Rift Rivals had already been an incredible tournament for North American teams. In the grand final, things only got better.
Unicorns of Love were the unlikely heroes of Europe in group play, but with a 3-3 record against Team Solo Mid’s 5-1, it looked like a mammoth task for the Unicorns. Exileh’s Ryze got off to a great start with a little help from Xerxe but the early game was dead even. A failed tower dive from UOL actually put TSM ahead and yet another cross-map Ashe ult from Doublelift helped to extend the lead. Things went from bad to worse as another tower dive backfired into four kills for TSM and suddenly a gap of 3k gold had opened up. The game snowballed out of control from there and TSM ended it with a 10k lead after just 30 minutes.
Game two started the same was game one ended, with TSM picking up two kills within the opening minutes. The American team picked up first tower as well and were up 3k gold by the 10 minute mark. It was a stomp, and TSM were in no mood for mercy, but UOL not only stemmed the bleeding, they started picking up kills as the baron spawned. It was TSM who took down the baron five minutes later, and who continued to push into their opponent’s base. Game two was another half hour hammering, and TSM were on championship point.
UOL finally got some traction in game three, picking up a very early first blood, but even then, TSM evened things up within eight minutes and took a small lead thanks to better farming. UOL kept it close this time around and actually took the lead after a fight in mid lane granted them three kills and a turret. But the next team fight was a disaster for UOL. They gave up a clean ace and a 25-minute baron, putting TSM back in the ascendancy in a big way. There was no way back for the European hopefuls - the entire series was over in less than two hours.
Team Solo Mid ended the tournament as deserving winners. An overall game record of 8-1 is almost as dominant as they come. Their only defeat was at the hands of Unicorns of Love, which they avenged in convincing fashion in today’s grand final. It’s fair to say the event was a disaster for the European teams who managed just six wins from 18 games in the group stage and zero in the final.
Image courtesy of TSM twitter.
