TSM snaps its losing streak, Team Liquid undefeated run continues while CLG climbs up to third place in the LCS standings.
Week 4 of the 2019 LCS spring split is on. TSM opened the weekend with a close win against OpTic Gaming, dropping their opponents to last place in the standings while climbing up the order. Golden Guardians put up a fight but ultimately fell to Team Liquid, as the reigning two time champions remain undefeated through seven games. Cloud9 remains in second following a win over Echo Fox. FlyQuest bounced back from its 0-2 week 3 performance with an important victory against 100 Thieves, stopping their opponent’s winning streak. To close out the day, CLG won for the fourth time in the last five games and took down Clutch Gaming, as the Houston Rockets-owned team has now lost five consecutive games after a solid 2-0 opening week.
TSM vs OPT
The teams got off to a slow start. OpTic used its brief control over the river to go for the Rift Herald, but TSM managed to contest it. In the end, OPT was able to take it down but TSM successfully stopped their opponents from picking up the Eye. At the 17 minute mark, Lee “Crown” Min-ho (Zoe) picked off Andy “Smoothie” Ta (Alistar) but did not manage to burst down the TSM support. It turned into a massive teamfight as both teams committed to the play. Following a long trade, first blood went to OpTic’s support Terry “Big” Chuong (Thresh) while TSM came out on top of the skirmish with three kills to two.
TSM tried to force its way in the mid lane, which in turn gave OPT more space to work the sides and take down two towers. OpTic’s better macro made way for a good Baron setup, and after finding two picks in the top lane, OPT made its way to the pit, securing an uncontested buff. TSM stopped the powerplay thanks to a good engage by Smoothie from the flank, which led to Crown and Big going down.
The game drags on
As the teams danced around the Baron pit, Smoothie tried to go for another engage from the flank only to get bursted down by OpTic. Meanwhile OPT top laner Niship “Dhokla” Doshi (Sion) made his way to TSM’s backline. With their opponents split, OpTic picked up three kills and secured a second Baron buff. Rather than pushing in the lanes, OPT made a questionable decision to contest an Elder dragon by TSM. It went horribly wrong as TSM secured the buff and also collected a shut down on William “Meteos” Hartman (Olaf).
The map reset once again, with OpTic trying to force its way down the mid lane while TSM controlled the top side. Crown got caught out of position and TSM found the pickoff it needed. Dhokla also got taken down as AD carry Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen (Cassiopeia) scored a double kill and the team went for the game. OPT couldn’t do anything to defend its base and TSM closed out the match.
GGS vs TL
Henrik “Froggen” Hansen locked in his signature Anivia pick during the draft, continuing Golden Guardians’ recent trend of giving their mid laner his best champions. GGS opened the score with a four men play in the bottom lane thanks to Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell (Urgot) teleporting in before TL’s Jung “Impact” Eon-yeong (Sion).
As the GGS bottom lane pressured Liquid’s turret, TL moved three players, picking off Kim “Olleh” Joo-sung (Tahm Kench) and Matthew “Deftly” Chen (Ashe) too far forward in lane. The reigning LCS champions turned that into the first turret of the game. As the teams danced around the Baron pit, the Golden Guardians tried to go for the engage on Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in (Alistar). TL’s support went down and GGS followed up by trying to pick off Jake “Xmithie” Puchero (Gragas) as well. The jungler survived the play and Impact found the reengage with a good Ultimate from the flank. Liquid picked up four kills and secured the Baron buff with the advantage.
GGS halted TL’s powerplay thanks to a good pickoff by Juan “Contractz” Garcia (Zac) on Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng (Sivir). In a close match, Liquid finally found the break it needed thanks to the Golden Guardians overextending in the mid lane while trying to push it. CoreJJ found a beautiful engage from the flank to isolate Deflty. Without their AD carry, GGS had nowhere to run and TL followed it up with three more kills. Liquid rushed down mid lane and went for the game, closing it out despite one last effort by the Golden Guardians to defend the base.
C9 vs FOX
Apollo “Apollo” Price (Varus) and Nickolas “Hakuho” Surgent (Morgana) invaded C9’s jungle at level 1 and forced a Flash out of support Tristan “Zeyzal” Stidam (Alistar), but that’e first kill.
Working off much better rotations, Cloud9 destroyed Fox’s tier 2 line of turrets and secured three elemental buffs, including two Infernals. At 33 minutes, C9 secured the Baron buff, although Echo Fox secured kills on Zeyzal and Yasin “Nisqy” Dinçer (Syndra) in the trade. Losing two buffs didn’t make much of a difference in the end as the 2018 World Championship semifinalists simply pushed in from the bottom lane, taking down the inhibitor. A fight broke out and Sneaky scored a quadra kill, with only Hakuho left. The Echo Fox support retreated to the Fountain as the other C9 players chased him to give their AD carry the penta kill. With an absolutely disastrous dive, three of them went down and Sneaky thought better of it, dropping back to take down the Nexus and close out the game without taking any further risks.
100 vs FLY
The teams presented an interesting draft, first with 100 Thieves locking in Sylas and Choi “huhi” Jae-hyun’s signature Aurelion Sol. In response, FlyQuest locked in Omran “V1per” Shoura’s signature Riven. At 13 minutes, the Thieves secured the first turret by winning the bottom lane, with Bae “Bang” Jun-sik (Ashe) and Zaqueri “aphromoo” Black (Tahm Kench) cashing in on the five plates. Following a lane swap, huhi roamed to the bottom side and helped Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho pick up the first kill of the game on V1per.
Despite a good objective control by 100 early on, FlyQuest managed to keep itself in the game and got rewarded with a good pickoff on Bang and aphromoo in the mid lane. The support went down and FLY followed it up with an important take down of jungler Andy “AnDa” Hoang (Jarvan). Without a Smite on 100 Thieves’ side, FlyQuest had the space to go for Baron. The Thieves limited the powerplay to a tier 2 tower in the mid lane, although the map now tilted slightly to FlyQuest’s side.
As the teams waited for the second Baron, FLY found a perfect fight as V1per managed to take down Bang and aphromoo by himself while the rest of the team pushed for the mid lane inhibitor. FlyQuest decided to go for the game and completed the ace inside 100 Thieves’ base before blowing up the towers and the Nexus.
CG vs CLG
Counter Logic Gaming jungler Raymond “Wiggily” Griffin (Jarvam) opened the kill count with a bottom lane gank, taking down AD carry Chae “Piglet” Gwang-jin (Sivir) for the kill. CLG converted its early advantage into a mid lane turret, which went down thanks to the Rift Herald.
Following an extended teamfight inside CG’s side of the jungler, CLG picked up four kills, with a triple from Tristan “PowerOfEvil” Schrage (Kassadin) and secured an uncontested Baron. Counter Logic Gaming cleared Clutch’s base during the powerplay, leaving it down to the Nexus turrets. After securing four more kills in a teamfight, CLG closed out the game after 35 minutes.
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