After a shaky first game, it seemed that this series might extend beyond three games, but the Snipers rallied and brought much stronger early game presence in Games Two and Three to close the series.
The first game started snowballing in the Flash Wolves' favor when they used the 2v1 swap to three man gank Zonda's vulnerable Dr. Mundo. Once down, Zonda immediately teleported back in and gave the Wolves a second kill, off which they took the first dragon. The situation only grew worse for TPS at subsequent fights around dragon and in the top lane, in which NL picked up a quadrakill.
Unfortunately for the Wolves, they got cocky and attempted to take Baron in plain sight of the Snipers. A fight ensued while the Wolves had low health, and Winds cleaned up in a four for zero trade. TPS took Baron and a couple towers from the Wolves. From there, the Snipers consistently won fights with surprise engages from Awei's Malphite and eventually clawed back in enough to win.
In the second game, the Wolves altered their composition to include Vayne instead of Caitlyn, but that made their early game harder. Both duo lanes were able to take second tier turrets due to lane swaps, but as soon as all lanes returned to their "designated" locations, the action began. Kill went to TPS in almost all lanes, and they racked up dragons.
There never seemed to be a time when TPS was not in control. Even when they made mistakes and over-stayed, the Wolves were not able to capitalize. Eventually, TPS baited around the Baron pit, took out Steak, and pushed in to close the game.
This game ended up the closest of the series with both the Wolves and the Snipers finding some advantages in the early game. The Wolves took first blood in the mid lane and the first dragon while TPS focused the top lane for kills and turrets.
The turning point came in top lane brawls when Steak went to defend the Wolves' turrets, and Mountain's backup came late. From there, TPS took a modest gold advantage they were able to pressure with strong sieging from OhReal's Nidalee.
It wasn't all she wrote, however. Overstays and sloppy fights allowed the Flash Wolves to get back into the game and even take the first inhibitor. TPS' perserverance and Nidalee spears forcing YFW off objectives allowed the Snipers to ultimately 3-0 the series and advance to the semifinals.
