SKT clinched their grand final spot at MSI in the most convincing of styles with a comfortable 3-0 victory.
Flash Wolves needed a good start if they were to have any chance of winning the series and they almost got it. A smart outplay from SKT’s bottom lane turned a trade in their favour and it was the Koreans who got first blood. But with summoners down, Karsa showed up on Graves to even the score and the game was even for quite a while. First towers were traded within seconds of each other, giving SKT a miniscule lead. Flash Wolves actually took the lead for a while after a misplay by bang led to a double kill for the LMS team with an infernal drake and a turret kill to boot. But SKT then did what they do best: win a teamfight. Four kills in the middle of the map led to a baron and then a Victory screen within moments.
SKT had to work for their win in game one, but game two was anything but difficult. Faker picked Cassiopeia into Maple’s Leblanc and destroyed it. He forced Maple back with zero minions killed and forced him to teleport back to lane inside three minutes. The pressure then spread across the map, leading to Huni’s Fizz picking up first blood on Karsa, who had just been trying to take his own blue buff. A four man gank onto Maple continued to pile on the misery and by the nine minute mark he was down a staggering 40 CS. The Wolves didn’t get their first kill until 15 minutes in but even then they were still down 5,000 gold. SKT took a few minutes to prepare baron then took it in the blink of an eye, with Flash Wolves unable to react. The game was officially over soon after that but realistically it had been over for a long time.
Maple decided to bring out the Lucian wild card in game three and despite being forced to flash early, it looked like Xiye might have found Faker’s achilles heel when a gank from Karsa netted first blood for Flash Wolves. But his next gank, this time in the bottom lane, when horribly wrong as he died and his team-mates were forced to blow summoners just to survive. Bang put the advantage to good use soon after with a superb outplay in the 2v2, which allowed Peanut to sweep up another kill and put SKT firmly in the lead. SKT doesn’t really give up on leads and it was looking like being another one-sided match. After another kill on Maple, SKT finally picked up the first turret and were running away with the game. Every lane was ahead for the Koreans and all it took was another baron for them to end the game and clinch their grand final spot.
The second semi-final between G2 and World elite takes place tomorrow evening.
Image courtesy of lolesports.com
