(courtesy of r/loleventvods)
In the first round of the LPL Spring Playoff, third place Vici Gaming faced off against fourth place LGD Gaming. Due to the format, the two teams played a weighted best of 5 series with VG starting with a one game advantage.
(courtesy of Riot Games)
Game 1
The game began with inverse lanes, with the AD carry-support duos meeting in the Top Lane. Xie "Eimy" Dan attempted the first gank in the Top Lane and was able to pick up a kill onto Xu "Endless" Hao. However, VG countered with Choi "DanDy" In-kyu and collapsed using their double teleport, giving them the numbers advantage and securing three kills. After the skirmish Jang "MaRin" Gyeong-Hwan used both teleport and flash in the Top Lane to try to solo kill Zhu "Loong" Xiao-Long on Maokai, but was unsuccessful.
With the lanes now standardized and MaRin having using both summoner spells, DanDy’s Graves made a return trip to the Top Lane. He spotted out Eimy trying to gank once again and counter ganked, giving the kill over to Loong. Lee "Easyhoon" Ji-hoon then followed up and they dove MaRin under tower collecting yet another kill. Wei "We1less" Zhen tried to follow EasyHoon’s roam to try to save MaRin, but got himself killed as well.
With the entire top half of the map being ahead, DanDy applied constant pressure, creating another successful tower dive in the Bot Lane and transitioning into the Dragon. After another successful Top tower dive, DanDy began securing deep vision and contesting Eimy’s camps, even stealing away a red buff. Using their superior gold lead, VG took turrets and eventually won a team fight in LGD’s red side Jungle and transitioned to the Baron. With the game completely in their control, VG used the Baron buff to break LGD’s base fairly easily and tied up their first victory.
Game 2
This time beginning with standard lanes, Eimy once again secured First Blood in the Top Lane with MaRin, killing Loong’s Nautilus. This game LGD ran a double teleport composition and VG did not. This time it worked in VG’s favor in the early game as Easyhoon used his Ignite to solo kill We1less’ Kassidin in Mid. However, aside from these instances the early game was much more relaxed despite a couple of failed ganks in Mid and Bot. MaRin had the advantage in the Top Lane while Easyhoon gained the upperhand in Mid, but neither was successful early on at transitioning those leads to other lanes.
The less eventful early game allowed Gu "imp" Seung-bin to farm up his Ezreal and get past the champion’s weak stage during the laning phase. This made imp much more impactful early as a fight broke out around Eimy’s red buff when DanDy invaded. Using their double teleport, LGD collapsed onto VG and engaged in a 5v5. Endless’ Lucian was soloed out on the side of the fight by imp, who then joined in and picked up a double kill winning LGD the fight. LGD then traded a dragon for the life of MaRin in the Top Lane.
MaRin later collapsed onto Loong and DanDy as they tried to secure the Rift Herald, initiating a skirmish. Although no one died, MaRin did secure himself the buff. LGD furthered their gold lead through their duo lane as they secured both the Bot and Top turrets. Another fight broke out in the Bottom Lane as Eimy and DanDy joined their Top Laners. With both teams moving in, imp’s Ezreal spread around a lot of damage and LGD got the clean ace.
Transitioning that team fight victory into the Baron, LGD snowballed their lead through turret sieges and eventually broke VG’s base. A failed split push from We1less resulted in LGD losing four members at the bottom inhibitor turret, but after the respawns LGD would get another ace at Baron and end the game.
Game 3
The two teams went back to inverse lanes, and the early game was fairly uneventful. Duan "caveMan" De-Liang was forced to flash at level one due to a four man invade by LGD in the bot-side Jungle, and recalled to meet Endless in the Top Lane for the 2v2. LGD’s duo lane would also interrupt DanDy and Loong as they attempted to take LGD’s red buff. After a damage trade in VG’s favor, imp once again on Ezreal, was forced to flash and back early, not allowing him to gain the same advantage as the previous game.
Both duos eventually backed down and upon returning to lane and Endless was able to land an Ashe arrow onto MaRin’s Gnar from the Bot Lane from across the map. This allowed DanDy and Loong to dive the tower and secure the First Blood. MaRin would respawn and answer with a teleport into the Top Lane resulting in a kill onto caveMan. Standard lanes were then established and there was a 2v2 fight between the Top-Jungle duos in the Top Lane.
The Mid Laners clashed in transition trying to get to the top side and forced each other back as simultaneously DanDy and Loong got the best of Eimy and MaRin, getting a kill and the top turret. Setting up around dragon, Endless missed his Ashe arrow but DanDy initiated a team fight anyway. Easyhoon and MaRin both teleported in from the Top Lane, but VG took two kills with no deaths then tried to secure Baron.
Eimy did manage to push them off the baron but died in the process. With the numbers advantage, VG rotated and took the Mid turret. They later killed the dragon and then initiated a team fight with anAshe arrow landing onto We1less. VG won the fight and got the Bot turret, before recalling and heading towards the Baron. With LGD behind in gold, VG secured the Baron and a kill on Chen "Pyl" Bo. They won a team fight at the Mid inhibitor turret and broke the base, but overstayed their welcome as LGD respawned and killed Easyhoon.
After another two turret takes and a Dragon, VG set up for the next Baron fight. With a near 9k gold lead, VG killed the Baron and got four kills in the ensuing team fight. With only imp alive, LGD could not defend their base and VG pushed in to take the nexus, winning the series.
