Photo Credit: DVS Gaming
The spring split finals played between Team SoloMid and Cloud 9 this past weekend had everything from Silver Scrapes, exciting comebacks, and both good and bad plays that kept viewers on the edge of their seats. However, in the end, only one team could emerge victorious and represent North America in the Mid-Season Invitational coming up soon.
There wasn’t much to be excited about for the first two games as TSM put on a clinic and stomped C9 in both games. To put it into perspective, TSM had approximately 6 times more kills than C9 did in both games combined. For Game 3, C9 decided to make a change by substituting in Ray for Impact in the top lane as a last ditch attempt to dig themselves out of a 0-2 deficit. Things were looking up during the mid-game for C9 as they were able to get a slender lead, but a botched team fight at Baron turned the momentum into TSM’s favor. Things were looking grim for C9 as TSM managed to take both Baron and the Elder Dragon, but a desperate team fight in the base allowed C9 to barely hold on. C9 were able to win a decisive team fight at Baron which allowed them to wipe most of the TSM and start the comeback by winning the game. Game 4 was simply all C9 as they steamrolled through TSM with Jensen dominating Bjergsen in the mid-lane taking the game to a final game.
With the sound of Silver Scrapes playing, the final battle began with a hotly contested pick and ban phase. Both teams got priority picks suck as Lulu and Ekko for C9 and Camille and Lee Sin for TSM. The entire game was the epitome of a grand finals with both teams fighting neck to neck for the entirety. One team would get a single pick and the other team would answer right back to retain the stalemate. Even at 38 minutes into the game, the gold was dead even. C9 found a slender advantage by winning a team fight near the Baron which allowed them to take the objective afterwards. However, TSM countered by winning a team fight of their own at the Elder Dragon and ace’ing the C9 team. With the death timers at 42 minutes, TSM were able to rush down C9’s base and once again be crowned the champions of the NA LCS.