Group Stages:

Group A:

Cloud 9 vs GE Tigers: 1-0

- A thrilling game where both teams played extremely aggressively but GE had too much coordination for C9, out team fighting them and turning the tables in every fight

- Many early kills with Cloud 9 looking to rattle the Tigers, including a lvl1 cheese for first blood onto GorillA

- Due to the constant early skirmishing, the Tigers had a 9k gold lead by 17 minutes and used this to transition into their already powerful mid game

- C9 looked down and out by 20 minutes, but GE messed around, playing far too cocky and not methodically closing out the game

- Although C9 was able to grab a few kills in their favour, GE regrouped and crushed them in a mere 29 minutes


SK Gaming vs Yoe Flash Wolves: 1-0

- A great game for us, we looked solid and were able to recover well after some early pressure by the Flash Wolves

- An early dragon and kill for Yoe looked worrying, but a dragon steal by Svenskeren 20 minutes in turned the tide

- We used this to snowball and take numerous kills and objectives with our strong mid game

- A 29 minute baron allowed us to push into the base of Yoe, and we ended the game in 36 minutes


SK Gaming vs GE Tigers: 0-1

- The Tigers managed to get first blood in 5 minutes with a nice gank onto Forg1ven

- We kept the game close, trading kills and taking dragons when we could

- A 19 minute team fight for the Tigers was quickly counteracted by a 3 for 1 engage by us

- The game was still in the balance before a fantastic ace by the Tigers finished us off at 34 minutes


Cloud 9 vs Yoe Flash Wolves: 0-1

- The early game was once again aggressive from C9, both teams trading kills and dragons

- C9 managed to take an inhibitor turret by 26 minutes, and looked to have the game wrapped up

- Flash Wolves turned up the heat, getting 4kills and beginning to snowball

- C9 struggled to recover, and Yoe were able to keep killing them, wrapping up the game in around 44 minutes


SK Gaming vs Yoe Flash Wolves: 0-1

- Yoe had the better of us early, punishing our mistakes but still conceding the cs advantage

- The Flash Wolves were all over the map, maintaining great dragon control and not letting get a foothold in the game

- Although we stopped their 4th dragon at 26 minutes, the threat of their Kog’maw was becoming ever more present

- Our crucial mistake came at 31 minutes, when a miss position allowed Yoe to take an inhibitor and baron

- With the buff they proceeded to roll through our base in 34 minutes


Qualified:

GE Tigers – 1st

Yoe Flash Wolves – 2nd





Group B:


Gambit vs CJ Entus: 0-1

- CJ elected to run the famous ‘Juggermaw’ composition

- But it was Gambit who got the early lead, playing well and stretching CJ across the map

- CJ slowly came back, taking the gold lead on 22 minutes and securing dragons and 35 minute baron

- Gambit were unable to capitalise on their lead and following a 41 minute Space quadra-kill, CJ closed out the game via their late game composition


TSM vs Team WE: 1-0

- All of TSM’s pressure was onto Team WE Spirit, not letting him roam at will and securing deep vision in his jungle

- Team WE kept the game close until a 18 minute ace where TSM opened up a lead

- Constant bad engages for Team WE meant TSM’s lead kept growing, and they methodically closed the game out in 35 minutes


TSM vs CJ Entus: 1-0

- With Sky on his famous Dr.Mundo, this game was a ticking time bomb

- Both teams remained even for much of the early game, CJ getting great catches but TSM hanging on and outputting good damage

- The turning point came after 2kills for TSM at 2 3minutes allowed them to push and take the baron

- With the buff, TSM fast pushed, and with the stronger mid game, were able to finish off CJ in 29 minutes


Gambit vs Team WE: 0-1

- First blood for Gambit at 6 minutes but Team WE’s compositional strength soon shone through

- WE were able to keep catching Gambit members, clawing back the gold advantage at 12 minutes

- We kept repeatedly attempting to break the Gambit defensive line, but were unable as Gambit’s team fight was very strong

- Gambit kept defending strongly, but Team WE finally broke through, ending the game in 30 minutes


CJ Entus vs Team WE: 0-1

- First blood for CJ at 7 minutes but Team WE with the first dragon

- Spirit was ever present, carrying Team WE along with a good performance from mid-laner xiye

- Team WE looked much stronger than in previous games, and despite being behind a couple of k gold, they dragged themselves back to almost even

- It was only after 39 minutes that Team WE took the gold lead, out team fighting CJ and acing them a minute later

- With this ace, Team WE took the game in 41 minutes


Qualified:

TSM - 1st

Team WE – 2nd





Semi Finals:

TSM vs Yoe Flash Wolves: 2-1

- In Game 1, Yoe put down all the early pressure and playing very well. A great performance by Neverloses was able to carry Yoe through. TSM were unable to dictate the game as they were accustomed to, and after a hugely tense 1vs1 between Santorin and SwordArt, Yoe took Game 1 in 39 minutes,

- TSM righted the wrongs of Game 1 with a much better early game showing. A 4k gold lead was opened up with no troubles at all. Yoe were unable to ever make an impact on TSM’s game structure and the series was evened up in a 45 minute TSM victory,

- Those hoping for a thrilling deciding match were disappointed, as TSM rolled over Yoe much like they had in Game 2. TSM ended the game only conceding 1 death and getting 18, to advance to the IEM Final.


GE Tigers vs Team WE: 1-2

- Game 1 was classic GE Tigers. Team WE opened up a slim early game lead but at 23 minutes GE flicked the switch. An ace got them the gold lead and the Tigers slowly extended it for the remainder of the game. WE had no answers for the late game coordination and GE wrapped up a simple Game 1 in 37 minutes

- The curse of Korean cockiness struck in Game 2. A weird Yasuo pick for kur0 backfired horribly and Team We were easily able to nullify it. One of the biggest shocks in LOL history, Team WE were able to roll through the Tigers and even up the series in 31 minutes.

- If Game 2 was a shock, Game 3 was unbelievable. GE looked to be on tilt, perhaps surprised at their previous loss. They were unable to make any early moves, letting Team WE dictate the game. Spirit showed why he is one of the world’s best junglers, providing invaluable engage and pressure for his team. A 29 minute game was swiftly ended by a great WE teamfight, and the biggest shock in League of legends was complete.





Final:



TSM vs Team WE: 3-0

- After all the build-up and hype surrounding Team WE’s chances, the final proved to be very simple affair. All three games were fairly simple for TSM, an early lead and constant pressure on Spirit meant they were free to do whatever they liked. Bjergsen and Lustboy played up to their usual excellent standards, and Wildturtle continued his much improved form.

- Team WE kept trying to find their rhythm, but TSM had done their homework, and it really showed in a very dominating performance.







This tournament raised more questions than it answered:

- Is TSM the world’s best team?
- Was the Tigers loss a fluke or will they choke again?
- Is NA conclusively stronger than EU?
- What’s wrong with Cloud 9?
- Is the LMS finally reaching the top tier again?

All these questions will be answered in the following months, for more coverage of EU LCS and LCK revisit sk-gaming.com.


Pictures courtesy of ESL