Day three of group play saw European teams get their first wins on the board while SKT remain undefeated.
After an opening game slugfest against Flash Wolves, TSM fans will have been happy to see their team cruise to victory over World Elite. A fairly even opening 20 minutes exploded in TSM’s favour around the baron pit. A pair of kills helped the American team to secure the purple buff and a hefty gold lead. It took TSM another ten minutes to close the game out, but with WE unable to pick up anything on the map except for two towers, this result was never in doubt.
Misfits’ first game at Worlds was quite a hammering at the hands of World Elite but they turned the tables on Frost Wolves today. Alphari’s Trundle looked un-killable and, in fact, a 12-0 kill score told the story of this game. Frost Wolves continue to struggle.
Like their European counterparts in the previous game, G2 were looking to bounce back from a disappointing first game. And, just like Misfits, they dominated their opponents from start to finish. Perkz’s Ryze roamed top lane to grab first blood and first tower and the snowball rolled all the way to the enemy nexus. G2 ended the game just a single drake away from a perfect game, giving away zero kills and zero towers.
Samsung vs RNG was the most anticipated game of the day and a slow, tense opening showed why. RNG got a small lead thanks to CS in the opening ten minutes and followed it up with first blood and first tower gold. A rift herald push helped them to grab two more towers and a 2.5k lead by 15 minutes. The game continued slowly with little interaction until a triple kill for Uzi led to a 25 minute baron buff and a rapidly expanding gold lead. The game was over in the blink of an eye, with RNG pushing down mid with the baron buff, ending the game 11-0 in kills.
Chawy made his Worlds debut in lieu of Westdoor, and it was his Syndra that secured first blood nine minutes into AHQ’s game against SKT. AHQ took an infernal drake, but with kills being traded back and forth, SKT’s superior CS put them slightly ahead in gold. Even with equal tower kills and three extra kills for AHQ, SKT kept the game close and even opened up a small lead. A baron sneak from AHQ closed that gap but SKT fought to defend their inhibitor and reasserted their advantage. The decisive fight happened over elder drake, which SKT secured alongside a game-ending ace.
Cloud 9 and Edward Gaming closed out day three and it was a good start for Cloud 9, who went 2-1 up in kills and got fir tower gold as well. EDG simply could not get a foothold in the game, as C9 disengaged from every attempted engage, securing individual picks and objectives instead. The game really opened up as the American team pushed middle lane, taking a tower and a triple kill for Jensen’s Syndra. The baron was Cloud 9’s reward, as was an 11k gold lead. EDG clung to the game for quite a while, but Cloud 9 finished the game, inevtibably, with an enormous lead.
