By Helmight
The 5th place match
is something every team hopes to avoid, but after losing to their
respective opponents last week Counter Logic Gaming and Dignitas had no
choice but to play it. Despite having the threat of relegation looming
over their heads, Dignitas managed to stay composed and pulled out a 3-1
victory over CLG today to keep their place in the LCS.
Game 1 was solidly in the hands of CLG. From the very beginning, CLG
asserted their dominance over Dignitas, starting with a blue buff steal
by a three-man CLG squad. This crippled Crumbzz’s Amumu and got Dignitas
off to a poor start. From there, the game remained under CLG’s control –
despite the gold staying relatively even, it was clear that Counter
Logic Gaming could not be stopped. An early 21-minute Baron gave CLG a
huge advantage in the midgame, forcing Dignitas onto the defensive while
ZionSpartan tried to splitpush. Following that, a desperate engagement
by Crumbzz under Dig’s mid inner tower went awry when none of his team
was able to follow up. CLG easily mopped up Dignitas, with Doublelift
picking up a quadrakill and two towers falling in the aftermath. From
there, Dignitas’s fate was sealed and Game 1 ended soon afterwards with a
win for CLG.
The second game of the series was a much
more closely-fought affair. Though CLG managed to secure the first
dragon of the game, Dignitas snagged first blood thanks to a key
Teleport by ZionSpartan into the bottom lane. From there though, the
game was played cautiously by both teams – Dignitas managed to maintain a
kill lead, while CLG pressured objectives. In the end however, it was
CLG’s lack of hard engage that ruined their efforts. Shiphtur’s Syndra
and Crumbzz’s Kha’Zix were easily able to disengage and peel away CLG
every time they went for a fight, kiting them to hell and giving
Dignitas an edge. CLG’s desperation for a fight eventually led to a 4-0
skirmish for Dignitas, followed by a Baron and an inhibitor. Counter
Logic Gaming couldn’t come back from that, allowing Dignitas to equalize
the series at a game apiece.
In all honesty, CLG
should have won Game 3. Dignitas lost every single one of their
inhibitors and was stuck just defending the Nexus against a CLG that
looked very much like their old, dominant selves. For whatever reason
though, CLG was unable to break through Dignitas’s determined defense to
end the game. Multiple pushes ended with CLG limping home to lick their
wounds while Dignitas scurried about fending off super minions. Despite
this, Dignitas was still in an awful position – that is, until Crumbzz
decided that he’d had enough. During yet another one of CLG’s pushes,
Crumbzz managed to inSec Doublelift back into his team for a quick kill
onto CLG’s carry. That led to a 4-kill teamfight for Dignitas, which
quickly became 5 after Seraph tried to backdoor an inhibitor. With the
long death timers keeping CLG out of the game, Dignitas was able to
charge down mid to take CLG’s inhibitor. They didn’t stop there, though –
even with CLG respawning, Dig went for the Nexus. After picking off CLG
one-by-one, Dignitas brought down the Nexus in the most improbable
comeback of the 2014 LCS.
Anyone would be demoralized
after losing a game like that, and CLG certainly was. All five of them
looked defeated in their player cams as the fourth match started, and
they played like it. Seraph got ganked numerous times by Crumbzz’s
Kha’Zix and gave multiple kills over to ZionSpartan. With such a great
start to the game, Zion’s Dr. Mundo would end up becoming an unkillable
nightmare for CLG to face. Counter Logic Gaming put up a good fight and
even held the gold lead for a short time, but the momentum was against
them. Dignitas slowly and surely pressed in on CLG, and after
ZionSpartan successfully soloed Link’s Yasuo in the bottom lane it was a
simple matter for Dig to end the game.
For stats and VoDs of each game, visit lolesports.com. In the meantime, let us know what you thought of the series below!
