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NA LCS 3rd Place playoffs: Immortals vs. Team Liquid

Taken from LoLeventVODs - LoL Esports VODs

With 20 championship points at stake, there is much at stake. Immortals expected to walk away from this split with an easy championship win. Instead, they were bounced by Team SoloMid before even reaching the finals. Meanwhile, Team Liquid enters this series fresh off of a crushing 3-2 series loss against Counter Logic Gaming.

Game 1

The game started out slowly with patient play from both teams. Seven minutes in, first blood was drawn by Joshua "Dardoch" Harnett in the top lane for Team Liquid, but a couple minutes later a fight in the bottom jungle saw kills traded three for one in favor of Immortals. Dardoch picked up another kill in top lane, and an assist shortly after, making him a problem Immortals had to deal with and giving Team Liquid the early kill advantage.

The game progressed at a much faster pace after those kills, and both teams looked to find openings and put on as much pressure as possible.

The contest was really broken open with a fight that started in mid lane that saw Immortals take four kills for two, and with it the lead. From there Team Liquid were forced onto the back foot, and had to focus on defense. A fight in the top side jungle a few minutes later resulted in an Immortals Baron and an even larger advantage. At just under 25 minutes in, Immortals held a 6k gold lead and were up in towers, kills and dragons with a baron buff.

Team liquid fought back with four unanswered kills and pulled themselves back into the game. At this point the game looked very even, with a slight edge to Immortals. Shortly after this push by Team Liquid, Immortals had a push of their own. After picking up more kills in the top side jungle, they took their second Baron and secured the Game 1 victory.

 

Game 2

This game started out much quicker than the first, as both teams looked to make plays. With members of each team coming through Mid lane, Immortals’ Kim "Reignover" Eui-jin secured first blood. A few minutes later the teams traded kills in the mid lane due to some slight miscalculations on each side to give Immortals a slight gold advantage and a one-tower lead at this point in the game.

A three man push bot lane secured two kills for Immortals and gave them a four to one kill advantage overall, but Team Liquid responded with three kills of their own in later scrums. The game looked very close despite Immortals having such a strong start. An extended fight in Bot lane saw the teams trade three to one in Immortals favor, giving them some much needed confidence. Both teams looked to catch out carries to ensure easier teamfights, and it resulted in some very patient play as neither wanted to make a mistake. This proved to be a crucial time in the game, as when the mistake finally happened in top-side jungle, Immortals picked up four kills for one as well as a baron.

Despite a nice dragon steal from Team Liquid, Immortals still had an insurmountable lead, and one last fight in Mid lane was the final nail in the coffin for Team Liquid. Jason "Wildturtle" Tran came up huge with a quadra kill and finished off the nexus at 28 minutes in.

 

Game 3

Team Liquid were a game from defeat, and there was a clear sense of desperation in their play. When Immortals took first blood in Bot lane things only got worse for TL, now down 2-0 in the series, and already off to a bad start. Despite how inconsequential first blood can be in the grand scheme of things, it definitely hurt their confidence as a team in this case, although they were able to fight back with a kill of their own through Sampson "Lourlo" Jackson. Shortly after in mid lane, the teams traded kills and the game stayed very close.

This game was a slobber knocker, as the teams were constantly fighting with neither able to gain a clear advantage for a good amount of the game. Eugene "Pobelter" Park was quickly becoming a huge problem for Team Liquid with a triple kill from fight in bot-side jungle. At 25 minutes the kill count was 10-10 and the gold difference was almost as close. Despite how one sided the series looked, this game was very close, even with a slight Team Liquid advantage in gold.

Due to some miscommunication by Team Liquid, two members were caught out near Baron and Immortals were able to secure baron off the conversion. With it, Immortals decided to push bot lane and were able to take an inhibitor. They then moved their focus to mid lane, which still had an inner tower standing. A fight underneath Team Liquid’s mid tower saw Immortals get a five for zero ace and destroy the nexus at 30 minutes in.

 

In the end, this was well-played 3-0 in the favor of Immortals, which is a result many predicted. For this split Immortals will have to settle for 20 championship points and 3rd place, and put their focus onto practicing for summer and for Worlds. Team Liquid secured 4th place, which is respectable and a good base to build off of for the Summer Split. Both of these teams will be gunning for 1st come summer, and will try to prove they deserve a spot at Worlds.

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