This series brought together the rising Echo Fox and the falling Team Liquid. Last week Echo Fox bested their previous season win record going 2-0. Most notably they handed FlyQuest their first loss of the season. The day before, Liquid was swept by the previously winless Team Envy.

Game 1

Team Liquid: Jayce, Olaf, Corki, Jhin, Thresh

Echo Fox: Maokai, Kha’Zix, Ryze, Varus, Tahm Kench

In the picks and bans, Team Liquid first picked Jayce. They banned out the Poppy which meant they wanted to play Jayce and did not want Echo Fox to have the Poppy counter. This allowed Fox to get Varus and Kha’Zix, two of the best champions in their roles. In Phase 2 banning, Liquid banned Froggen’s trademark Anivia but left open Ryze, who in past weeks was a top tier pick. Liquid even picked Corki letting Fox last pick Ryze. Echo Fox also had Tahm Kench, who paired with Ryze allowed for a lot of potential cross map plays.

The game started off poorly for Team Liquid. Echo Fox sat in the bush above red buff and pounced on Lourlo as he and Reignover face checked. Akaadian’s Kha’Zix received first blood gold and Lourlo blew his flash.

To take advantage of the flashless Jayce, Akaadin snuck into the middle bush in the top lane and waited for Lourlo to extend up the lane. He sat in the bush for 30 seconds before he and Looper pulled the trigger and picked up an easy kill.

A minute later, Reignover tried to make up for the 2 early kills on Looper with a top lane dive. Looper’s Maokai hit level 6 just as Reignover showed up giving him access to his damage reducing ultimate. The dive failed as Reignover was struck down by tower and Lourlo barely made it out as well. It was not over however, the mid laners had roamed up and Froggen picked up a kill on the straggling Jayce.

7 minutes into the game Lourlo is 0/3 and Echo Fox have a 1.5k gold lead. The whole reason a team picks Jayce is for the lane pressure. Lourlo was so far behind Maokai was actually the one putting on the pressure. Jayce was useless and the game was already falling apart.

At 9 minutes, Akaadian rotated top to push Lourlo off of tower and secure first tower gold. Meanwhile in the bottom lane, Liquid sent 4 members bot and tower dove Keith and Gate. Tahm Kench ate the Varus and kept them both alive. The duo hung around too close to the tower and Liquid ran them down killing them both. Froggen came for a cleanup kill but Liquid got the tower.

Maokai had complete pressure on the top side of the map. At 14 minutes, he used that freedom to rotate mid to help Fox kill Matt 5v4. Lourlo teleported in to help but Matt was already dead.

The next few minutes were filled with a couple of picks on both sides. At 17 minutes, Piglet sniped Keith and Liquid used the man advantage to secure the first dragon. The kill score was 5-7 in favor of Echo Fox, towers were tied 1-1 but Fox had nearly a 2k gold lead.

At 18:30, Fox used the mobility of Ryze and Tahm Kench to surround GoldenGlue and Reignover in the jungle and pick up a kill in the top lane. They used the man advantage to secure top 2nd tier tower.

At 23 minutes, Liquid killed the 2nd dragon on spawn but were chased to their bottom tower. Fox dove lead by the fed and unkillable Looper. Echo Fox picked up 2 kills while Keith got sniped again, this time by Lourlo. They took bottom tower while piglet took mid. 2 minutes later, Echo Fox grouped as 5 and pushed down the last remaining outer tower in the mid lane.

At 29 minutes, Liquid attempted to kill the dragon on spawn again. This time Fox was ready and they Realm Warped Looper straight into the middle of TL with the rest of the team close behind. Looper should have died but Gate flash devoured him to save his life. Akaadian was on the other side of a wall and pulled off an impressive assassination on Piglet. Fox picked up 2 more kills and the dragon. They then rotated top and killed an uncontested baron.

Fox’s first siege attempt with baron was sloppy. They were only able to siege with a couple waves of minions before they messed up and were pushed away. Liquid picked up a kill and Akaadian’s fed Kha’Zix had another assassination.

