For Immortals and Team Dignitas, everything came down to this series. The former had fought hard to maintain their place in the middle of the standings, while the latter had to fight back from a tenth-place spot just to make it this far. The winner would go on to make playoffs – and in the end, it was Dignitas who clutched out the victory in two long, grinding games.
Despite grabbing the win, Dignitas gave a far sloppier performance than they wanted. It took them over an hour to finally blow Immortals’ Nexus in game 1 due to poor teamfighting, and then they fell flat during the midgame of the second match.
“Oh god, those were really bad games from myself,” said Xpecial in a postgame interview. “Our teamplay was not very good this series. This whole weekend in general has been very frustrating for us."
Frustrating or not, they still manage to outperform Immortals, who failed in two key areas: the draft in game 1, and lategame execution in game 2. Having a composition with no initiation in the first match was just asking for trouble against a Varus and Cassiopeia, and their inability to kill off Keane or LOD in fights eventually wound up costing them the game. Game 2 meanwhile was theirs to win, but they forced too hard in a lategame scenario and gave Dignitas the opportunity they needed to come back.
Pobelter was Immortals’ one saving grace throughout the series, putting in an absolutely fantastic performance on Vladimir and showing off some excellent uses of Weaver’s Wall in game 1.
Despite Immortals securing the first two kills of game 1, it was Dignitas who held the edge for much of the early game thanks to good early rotations and a key teamfight near Rift Herald. They pinned Immortals into the back of the pit, taking three kills for nothing and securing the Glimpse of the Void buff to boot.
A sneaky Baron at 25 minutes helped Immortals erase DIG’s early gold leads, but Team Dignitas were able to regain it with an Elder Dragon buff and a Baron of their own. Immortals clung to life for the next 30 minutes of play thanks to some excellent teamfighting, but without any initiation, they could do nothing but prolong the inevitable.
Game 2 saw Immortals draft a much stronger composition, with Pobelter on Vladimir and Dardoch on Rengar. They managed to grind out a steady lead against Team Dignitas thanks to early picks, then broke the game open once Dignitas tried to force a fight in the midlane. Dig lost an inhibitor following the fight, then another shortly afterwards, but Immortals weren’t able to end the game then and there.
With their backs to the wall, DIG managed to find a solid teamfight that translated into an Elder Dragon, then went to Baron and burned that down as well. A fight on the backside of the Baron netted Dignitas three more kills, and suddenly they were in the driver’s seat. Dignitas wasted no time in bulldozing Immortals’ towers, taking the fights they needed in order to finish off the game.
