The first day of NA vs EU at Rift Rivals went in North America's favour. TSM stole the show with two wins over G2 and UOL.
Team Solo Mid started Rift Rivals off in the best way possible with a win for North America. They took an early lead against G2 esports and never looked back. Strong team play around the map helped TSM to get their carries fed and G2 were constantly playing on the back foot. Even with a baron and elder drake at the same time, the game dragged on past the 40 minute mark. But unlike at MSI, TSM were able to ride their lead home with decisive play off the back of a deathless Tristana from Doublelift.
Fnatic was up next for Europe, but it was the American team of Phoenix 1 who got off to the better start. Back-to-back early ganks from up-and-coming jungle star, Mikeyeung got a kill and a flash in the first eight minutes. Still, Fnatic were out-farming their opponents and Rekkles’ Kennen was able to come out of laning phase ahead of Arrow’s Caitlyn. It wasn’t until they took the first tower, quickly followed up by a second, that P1 took a gold lead. The action was slow, and even the first real team fight only resulted in a single kill. Despite all their objectives, P1 were unable to grow their lead. Fnatic evened up the tower score 26 minutes in and opened up a 2k lead of their own. The next team fight went hugely in favour of Fnatic, ending with them grabbing a baron and an even bigger lead. One more baron kill was followed up with an ace and the game was done.
G2 started their second game of the tournament better than they did their first, picking up an early kill for Zven’s Xayah. Just like TSM earlier, G2 maintained the lead for a long time but were unable to finish the game for quite a while. Cloud 9 looked to be turning the game back in their favour, until G2 capitalised on their engagement nearly 50 minutes in. G2 were finally able to take down the enemy nexus off the back ov C9's over-extension
Phoenix 1 got another good start in their game against Unicorns of Love, taking a small early lead off a 2-1 kill score. The game stayed close, thanks to a first tower for UOL, and the European team were even able to take rift herald too. This time, P1 were able to extend the lead, picking up multiple kills and towers going into the mid-game period. Ryu’s Corki was a monster but the entire map belonged to P1 in what ended up being a one-sided stomp.
Fnatic started slowly again when they faced Cloud 9. The American team had a 1.5k gold lead by the 8th minute of the game, importantly with two kills onto Jensen’s Leblanc. The mid laner continued to get fed and didn’t die until his team were pushing the enemy base. The Dane overstepped and granted Fnatic a respite, but C9 were still a long way ahead. They came back five minutes later with a baron buff and closed out the game.
Vizicsacsi’s Irelia picked up first blood against TSM in the final game of the day, but neither team was able to take an assertive grip of the game. 20 minutes in, after plenty of bloody action, the gold lead was barely 500 for TSM. Mistakes from UOL gave TSM a few more kills, as well as a turret and a baron within the next five minutes. Suddenly TSM were up 5k and looking dominant. The game was over just two minutes later after a flurry of kills for TSM.
Image courtesy of TSM's Twitter