Liquid successfully stalled out the rest of Echo Fox’s baron. But even without baron, they forced their way through top knocking down the tower killing two while only using one. At this point, Maokai and Tahm Kench were massive and the team completely ignored the open inhibitor. Instead, they dove Liquid under their two nexus towers with Looper taking what looked like zero damage. They picked up two more kills and with all members down except Lourlo, Echo Fox won the game at 35:44.

The game was lost after the two early kills on Lourlo and the failed dive. Throughout the entire game, Looper’s Maokai was massive and unkillable. Akaadian ran rampant on Kha’Zix, assassinating any squishy that was slightly out of position. He finished the game with the most kills at 8. Despite losing, GoldenGlue on Corki did the most damage in the game. After the first blood, Team Liquid never had a gold lead.

Game 2

Team Liquid: Maokai, Kha’Zix, Corki, Ashe, Zyra

Echo Fox: Shen, Nidalee, Anivia, Varus, Tahm Kench

The most surprising pick in this draft was Nidalee. Other top tier junglers such as Rek’Sai, Lee Sin, and Graves were available but they went with the Nidalee. Piglet’s Jhin was banned so he took Ashe. TL left Anivia open and Froggen played it. Fox’s bot lane was the same and GoldenGlue took Corki again.

Game 2 started off uneventfully compared to the last game. The fun started at 6 minutes when Liquid’s bot lane recalled and immediately started heading top. The three-man team knocked down the first tower at 7 minutes without any resistance from Echo Fox. Keith and Gate had recalled but chose to return to bottom instead of helping top. TL saw this elected to continue their push on the top side. Froggen and Akaadian had gone to steal Liquid’s blue assuming Liquid would back off. With only Shen to protect the turret, Liquid knocked down 2nd tier tower a mere 8 minutes into the game. Keith was alone to continue pushing bot and was not able to take a tower in response. This power move gave Liquid a 1.5k gold lead.

At 12 minutes, Echo Fox finally took the bottom tower. Shortly after, Team Liquid took the first dragon for free after 4 members of Echo Fox recalled. At 14 minutes, Froggen takes top while GoldenGlue take bot.

First blood finally Came at 15:30. Corki with the package streaked behind Echo Fox with Maokai teleport flanking from behind for a kill on Anivia. The kills started coming as the teams traded 1 for 1 at 17 and a half minutes. Shortly after, Froggen showed his mastery on Anivia solo killing Piglet. A little later, Goldenglue flashed under tower to kill the already low health Gate. At 19 minutes, Liquid kill the 2nd dragon on spawn but Echo Fox gets a kill in response.

At 20 minutes, kills and towers were even with 3’s across the board. However, Echo Fox had a CS lead in every lane. This lead contributed to the only gold lead Fox would have for a brief 5 minutes.

At 23 minutes, the teams broke out into a massive 5v5 team fight. The fight was very back and forth but Matt flashed forward for a double root and a double kill for Liquid. With the 5 on 3 advantage, TL ran at Echo Fox and picked up two more kills underneath mid lane towers. With everyone but Gate dead, Liquid took mid and baron.

A minute later, Liquid got a kill on Gate and tried to use their man advantage to take the third dragon of the game. As they started dragon, Varus and Nidalee landed every skill shot and forced Liquid to back away. Fox used the push to take their first dragon.

26 minutes in, Liquid used baron to take 2nd tier mid and bot. 3 minutes later, Goldenglue got picked and Fox ran it up mid for 2nd tier tower. At 31 minutes, Liquid took dragon on spawn. A minute later, Fox chased Piglet around the bottom jungle and eventually killed him. However they spent so much time chasing Piglet, the rest of Liquid secured a free baron. Liquid uses baron to siege but Fox’s poke pushes them off. The rest of baron was stalled out and TL did not gain much from it.

