TSM reverse sweeps GAM to survive major scare
Call it a delayed 3-0… Perhaps TSM was jetlagged, or maybe it took a couple games to adjust to the stage -- whatever the excuse, they survived and advanced at the expense of their fans’ blood pressure levels.
This is less a triumph and more an escape. For TSM to be on the brink of losing the set not just once but three times against the GIGABYTE Marines is difficult to fathom even after it happened. This was a Marines team that had to win its league in Vietnam, then the GPL regional championship, and then the Group Stage of the Play-In before even reaching TSM. Teams here wouldn’t even scrim them. So for GAM, every game on stage was a scrim. They were here just as much for practice as for glory.
And to be fair to the Marines, they were good at a lot of aspects of the game. GAM lulled TSM into their tempo for the first few games. TSM is a slow and methodical team when they play their style. It’s almost boring to watch them win. But the Marines pushed a hectic pace -- ganking and initiating whenever the opportunity presented itself. And sometimes even when it didn't. But once TSM slowed the games down, the Marines didn’t have enough of a grasp on how to win, even if their team fighting continued to be strong.
There are iterations of the TSM roster that may have folded to that pressure. Lived up to their reputation for choking on an international stage. So whatever speech they received between Games 2 and 3 should be recorded and replayed over and over -- perhaps before Game 1 next time, though. And now there are plenty of chances left for them to redeem themselves.
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Game 1 opened in true "Game-1-TSM" fashion as Svenskeren poked his head a little too deep into enemy territory, which allowed Levi to pick up first blood before the jungle creeps even spawned. From there, Levi’s Kha'Zix snowballed so hard it seemed to tilt both of the first matches in the Marines’ favor. This was combined with a strong Ziggs pick that allowed fast turret pushing and strong wave clear -- both things that help compensate for less refined macro play.
Beyond that, TSM’s solo laners in particular were expected to have a significant edge over their counterparts. But Optimus (mid) and Stark (top) held par if not better for the Marines. Part of this could be attributed to the enormous pressure that Levi exerted on the map, but it was clear Vietnam’s players weren’t going to fail on an individual level.
TSM got clobbered in Game 2 as the Marines clocked a win in under 30 minutes. Some big Gragas ults allowed Zed and Kha’zix to isolate targets in the mid game to let GAM push TSM right to the edge. TSM bounced back in Game 3 as every lane picked up a kill within the span of a minute to blow the game apart -- this was a revenge game if I’ve ever seen one.
And from there, you might expect the Marines to flop over, but they persevered and threatened to win both Game 4 and Game 5. This is a testament to their coaching and an iron demeanor that permeates through the entire team.
In Game 4, they knocked on TSM’s nexus turrets in a bit of an ill-advised overextension. They saw victory -- or maybe it was only the illusion of victory -- and they tried to seize it. I can’t blame them for making that sort of play. It’s easy to empathize with the moment. But if they’d slowed down a bit, they truly might have take the series.
But even that didn’t cause them to stumble. Game 5 saw them open with the same type of aggression from the rest of the set. And they traded blow for blow with TSM. But as the game progressed, the pace stalled, and it became an oddly lopsided even-gold game. GAM finally allowed Ivern to slip through the pick and ban phase, and TSM showed why it was banned. Shield after shield prevented any sort of engage from the Marines, which let TSM slowly choke the hope of upset to death.
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And now TSM advances to Rio de Janeiro, where they’ll face off against some of the best teams the world has to offer. The Marines, though, were perhaps a fiercer preview than they expected. A close call like this is probably a better experience for them than the expected sweep.
As for the Marines, they’ll look back on this as a big missed opportunity. It was a chance to place a historical stamp onto the professional League of Legends scene. But they should still walk away with their heads held high -- it was, after all, a very successful scrim. And they’ll have one more shot to qualify for Rio de Janeiro.
GAM faces the loser of tomorrow’s Best of 5 between the Flash Wolves and SuperMassive eSports on Saturday.
