It’s rare to see both teams smiling after a match in the North American League Championship Series.

It’s even rarer when the final game of that match takes nearly 70 minutes to finish.

“How many inhibitors have died this game? I’m pretty sure it’s at least 20-plus,” Aidan “Zirene” Moon says moments before Game 3’s 66:46 conclusion. CLG siege Team EnVyUs’ Nexus yet another time, saddled with a team composition that is difficult for nV to kill, but unable to out-damage nV in full 5v5 fights. They’ve tried to close out this game multiple times, buffed by both Baron and Elder Drake.

This particular siege feels like the hundredth time CLG have tried to push down nV’s Nexus. It’s likely only the tenth. Armed with two Zz’Rot Portals and a Banner of Command, CLG finally end the game.

Above the roar of the crowd — thinned out by the game’s length and a general lack of importance — Julian “Pastrytime” Carr screams.

“CLG with the longest game of spring 2017!”

CLG mid laner Choi “Huhi” Jae-hyun buries his head in his hands, rubbing his eyes vigorously before looking up with a grin. Next to him, AD carry Trevor “Stixxay” Hayes and support Zaqueri “Aphromoo” Black congratulate each other before moving on to shake hands with nV. Wan and tired, Stixxay rises from his chair, his hospital bracelet still loose around his wrist.

Over at the nV desk, AD carry Apollo “Apollo” Price smiles at Nickolas “Hakuho” Surgent. They both laugh while Apollo rubs behind his ears before putting his glasses back on.

Everyone is exhausted and giddy.

Fated to finish in last place and doomed to the 2017 summer promotion tournament, nV had nothing to play for but pride. They took CLG to three games, ending the regular season with the split’s longest game. With playoffs already clinched, the only thing that the win grants CLG is the higher, fourth-place seed.

Yet both teams appeared to give this series weight. Stixxay, who had been absent in CLG’s 0-2 loss to Immortals the day prior due to an emergency hospital visit that ended in a diagnosis of both mononucleosis and tonsilitis, returned to play nV against his doctor’s wishes.

“I said that I would rather come back and play in LCS today,” he says, laughing. “It kind of sucked to watch my team play without me. It was just really weird to watch.”

Despite rushing to return to the LCS stage, Stixxay admits that this was a rough performance from his team and that they had trouble getting into the right mindset for the nV series.

“I wouldn’t really take too much from these games,” Stixxay says. “For me personally I hadn’t played League in two days. It kind of sucks to play a set like that where you know it doesn’t mean anything. We needed to fix our mentality from the first game to the second game.” He pauses, shakes his head, and laughs.

“I don’t even know how to describe the third game.”

His laning partner shares a similar outlook.

“Even though playoffs were on the line seeding-wise, I don’t think that was prevalent in our minds as much,” Aphromoo says. “We were just trying to have a clean game. Unfortunately the last game was uh…that was not fun.”

View photos Counter Logic Gaming, NA LCS Week 1 (Riot Games/lolesports) More

CLG have a knack for drawing out games. They floundered in the beginning of the split, struggling to adjust to a meta that made top laner Darshan “Darshan” Upadhyaha their primary initiator rather than Aphromoo or Huhi.

Halfway through the split, CLG recognized that this style of play was not their forté and returned to what they know best: a 1-3-1 split push isolating top laner Darshan in a side lane along with one other member of the team. In this final game against nV, it’s Huhi on Ekko.

“Before I was a splitter with Darshan, we used to run a lot of 1-3-1 comps,” Huhi says. “Since the meta changed we go for anchor mid instead of me splitting. Instead of assassinating champions, I usually play Ori or Viktor. We changed our jobs and we had to learn. Now, I think we just came to the conclusion that we can just play like our style instead of fully meta.”

Story continues