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!

Game of the Day: Cloud 9 versus Team SoloMid

By Helmight

            The titans have clashed once again, but this time you might be surprised by the ending. Cloud 9 has typically dominated Team SoloMid in their head-to-head matchups, but this time around it was TSM that took home the victory after a closely-fought game.  

            Of course, a matchup between the two NA giants wouldn’t be complete without some sort of crazy ending. After taking two of Cloud 9’s inhibitors, TSM rotated down to the bottom lane to pressure the third. Somehow, LemonNation managed to land a godly Death Sentence onto WildTurtle and annihilate TSM’s lategame carry, forcing TSM into a full retreat. Cloud 9 chased TSM all the way to their own exposed bot inhibitor, took it, and then made the risky call to try and end the game. They managed to take one Nexus tower down, but Turtle’s respawn and the massive number of minions knocking on their own Nexus turrets forced Cloud 9 back. As Cloud 9’s members tried to recall to defend the base, they were each hunted down in turn by the pursuing TSM members, killed in ones and twos while Balls tried desperately to hold off the super minions. With their base in shambles, Cloud 9 could do nothing to keep Team SoloMid from ending the game.

            TSM’s comp was very similar to the one they played against CLG early this week, except this time it worked. Dyrus’s Explosive Casks were on point throughout the match, keeping Cloud 9 from grouping up and allowing him to easily peel for WildTurtle. Dyrus also had the near-constant assistance of Amazing during the early game. The two of them repeatedly dove Balls under his tower, killing him three times before the ten-minute mark. With all of the gold he’d received from the dives, plus his Drunken Rage, Dyrus was practically unkillable. Meanwhile, WildTurtle went wild in this game, picking up a quadra kill in the lategame and finishing the match with more than half of TSM’s kills.

            Cloud 9 meanwhile looked a bit out of sorts. From minute one, things were off – Balls died during an early invasion after facechecking a bush, and Cloud 9’s shotcalling was off throughout the game. Sure, they did a much better job at securing dragons than Team SoloMid in the early game, but their teamfighting and midgame decision-making was questionable at best. Balls getting shut down didn’t help matters at all. Cloud 9 relies heavily on their toplaner doing well, making his choice of Dr. Mundo for the top lane all the more curious.

TSM had to fight tooth and nail to gain their lategame advantage though. Cloud 9’s play was shaky, but they were only 1k back from Team SoloMid through most of the midgame. It was a single teamfight that changed things. As they teams skirmished around the midlane, Amazing managed to land a miraculous Sonic Wave onto Sneaky. At the last second, TSM’s jungler leapt onto Sneaky and ulted him back at his team, giving TSM a phenomenal initiation to the fight. Though Cloud 9’s AD carry would somehow survive, three of his teammates would fall in the ensuing battle. With Cloud 9’s solo laners and jungler down, Team SoloMid was able to grab their first Baron and dragon of the game, giving them the advantage they needed to pressure down the inhibitors.

Cloud 9 (L)				Team SoloMid (W)
Kills	Turrets	Gold		Kills	Turrets			Gold
5	6	62.6k		16	10			70.8k
Lineup
Position	Player	Champion	K/D/A	Position		Player			Champion	K/D/A
Top	Balls	Dr. Mundo	0/6/1	Top	Dyrus				Gragas	1/0/9
Jungle	Meteos	Elise	3/3/1	Jungle	Amazing				Lee Sin	2/1/9
Mid	Hai	Yasuo	0/3/4	Mid	Bjergsen				Syndra	3/1/7
ADC	Sneaky	Lucian	2/3/1	ADC	WildTurtle				Tristana	10/1/2
Support	LemonNation	Thresh	0/1/2	Support	Gleeb				Morgana	0/2/9
Bans
Kog’Maw	Braum	Twisted Fate		Kassadin			Lulu	Rengar

Questions? Comments? Leave them below!