The Mid-Season Invitational is the second largest League of Legends tournament aside from Worlds. It takes place after the spring season and serves as a tournament where teams can test each other’s mettle halfway to Worlds. The previous champions of the 2015 Mid-Season Invitational is Edward Gaming from China who defeated SKT in an exciting 5 game series last year. In two previous articles, we covered the NA LCS, EU LCS, LPL, and LCK representatives for this year’s MSI. The fifth representative was also decided last week from the Taiwanese, Hong Kong, and South-Eastern Asia LMS.
Second-String
Photo Credit: pixeldynamo.com
The Flash Wolves debuted their first big international appearance at Worlds last year and surprised everyone by topping their group over the Korean juggernaut, KOO Tigers. They lost in the quarterfinals to Origen 1-3, but it was an impressive showing nevertheless. Over the last year and even longer, the Flash Wolves have had to contend themselves with second place to Westdoor’s ahq. This season was no different for them as they were one upped by ahq in the regular season. Ahq dominated the field with 11 wins, 3 ties, and 0 losses while Flash Wolves took second with their record of 9 wins, 2 ties, and 3 losses. In the two head to head matchups between the two teams, ahq walked away with the 2-0 victory in the first week and the two teams traded 1-1 in the final week of the regular season.
The LMS uses a gauntlet-style playoff bracket to determine the winners of the split. As a result, ahq was placed on the top of the gauntlet with the Flash Wolves in the spot below them meaning that the Flash Wolves would have to an additional opponent if they wanted to meet ahq in the finals. That opponent would be Machi Esports, a new team that had just came up from the Taiwanese Promotion Tournament last season. The Flash Wolves’ experience would show through as they proceeded to wipe the floor and with the series 3-0.
Resilience Pays Off
Photo Credit: Youtube
Going into the finals of the LMS Spring Season, it was clear that ahq were the favorites after their performance in the regular season. The Flash Wolves quickly silenced those thoughts by going ahead in the series with a strong performance in Game 1. The second and third matches of the series were no different and similar to TSM vs IMT, the Flash Wolves pulled off one of the most stunning sweeps in a season. It should be noted that the playoffs were played on a different patch from the regular season which could have contributed to the Flash Wolves’ success, although nothing should be taken away from how well they played.