EP vs. iG

Energy Pacemaker vs. Invictus Gaming would kick off the final week of the LPL. Straight away, Invictus Gaming were able to pump up the aggression and grab a first blood for Invictus Gaming's newfound bottom lane. Surmounting that lead further would be Kid starting off 3-0 early, proving the worth of iG's AD carry and AP carry role swap.

Invictus Gaming was able to secure a early kill lead, but Energy Pacemaker fought back by obtaining an even tower score. Invictus Gaming took greater control of the map in the mid game due to Illusion roaming on Yorick and occasionally smiting buffs away from BuPing. Despite iG already having a massive threat in the mid lane, they still decided to switch it up.



PDD already beginning the hunt on Rengar. ​

Rather than having a tank threat, iG went for pure damage, with PDD building almost strictly glass cannon Rengar. The strategy definitely had it's place for iG due to Vayne being allowed free damage from Energy Pacemaker having to chose from a plethora of threats. She ended up building a phage to assist in kiting to be more self-sufficient.

Invictus Gaming's risky strategy paid off in the end as they crushed through Energy Pacemaker. With 4 threats, a heavy CC support, and a potential revive with Yorick jungle, the rolling ball could not be stopped once iG got ahead. They utilized this efficiently and pushed the advantage to a point where EP could make no comeback.

VOD (click for full-screen)

PE vs. YG

Positive Energy vs Young Glory kicked off in a relatively passive manner for the first 3 minutes followed by a very awkward gank that would set off the first 3 kills of the game bottom. Syz helped Otto clear the wave since it was pushed to turret, ganking after and coming out 2-1 but giving a kill to NaMei's Vayne. Syz's Zac was 2-0, however.

Meanwhile in the middle lane, JoJo had an AD assassin duel-off with YanSir, with JoJo making some extremely impressive plays. At around 12 minutes, Positive Energy snuck around bottom lane for a pincer attack to win a crucial teamfight, but Young Glory were able to turn and receive some kills on their own.

After all was settled, the two teams were still quite even and it proceeded to be that way for quite some time. While Positive Energy had strong engages, Young Glory had strong disengages to follow. This resulted in many fights having back and forth option where the outcome could not be predicted for the majority of the fights.



Jojo consistently outplayed his middle opponent. ​

It was later on that game where NaMei would pull off some heart pounding Vayne mechanics, finding a win with a 1v3 battle which shifted Positive Energy into a great position. With a kill lead and multiple dragons ahead, PE was ahead 6 turrets to 4, which also resulted in a great map advantage. Young Glory still held on strong.

A point of doom and gloom for Positive Energy would be Syz, who otherwise was performing extremely well, getting caught out by his jungle after a fight which was surely in the favor of Young Glory. With an exposed inhibitor, PE had a large advantage and greater freedom. After a final push, PE was able to finish the game off and take out YG.

VOD (click for full-screen)

OMG vs. LMQ

OMG came out swinging with a jungle Rengar, which would be the second one we would see today in the LPL. This time, it was commanded by LoveLin, who would also forego spirit items in order to build a DPS assassin. LoveLin started off his rampage early after starting a red elixir and beginning the hunt with his early game power spike.

Afterwords, OMG would play a strictly objective focused gamestyle. They rarely fought, only dueled and skirmished despite having a rather strong area of effect composition. With some more picks followed by dragons and towers, OMG was definitely in the drivers seat, but LMQ was holding out strong. It was still a close game with OMG holding the edge.





Rengar on the prowl once again -- this time, by OMG's LoveLin.

As the game went on, the only time OMG would group up to push was when LMQ were overzealous with their attempts at split pushing. OMG's map dominance allowed them to proxy turrets and keep LMQ from finding a good time to shove out and ward the map. This meant that OMG was never at a disadvantage when it came to developing a counter-strategy.

Near the end of the game, OMG found a pick with Cool's awesome Zed play. Coupled with a DPS Rengar and Blade of the Ruined King, they were easily able to melt baron, which allowed for a game end very quickly after. Although LMQ had decent engage, they were not strong enough to go through with it and weren't able to peel Vayne enough to win fights.

VOD (click for full-screen)

WE vs. RC

The final game of the day featured Misaya once again showing his confidence on Sion, but on the other hand a rather questionable pick regarding the team compositions of both teams. An explosive level one fight, which would have went well at level 1 for World Elite if they flashed sooner, ended up going poorly for them, giving Royal Club first blood.

Though the gold went to Tabe on support, she utilized it well in the 2v2 lane middle by trying to zone Weixiao out the best he could. Misaya sat waiting for a gank opportunity in the mid lane, but both opponents most likely knew that there was someone waiting at the other end of the bush. This caused more damage to Misaya than Lucky due to being a mid laner wasting time versus a jungler.



Royal Club's awesome cataclysms out of Lucky allowed them to close out the game. ​

The kill score was pretty even early, but World Elite was more on top of their game with dragon. The dragon they took at the fourteen minute mark was practically uncontested. However, this didn't mean World Elite was behind -- Misaya decided he was going to build a Mejai's Soulstealer once again in this game anyway.

World Elite were unable to utilize their early aggression to the full extent due to blowing so many summoner spells at an early level. Lucky was on his A- game by finding opportunities to catch opponents out. Royal Club's ability to quickly capitalize on this allowed a close, but doable victory condition for Royal Club.

VOD (click for full-screen)



STANDINGS