IWillDominate and Team Liquid's fight for Third Place
Riot·4/19/2015, 12:49:48 PM·0 votes·11,786 views
As Rocky Balboa explained to his son, “It ain’t about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.” Team Liquid proved that they know what it takes to get up after being knocked down after defeating Team Impulse 3-2 in the NA LCS Spring Split Playoffs. The victory secured them a 3rd Place finish in the 2015 NA LCS Spring Split and 50 Championship Points.
Coming off a heartbreaking Semifinals loss to Cloud9 in reverse-sweep fashion, Team Liquid rebounded against Impulse. After losing Games 1 and 3, Liquid got up off the mat and won the final two matches back-to-back to clinch the series. For Team Liquid’s jungler Christian “IWillDominate” Rivera, the key was their ability to single-out Impulse’s jungler Lee “Rush” Yoonjae and remove his jungle Gragas from the equation.
“Gragas is pretty much a champion that’s overpowered on this patch," explains IWillDominate. "I think it was a good adaptation by us to eventually pick it and, last game when they had first pick, ban it,” explains IWillDominate. “I’m happy that we were able to recognize how strong of a pick it was and use it to our advantage throughout the series.”
IWillDominate displayed some fancy feet of his own on the Rabble Rouser in Game 4 when he stole his second Baron of the night in the face of an Impulse team that was sporting two Smites and a Nunu. “One of my strengths has always been good smiting,” says IWillDominate, “I just kept on telling myself 'yeah, I’m gonna hit it, I’m gonna hit it, I’m gonna hit it.'"
IWillDominate made a huge impact in the series, but credits the 3rd Place win to Team Liquid's recent surge in teamwork. “We realized we suddenly got really good, everything’s working, we’re all trusting each other, and playing together really well."
He says by refocusing their attention to address problems with a proactive mentality, they've been a lot more productive. “If something’s bad or if somebody has a weakness,” explains IWillDominate, “we’re like how do we overcome that weakness? How can we use our resources elsewhere? If they get a really strong champion or matchup that they’re good at, how do we use the draft to get other matchups that we have advantages in that can cover the weaknesses of our team?”
The renewed sense of teamwork enabled Liquid and IWillDominate to recover from early missteps, put together a strong finish to the Spring Split, and most importantly, poise themselves to be a force to be reckoned with come this Summer. “What motivates me, or what I need to feel secure, is my teammates, my coaches, and just the people around me.”
Cursed no more, Team Liquid will look to push themselves even further in preparation for the 2015 NA LCS Summer Split. “I hope we can make it back to Worlds and prove on a world stage that we are a strong team, we’re talented, and we can work together,” says IWillDominate.
If you missed any of the action from the Team Liquid vs. Team Impulse series you can find all the games on the match recap page.
Stay tuned to Lolesports to find out how the 2015 NA LCS Spring Split concludes in the final match between Team SoloMid and Cloud9. To catch up on all the games from this season, be sure to check out our spoiler-free VODs page.
I Think We Can
IWillDominate displayed some fancy feet of his own on the Rabble Rouser in Game 4 when he stole his second Baron of the night in the face of an Impulse team that was sporting two Smites and a Nunu. “One of my strengths has always been good smiting,” says IWillDominate, “I just kept on telling myself 'yeah, I’m gonna hit it, I’m gonna hit it, I’m gonna hit it.'"
IWillDominate made a huge impact in the series, but credits the 3rd Place win to Team Liquid's recent surge in teamwork. “We realized we suddenly got really good, everything’s working, we’re all trusting each other, and playing together really well."
He says by refocusing their attention to address problems with a proactive mentality, they've been a lot more productive. “If something’s bad or if somebody has a weakness,” explains IWillDominate, “we’re like how do we overcome that weakness? How can we use our resources elsewhere? If they get a really strong champion or matchup that they’re good at, how do we use the draft to get other matchups that we have advantages in that can cover the weaknesses of our team?”
Fighting for the future
The renewed sense of teamwork enabled Liquid and IWillDominate to recover from early missteps, put together a strong finish to the Spring Split, and most importantly, poise themselves to be a force to be reckoned with come this Summer. “What motivates me, or what I need to feel secure, is my teammates, my coaches, and just the people around me.”
Cursed no more, Team Liquid will look to push themselves even further in preparation for the 2015 NA LCS Summer Split. “I hope we can make it back to Worlds and prove on a world stage that we are a strong team, we’re talented, and we can work together,” says IWillDominate.
If you missed any of the action from the Team Liquid vs. Team Impulse series you can find all the games on the match recap page.
Stay tuned to Lolesports to find out how the 2015 NA LCS Spring Split concludes in the final match between Team SoloMid and Cloud9. To catch up on all the games from this season, be sure to check out our spoiler-free VODs page.
