Game of the Day - Team SoloMid versus Counter Logic Gaming

By Helmight

            For the last time in the NA LCS regular season, arch-rivals Team SoloMid and Counter Logic Gaming clashed. This time however, the game was short and largely one-sided. CLG’s slump didn’t abate in time for their rivalry game with TSM and they went down in short fashion, despite good tower pressure and objective trades early. In the end, a few picks – and a great Baron call – allowed TSM to pick up the win.

            Up until the 20-minute mark, CLG had been playing excellently. Every time TSM went for a dragon or a tower, Counter Logic Gaming was able to answer with a tower of their own to keep the gold even. However, as the game dragged on CLG seemingly fell into a false sense of security. Bjergsen landed an excellent stun onto Aphromoo in the midlane, then annihilated the support for first blood. This was immediately followed by a stun onto Doublelift as the outer mid tower fell, resulting in a second kill for Team SoloMid.

With their first gold lead of the game, TSM planned to make the most of it and set up an aggressive play. As Doublelift idly farmed the bottom lane, Dyrus was able to wander down the unwarded river and jump onto CLG’s AD carry. Naturally, CLG pulled out all the stops to save Doublelift, using Seraph’s Teleport and moving dexter down as well. It was all for naught though – Dyrus did manage to kill Doublelift before falling himself, and more importantly he’d distracted the entirety of Counter Logic Gaming from his team’s Baron attempt. The objective went over to TSM with nary a whisper from CLG, cementing a 4k gold lead.

            Dyrus would also play the part of the distraction again a few moments later as CLG tried to shove the bottom lane with three members. Though he was unable to arrive in time to save the bottom inner tower, TSM’s toplaner charged after CLG’s entire team like a man possessed, scaring them away and preventing them from channeling their recalls. Meanwhile, the rest of Team SoloMid shoved down mid, taking an inner tower completely uncontested and most of an inhibitor tower before CLG could respond. By the time TSM finally backed off, Counter Logic Gaming had lost their mid inhibitor and top inner towers as well, putting them at a huge gold deficit and greatly reducing their map control. After giving up that many objectives, the game’s conclusion was all but forgone.

            Dyrus’s contribution to TSM’s success can’t be understated, but neither can Bjergsen’s. A pair of clutch Scatter the Weak stuns from his Syndra set up Team SoloMid’s first two kills of the game, while his immense damage output let him “peel” for WildTurtle by simply annihilating anyone who tried to get near him. With a respectable 4/0/1 finish, I think it’s safe to say that Bjergsen’s Syndra is worth a ban in the future.

On the other hand, CLG’s play was sloppy and disorganized, especially in regards to their vision control. Dyrus should have been spotted by a ward on his way to gank Doublelift, but there wasn’t a single scrap of vision in the river for CLG. Baron too was completely unwarded, which gave TSM the opportunity to take the objective uncontested. It feels as though CLG gets lost once they lose the gold lead. Prior to the first blood, their rotations and objective trading was solid and they were arguably playing better than Team SoloMid was. Afterwards though, their rotations fell apart and a series of bad calls brought Counter Logic Gaming to their knees. With playoffs looming and a Super Week coming up, these issues will need to be fixed going forwards.

Team SoloMid (W)				Counter Logic Gaming (L)
Kills	Turrets	Gold		Kills	Turrets			Gold
7	11	58.9k		1	5			43.4k
Lineup
Position	Player	Champion	K/D/A	Position		Player			Champion	K/D/A
Top	Dyrus	Irelia	1/1/1	Top	Seraph				Shyvana	1/2/0
Jungle	Amazing	Lee Sin	1/0/2	Jungle	dexter				Elise	0/1/1
Mid	Bjergsen	Syndra	4/0/1	Mid	Link				Xerath	0/0/0
ADC	WildTurtle	Jinx	1/0/2	ADC	Doublelift				Tristana	0/3/1
Support	Lustboy	Nami	0/0/5	Support	Aphromoo				Morgana	0/1/0
Bans
Nidalee	Braum	Yasuo		Kassadin			Lulu	Gragas

Questions? Comments? Leave them below!