Big plays of the 2015 NA LCS Summer Split
GG! The regular season of the 2015 NA LCS Summer Split is all wrapped up, and what an exciting nine weeks it's been! Before we look ahead to Playoffs and this year's World Championship, let's take a look back at some of the big plays and awesome moments of Summer.
The Snipes
Let's start things off with one of the most epic and calculated plays of the Split. Gwang-jin "Piglet" Chae's blind Baron steal against Team SoloMid in Week 7 caught everyone by surprise. On top of being an impressive play, it was just what Team Liquid needed to get their spirits back into the game. "When you make a play like that, it already boosts your confidence immediately," says Piglet's fellow NA LCS AD carry, Team Impulse's Apollo "Apollo" Price, praising the snipe. "It's definitely important to have one of those type of plays that gets you back into the game, or gets you back into the right mentality."
Gravity's jungler Min-su "Move" Kang helped his team stay in the game against Team 8 with a Baron snipe of his own. On Vi, he jumped into the pit, bonked the Baron down, and popped right back out again. He may not have lived to tell the tale, but you're supposed to punch first, ask questions later, right? Plus, we got a two for one in this game as he did it again a bit later, and David "Phreak" Turley's excitement made it all the more special.
Closing Out Strong
The next three games showcased some of the best finishing moments of Summer.
Remember Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng's pentakill against Cloud9? "The whole game, my pinky was really painful because it had just gotten cut," he reminds us. Throughout the match, Nicolaj "Incarnati0n" Jensen's Azir was constantly shuffling CLG around, killing their back line instantly. But in this fight, Zaqueri "Aphromoo" Black and Jake "Xmithie" Puchero were finally able to shut down the Emperor of the Sands. "The communication was so sick. And everyone did their part and we all trusted each other would have each other's back," says Doublelift. "I only went forward because I knew they would stop him, and if I didn't trust them to do that, then we probably wouldn't have been able to end the game right there. It was shining moment of our team play."
Joshua "Jatt" Leesman describes the late-game surge against Team Dignitas' Week 4 bout against Team Liquid as one of his favorite moments of Summer. "It was during one of the best weeks we've ever seen for a top laner, Gamsu's MVP week," he says. The game was a tumultous back and forth, but when Team Liquid couldn't quite kill Team Dignitas' Nexus turrets, the boys in black and gold went directly for a beautifully coordinated Teleport and Rek'Sai ult, allowing them to swing the game in their favor. "The most exciting ending to a game we've seen all split," says Jatt.
In one of the final moments of the regular Summer Split, Cloud9 channeled their former glory against Team SoloMid around the Baron pit. Jang-sik "Lustboy" Ham did his best to swing the game in TSM's favor, Flashing into C9 and throwing down a gnarly Tibbers to lock three of them down. But when TSM didn't follow it up, An "Balls" Van Le put them against a wall. Literally. His huge four-man Gnar ultimate put C9 in a dominant position, resulting in an ace that allowed them to close out the game.
Toe to Toe
But some of the flashiest moments of the Summer Split were a few plays that happened down the mid lane.
Against Enemy eSports, Team Dragon Knights' Geon-woo "Ninja" Noh had a multitude of big plays on Diana. But the one that got him rolling (and me jumping out of my seat) was his snazzy solo kill against Tyson "Innox" Kapler.
Another awesome mid lane play was Incarnati0n's fancy 1v2 against Counter Logic Gaming in Week 8 on Orianna. He turned around an aggressive gank from Eugene "Pobelter" Park and Xmithie, who thought they could get the jump on him. He taught them a thing or two!
The Turning Point
Ultimately though, it was Jae-hun "Fenix" Kim's quadra kill in Week 5 that was one of the most dominating moments of the entire Summer Split. It was a mix of luck, Fenix playing well, and CLG getting a bit over aggressive. Team Liquid's own Alex "Xpecial" Chu describes the play as one that put Fenix on the map.
"Our team has always thought that Fenix has a lot of potential," he says. "But it wasn't until that quadra kill that people really saw him as a good player...This is where Fenix was lifted from being a mid tier mid laner into a top two in a lot of people's eyes. And for him, it gives him that confidence. It helps him play better."
[[{"fid":"18011","view_mode":"full","fields":{"format":"full","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":""},"tagName":"IMG","src":"http%3A//riot-web-cdn.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/lolesports/s3fs-public/styles/full_width_scale/public/19050524683_0492862d51_o.jpg%3Fitok%3Dj3jcJOfi","type":"media","attributes":{"class":"media-element file-full","height":"318","width":"700"}}]]
"Against Team Liquid, we were reactive and we didn't know what we were doing. It was chaotic," admits Doublelift, recalling the quadra kill. "When it came down to it, we saw Fenix alone under the tower. Aphro calls 'we can do this' and he just goes in. And then there was a hesitation. All of us were like 'I don't think we can do this' but he was like 'go, go, go!'"
"We almost single-handedly lost that game off that play, so it taught our shotcallers a lot of humility," he continues. "And it taught us to blindly trust them, and they're going to mess up and it's okay if they mess up. And I think that was a good lesson on how to be a better team."
[[{"fid":"18012","view_mode":"full","fields":{"format":"full","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":""},"tagName":"IMG","src":"http%3A//riot-web-cdn.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/lolesports/s3fs-public/styles/full_width_scale/public/19484816829_22e54c4429_o.jpg%3Fitok%3DCr7DDBFi","type":"media","attributes":{"class":"media-element file-full","height":"315","width":"699"}}]]
Of course there were plenty of other fantastic moments this split, so now we want to hear what you have to say! Whether it was a team's #LCSBIGPLAY, your favorite player stepping up, or something else entirely, what was your favorite part of the 2015 NA LCS Summer Split?
Let us know in the comments or on Twitter @Lolesports, and don't forget to check back to Lolesports on August 8 for more awesome moments and big plays when the NA LCS Playoffs action kicks off!
To catch all the games from the regular season of the 2015 NA LCS Summer Split, head over to our spoiler-free VODs page.
