaming. In a best of five series, that means no more breathing room – it’s reverse sweep or nothing. Luckily for CLG, Clutch made a critical mistake in Game 3 Champion Select: they didn’t ban Thresh. And why would they? Vincent “Biofrost” Wang had only played the champ once all split, in a loss to the Golden Guardians.

But it seems that CG’s research didn’t go back far enough. In his professional career, he is 20-8 on the Chain Warden, racking up a 5.3 KDA. Though the champion hasn’t been at the top of the meta recently, Biofrost never lost his touch on him. He spoke on the matter in a post-game press conference:

“I’ve played a decent amount of Thresh in my career, but I haven’t really played it this season because I didn’t think it was a good pick. But we were down 0-2 and I was like, you know what? Screw it. I had played a couple games of it in scrims and it had worked out really really well. And I’m a pretty confident Thresh player, I used to be a one-trick Thresh, so I can always pull it out without playing many games on it. And Weldon said ‘Let’s have fun’ so I thought, let’s have some fun. (laughs)”

And have fun they did. Biofrost went 1/3/13 in Game 3, helping his team to their first victory of the night. Many of the team’s big advantage-gaining plays came at the end of Biofrost’s hook.

He played exceptionally, landing hooks, zoning with his Crowd Control threat and utilizing the Lantern to control vision and save his teammates. Thresh has always been a good pick because of his extreme level of utility, and Biofrost made the most of it in this game. He enabled Kim “Ruin” Hyeong-min and Tristan “PowerOfEvil” Schrage to carry the game and take the series to 2-1. Then, somehow CLG caught yet another break and Clutch left Thresh open again for Game 4.

His play helped lead his team to victory in Game 4, tying up the series. But more importantly, his play set them up mentally for Game 5. With everything on the line, CLG looked energized while their opponents looked almost broken. A decisive 25 minute victory secured their third place slot to end the season, but the series was decided well before they took the stage for the last time that day. Games 3 and 4 were impressive from all members of CLG, none more than Biofrost. The mental swing that occurred in these matches sealed the deal, and Game 5 seemed like a formality.

I'm the Thresh prince — Vincent (@Biofrostlol) August 25, 2019

CLG did a lot of things right in this series to take the victory over an impressive Clutch Gaming. Putting Biofrost on Thresh for those two games, though, is high on that list.

Find the rest of Nick’s articles here. If you would like to contact him or keep up with him, follow him on Twitter @_mrdantes.

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