The last day of group play delivered entertainment in spades but two teams had to go home. MSI says farewell to TSM and Gigabyte Marines.
The opening game of the all-important final night saw G2 take on SKT. Perkz started the game well, avoiding a gank and leading Faker on CS. But the first fight around dragon saw SKT take a small lead and then run with it. Trick died multiple times, giving up first tower gold and extending SKT’s lead to 3,000. G2 did stage a mini fight back, grabbing some kills in the top lane, but Huni’s Galio was able to force them off baron and normal service was resumed when SKT took the purple worm for themselves. By the end of the game, SKT were up 15,000 gold and were worth every bit of that lead.
TSM played out one of the slowest games of the tournament, with nerves clearly on show for both them and Flash Wolves. In the end it took 53 minutes for TSM to close out the game but they did it. If TSM had looked nervous, World Elite were anything but. Gigabyte Marines’ infamous lane swap netted them first blood but their lead lasted almost no time. A gank for 957 evened up the kills and put WE in a lead they would maintain till the end. The game was over in just over half the time it took TSM to close out and WE finished things off with an enormous lead.
The most important match of the night so far was another nail-biter. TSM picked up first blood despite an almost-great escape from Perkz and after picking up the first tower the Americans had a 2,000 gold lead. Everything TSM tried seemed to work but only just. They seemed unable to really build on their lead until the elder drake spawned. G2 had kept the gap narrow by picking up baron but then TSM grabbed two kills and the big drake for themselves. They grabbed the next baron as well but still were unable to do much with it. The game continued to drift aimlessly until G2 took the next elder drake, traded a kill for a kill and then took baron too. Svenskeren did what he has done best at this tournament - get caught out - and G2 completed yet another comeback to secure their spot in the playoffs.
The final regular game made for an entertaining finale to group play. World Elite handed SKT their second loss of the tournament, with Xiye’s mid lane Lucian styling on Faker. After a strong early start, Xiye picked up a nice solo kill under Faker’s tower and even got donated a rift herald buff. World Elite held onto their early lead throughout and even a trademark baron steal from Peanut only served to drag the game out to almost 40 minutes. Even then, the Chinese team were able to finish off the group stage in convincing fashion.
TSM’s defeat to G2 meant they would be the ones playing a tie-breaker against Flash Wolves for the remaining playoff spot. It started well for the North American team when Svenskeren’s Graves picked up first blood. From there, though, it was all about Flash Wolves. They got first tower gold while TSM were diving bot lane and after a tower dive of their own in the mid lane they had opened up a 3,500 gold lead. All TSM could do was hang on and stall but they never looked like getting back into the game. It ended 37 minutes in, with an ace for the Wolves and an early exit for TSM.
Image courtesy of TSM on Twitter.