At 38 mintues, a sporadic fight broke out and Matt went down. Fox used the man advantage to start Elder Dragon. Liquid responded aggressively and Echo Fox took a ton of damage from the dragon. Down 4 members to 5, Liquid put on an impressive fight and ace’d Fox. They then take Elder for themselves. With death timers being so long at that stage of the game, Liquid was also able to take baron.

Team Liquid used baron to finish off the top lane tower they had been unable to finish before. Fox did not want to fight them with the elder buff and they gave up their inhibitor. Liquid felt strong and tried to force more but Reignover ended up getting killed. They regrouped and tried to siege bot inhibitor tower, but the wave clear from Fox was too strong and baron quickly timed out.

***At this point, I recommend you watch the rest of the game as it was very intense. Start watching around 47 minutes.***

The two teams dance around the map waiting for the next baron to spawn. The third baron of the game spawns at 48 minutes and Liquid tries to rush it down on spawn. Fox had full knowledge of what Liquid was doing and collapsed onto them. Reignover secured baron, but three Liquid members died.

Another fight a minute later took out Lourlo and Piglet. Fox ran for Elder and this time were able to take it. At 52 minutes, an Elder buffed Echo Fox took down bot inhibitor tower and forced a fight. They were over eager and lot two members without putting any damage onto the inhibitor. Liquid had 4 members alive to Fox’s 3 and they tried hard to pick up those last kills and end the game. They were able to get the ace and destroy top lane inhibitor again.

The 4th baron spawned at 55 minutes and again Liquid forced it down on spawn. This time Fox was too far away to react and TL secured it cleanly. The teams regroup and Liquid sieged mid lane. They got the tower and inhibitor and picked up a kill on Shen. With Super Minions coming from top and a wave mid they took a nexus tower. One last wave of supers came in and Liquid won the game at 58:17.

This was the longest game so far in the 2017 Spring NA LCS. Liquid held a gold lead through the entire game except for a 5-minute stretch around 20 minutes. That gold lead was a result of Liquid’s laners getting outfarmed. With Liquid’s great two tower rush in the top lane I thought Liquid should’ve been in more control. The gold lead Liquid had meant less and less as the game dragged on. The last 15 minutes of the game felt like Liquid were the ones in control. Liquid needed four barons to win the game. Each time Liquid got baron, I don’t think they did enough with it. Part of that was Fox’s wave clear but Liquid should have been able to get more with them. For the second game in a row Goldenglue dealt the most damage in the game on Corki.

Game 3

Team Liquid: Nautilus, Kha’Zix, Corki, Jhin, Lulu

Echo Fox: Maokai, Graves, Ryze, Varus, Malzahar

Team Liquid first picked Kha’Zix allowing Echo Fox to take Varus for the third game in a row. Goldenglue also got Corki again. With Jhin not banned, Piglet played him again. Six top laners were banned and we still got Nautilus vs. Maokai. The same jungle pool as last game was open for Akaadian but this time he went with Graves. Anivia was not banned but Froggen played Ryze again.

Action started shortly after the laning phase began. Bot lane traded heavily at level 1 with Keith and Gate coming out on top. Gate’s voidlings forced Piglet to back away while Matt tried to trade with Keith. Piglet and Matt had to flash towards each other to get Matt within heal range. 2 minutes into the game and Liquid’s bot lane already had no summoner spells. Fox hit level 2 first and Gate simply put malefic visions onto Matt with voidlings to get first blood.

At 5:30, Akaadian and Ryze invaded into Reignover’s top side jungle and pushed him out. Reignover came back to contest his camps that Akaadian was stealing. Looper had already begun rotating into jungle from top and flashed onto Reignover for a kill.

To take advantage of the summoners blown in the bottom lane, Akaadian ganks at 6:30. TL’s heal and exhaust were back up but they were still flashless and Fox picked up two more kills with Matt getting a kill on Akaadian.

2 minutes later, Keith hits level 6 and engages on Piglet. They nearly killed him but Akaadian was there from behind to get an easy kill. Somehow Matt got a 1v2 kill on Keith but then dies. With Liquid’s bot lane back at base, Fox started dragon. Reignover and Goldenglue walk over to contest. Neither jungler lands the smite and Goldenglue kills the dragon.

