In the first quarterfinals match of 2014 GPL Spring, ahq Esports Club appeared more dominating than they had all split and took three quick games to eliminate Singapore Sentinels.
After struggling to close games after the thirty minute mark, and ultimately losing a match to the Jokers last week in an otherwise immaculate group stage, ahq was out for blood in the first quarterfinal set today. The Sentinels could do little but shake in their boots as they found themselves once again out of contention for a GPL title.
The first game was over-whelmingly onesided. This was a product of Singapore Sentinels choosing champions to win lanes and falling behind in every instance except bottom lane. Though GarnetDevil had some difficulty against Kryonics and Kailing, he remained even in farm, and Westdoor took the map by storm, picking up and feeding early kills to his teammates.
Eventually, westdoor's Fizz was easily able to 1v1 BenW's Renekton in Dominus. At this point, there was little SGS could do. Ahq took towers for free to end the game.
In the second game, SGS predicted ahq's lane swap against their Ryze pick and managed to send BenW to the bottom lane to meet Prydz's Shyvana. As a result, SGS was able to make this the longest game, staying fairly even throughout laning phase and letting BenW ramp up.
During a dragon fight, however, GarnetDevil proved himself a formidable threat as the last man standing. That was all the gold he needed to usher his team into a decisive lead. It did not take long after that for ahq to find the win.
In the most decisive game of the series, action began when Singapore Sentinels invaded ahq's red side jungle. Both teams picked up two kills with BenW coming to Chawy's aid. They then acquired the first dragon. This, however, is where their luck would end. Ahq's westdoor immediately picked up the mid lane turret and put his team in the lead.
At the spawn of the third dragon, ahq found a successful fight when BenW got caught out. They acquired SGS's blue buff, and the Sentinels attempted to stop the dragon, giving three more kills and a dragon in a disadvantaged engagement to ahq. As the game continued, SGS could not keep up with ahq's rotations and frequently got caught out. They only managed to pick up one more kill for themselves before ahq ended the game and the series.
The next match takes place on Friday at 11:00 CET in an all Vietnam Quarterfinal. Saigon Jokers will take on the Saigon Fantastic Five to see who faces ahq Esports Club in the semis.
