SK stuns CLG in last semi-final

An exceptional performance from SK sees them through to the grand final of IEM Cologne.

Whisper it quietly, but SK Gaming might have a chance of upsetting M5 tomorrow. The team built around Ocelote has been steadily improving over recent weeks, and took a surprise win over CLG in their semi-final match. They absolutely dominated the first game from start to finish, not allowing CLG to take their own blue buff until the fifth spawn. Playing very aggressively, but landing no kills, SK did manage to take down an early mid tower after 10 minutes. Finally, Ocelote got first blood after 14 minutes, but then the game went quiet again, with SK picking up the first dragon at the 21 minute mark. By 30 minutes, SK had killed five towers and were starting to pull away with a 7,000 gold lead, despite the lack of kills. A 39 minute Baron put them even further ahead and the game was over five minutes later with barely a team fight to speak of.

The second game started in the way most fans probably expected the whole match to go - CLG on top. As in the first game, both teams lane-swapped their carry/support with their bruiser, but after a successful invasion leading to first blood for CLG, the game became very passive again. A few failed ganks and skirmishes occurred, but the next kill didn't happen until 13 minutes in, leading to a tower for CLG. That in turn led to a Dragon, and CLG's 3,000 gold advantage was starting to look solid. But as CLG killed the second Dragon, the first team fight broke out and went very much in SK's favour. A triple kill for Ocelotte on Orianna reduced the gap to 1,300. Almost immediately afterwards, another skirmish led to another triple kill for the Spanish player and the game that had previously had just four kills in 30 minutes was filled with frantic action.

SK took down the Baron thanks to that fight and were in the lead for the first time. When it respawned, SK took it again and started to kill turrets and inhibitors. The writing seemed to be on the wall - even when CLG managed to come out ahead in a small fight at their top tower, they were forced back to defend against super minions, allowing SK to take down another inhibitor. With creeps flooding the base, there was no way back for Froggen's team, who were left to watch on as tears of joy filled the eyes of SK's players. They will now be part of the RIOT circuit for the coming year for sure, but CLG will have to fight Fnatic in tomorrow's bronze match to see if they can join SK and M5 in the illustrious league.



Links
GosuGamers - IEM coverage