At 11 minutes, Fox got a kill on Matt and used the man advantage to take bot tower. In response, Liquid sent three people top to dive Looper. Unlike in Game 1, Liquid pulled off the dive and took the tower. With 3 TL members top, Fox took 2nd tier bot tower as well.

14 minutes into the game, Echo Fox took top tier one without any response from Liquid. After the tower went down, Liquid tried to rotate onto Maokai in the bot lane but were not nearly fast enough. Fox saw Liquid running the opposite direction and simply took the 2nd tier tower as well.

At 15 minutes, Echo Fox was up in kills 9-3 and towers at 4 to 1. Fox had a 5k gold lead. They used their lead to take dragon without any contention. 1 minute later the first team fight broke out in the mid lane. Despite Fox’s lead, the fight ended one for one.

At 19 minutes, Liquid saw the TP-less Maokai top and forced a 5v4 fight under mid tower. Kills were again one for one and the mid lane tower was one hit away from falling. A little later, Piglet tried to walk up to the tower and take it out but his auto didn’t do enough damage. As he walked up, Keith snared him with an ultimate and Piglet went down.

At 21:30, Akaadian and Looper snuck behind the back wall into baron pit and tried to take out baron. Liquid luckily blue trinketed the pit and saw what was going on. Instead of backing off, Fox forced it down. A fight broke out and Liquid picked up 3 kills. With Fox members either dead or forced back to base, Liquid took another dragon.

With baron, Fox took down the last outer tower at 23 minutes. This was the only tower Fox was able to take with the buff. 5 minutes later, Fox was able push Lourlo back to base and take down drag. While they were taking dragon, Lourlo had a great teleport flank from behind and jumped right on top of Fox’s back line. Liquid took down 3 members of Fox and ran straight for baron.

Liquid used the buff to take out the last outer tower in bot lane and pushed up for their first 2nd tier tower as well. At 32 minutes, Liquid tried to make a pick in Fox’s jungle but Goldenglue and Reignover died for one kill. This pretty much shut down Liquid’s baron play. 3 minutes later, Fox have the position on dragon and secure it.

At 36 minutes was the game determining fight. Fox tried to use the Ryze ultimate with all 5 members to pick off Goldenglue but were unsuccessful. Liquid started getting in position and forced Fox back. Someone dropped a ward at a perfect position for Lourlo to teleport to. Goldenglue and Matt were extended so Looper and Froggen ran straight at them hoping to pick up some kills. This left Fox’s back line directly on top of the teleporting Lourlo, who with help from Reignover, wiped out Keith and Akaadian. Meanwhile, Piglet took out Froggen and Looper was forced to vacate the area. This resulted in a baron for Team Liquid and at 39:35, the game and series victory as well.

This game started off very poorly for Liquid. In a similar fashion to Game 1, one of the lanes got behind and Echo Fox exploited it. The difference in this game, was Echo Fox throwing at baron at 21 minutes. If they had been more patient, they could have extended their lead and safely taken the objective. That faulty play helped extended Liquids life. What won Liquid the game was Lourlo’s TP’s. The dragon flank at 28 evened out the gold lead and the flank at 38 minutes won the game. Goldenglue did the most damge for the third time in a row on Corki.

Series Thoughts

This series should have been won by Echo Fox. They did a great job of exploiting Lourlo in Game 1 which lead to the victory. In Game 3, they exploited very poor play by Piglet and Matt but were unable to hold it together in the mid to late game. If Liquid had not made those mistakes so early into the game, things would’ve gone much differently. Liquid should have won Game 2 much quicker. It shouldn’t take four barons to win a game. Goldenglue popped off this series. He had the most damage all 3 games on Corki.

Next week Team Liquid takes on Cloud 9 on Friday in the first game and Immortals on Saturday. Cloud 9 seems to be the hottest team in LCS at the moment and will be a very tough matchup. The Immortals game features Reignover vs Dardoch, each player played for the opposite team last season.