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!
