North America leads Europe 2-1 as the Battle of the Atlantic Week One comes to a close. Team SoloMid beat the new Lemondogs roster in consecutive games with style.
Game 1
Things went downhill immediately for Lemondogs when Bjergsen proved his superstar status when he solo-killed ShLaYa, causing an instant “TSM” chant to ring through the packed Cologne studio. But that wasn’t the end of Lemondog’s woes, as Myw was caught in a 3v1 mid, giving another early kill over to TSM as well as both turrets in the top lane before 5 minutes to boot. After their successful push top, TSM re-grouped to grab a six-minute Dragon, cementing a massive early game lead. ImSoFresh on Amumu looked lost throughout the early and mid-game, and his rotations and ganks failed throughout the match. On the other side, Dyrus, OddOne and Bjergsen consistently found success when roaming, targeting ShLaYa in particular, giving the Bjergsen a ridiculous kill and farm advantage.
Lemondogs showed some signs of life around 15 minutes, catching out OddOne and Dyrus in their jungle, which resulted in a 1 for 1 trade. Meanwhile, WildTurtle’s Sivir was becoming a split-pushing monster, giving Xpecial the freedom to move with the rest of his team and secure ever more kills for Bjergsen. It just seemed that every time Lemondogs got a foothold, TSM would rally together and smash them in response, earning kills and towers all across the map.
That Kind of Game: Bjergsen barely gets away with a slivir of health despite face-checking a bush full of Lemondogs
Lemondogs couldn’t seem to buy a kill: even when face-checking a bush, Bjergsen managed to slip away with a sliver of health. With a 12k gold lead at 22 minutes, TSM took an uncontested Baron, all but closing out the game. The nail in the coffin for Lemondogs came at 25 minutes when Dyrus 1v4’d, not only chasing down three members of the team but surviving.
Lemondogs were unable to overcome a horrendous early-game as TeamSoloMid snowballed out of control to easily take Game One in less than thirty minutes with a 19-4 kill score.
Game 2
Things got off to a promising start for the Lemondogs as ImSoFresh picked up first blood on the back of a solid Thresh hook by Zeriouz. ImSoFresh looked much more comfortable on Vi than he did on Amumu, picking up a handful more early kills while Myw on Sion roamed constantly, helping pick up a few kills on Bjergsen and the duo of WildTurtle and Xpecial.
Despite the significant kill advantage in Lemondog’s favour, the constant roaming took its toll as TSM farmed their way to a gold lead at 15 minutes. They also had superior objective control, with several towers and a Dragon under their belts to compensate for their kill deficit. Despite his 7 kills, ImSoFresh could not be everywhere, and his damage-oriented build left him too squishy to tank through TSM’s considerable damage. WildTurtle’s Lucian was impressive, as he an Xpecial 2v4’d in the top lane, taking down two of the Lemondogs before falling themselves. Simply put, TSM’s group-play and coordination was superior, and at 22 minutes dove under the tier two tower top after an excellent initiation by Xpecial on Annie.
Contrary to what the kill score would have you believe, once TSM grouped this game was totally in their favour. They bullied their way into the base around 30 minutes, successfully overcoming the kill deficit to take out the Lemondogs.
