NA LCS Playoffs Day 2 Recap; Day 3 Preview

Day 2 of the NA spring split playoffs featured one of the best series' of the year, a few surprise picks, and perhaps the swan song of Scarra. When push came to shove, the same teams that have been atop the NA scene all year, TSM and Cloud 9, find themselves advancing to the finals.

TSM vs CLG

Game 1

Early on, both teams planned to 2v1 push, and both shoved through inner turrets. TSM was able to get timers on all 4 buffs due to smart camp completion. However, CLG brutally out-rotated them, taking top outer tower in response to the blue buff steal, and Dragon in response to the red buff steal. TSM continued to successfully steal buffs, but each buff was answered with a tower or dragon by CLG, until TSM was too far behind from global gold to fight back. By the time TSM realized what was happening, it was too late. They tried to use their siege composition to take towers, but the hard engage from afar by both Twisted Fate and Nocturne punished them at every turn. CLG remained in firm control of the game, picking fights at will and taking objectives relentlessly on their way to a commanding victory.

Game 2

CLG and TSM played this game almost exactly the same: TSM used their teleports and sneaky wards to take 3 of the 4 starting buffs, but CLG responded by taking a 2-1 tower lead early. From there, CLG continued to out-rotate TSM in fight after fight, picking up towers and Dragons to a 5k gold lead. The game (and playoffs run) seemed over for TSM until 27:15, when Link got caught out of position by a hook by Xpecial, getting immediately obliterated. Instead of backing off, Dexter and Doublelift dove in, dying in turn, and allowing TSM to take a Baron. From there, TSM made short work of CLG, pushing in over the course of their Baron to 2 inhibitors, a Bjergsen pentakill, and the nexus. Game 3

CLG seemed to fall apart in game 3. They had no momentum in champion select, with Nien holding his head in his hands. They allowed – no, chose – the 2v2 matchup despite the Renekton top, and despite TSM's strength in standard laning, and TSM continually punished them, with Dyrus dominating Nien top. Bjergsen won mid lane and dove top for several kills. From there, the game was a slow slide down as Dyrus and Bjergsen got bigger and bigger on the way to a decisive TSM victory. MVP: Bjergsen

Bjergsen was an absolute beast, going 11-1-10 with 696 cs over 3 games. Over all of the games, he only died once, playing incredibly safely on Nidalee and Karma. Of course, he was an obvious choice for the MVP spot even if CLG had won the series. He picked up an incredible penta in game two on Karma, and in the third game, he was able to roam top in game 3 to continue to snowball Dyrus over Nien. He was the season MVP, so no surprise for him to be the series MVP!

Cloud 9 vs Team Curse

Game 1

Nobody thought Curse would even be close to Cloud 9 in this game, but for a while, it looked like Curse was going to hang in with them. Curse met every move of Cloud 9's, staying even on towers, and taking a dragon for only 2 deaths. At the next Dragon spawn, they took Dragon again, and then cleaned Cloud 9 up, picking up 4 kills. However, at about 25 minutes into the game, Curse tried to initiate onto Cloud 9, and Cloud 9 showed why they are considered such strong teamfighters. Meteos had gone full tank, with CDR boots, Aegis, and Ancient Golem, and laid down stun after stun while spamming % health damage on the tank composition of Curse, leading to a 5-1 ace, Baron, and inhibitor for Cloud 9. They would close out easily from there.

Game 2

Game 2 felt exactly like game 1, with Curse rotating to match everything Cloud 9 tried. Just like in game 1, Cloud 9 started to pull ahead, getting a 5k gold lead. And then Cloud 9 got too aggressive on a tower dive, losing Meteos, Sneaky, and LemonNation, losing dragon. Cloud 9 continued to press their lead, splitting with Jax and shoving mid hard, but Balls overextended bot and died, and Curse pushed hard onto Cloud 9, picking up kills on LemonNation and Sneaky, leading to a Curse Baron! They tried to push mid to press their advantage, but Hai was able to blow Lulu's ultimate before the fight, and when Curse continued pushing, the teamfight of Cloud 9 just became too strong to handle, as Jax picked up more and more kills, eventually picking up a quadra kill in an ace that let Cloud 9 push all the way for the win.

MVP – Meteos

Yes, it was nice to see Balls get out of control on Jax. Yes, Sneaky positioned ridiculously well in teamfights, picking up huge assists and low deaths. But there really can only be one player who takes home the MVP of this series, and it's fitting that it be the MVP of last season: Meteos. In both games, he played Elise, a champion who has been rejected by almost every other jungler (Jankos being the other major exception). And he innovated greatly, picking up Ancient Golem + CDR items, including Ionian Boots of Lucidity, Locket of the Iron Solari, and Frozen Heart, giving him spammable % health damage, stuns, and rappels, which made him an absolute monster in teamfights.

Dignitas vs Coast

Game 1

Coast just didn't show up to this game, with Dignitas out-rotating them consistently, starting with an early Dragon after the 2v1 push. Coast kept losing contests at Dragon, with kills and Dragons going to Dignitas. As is the story for almost every Coast game, Shiphtur and ZionSpartan got quite fed, but their team was so far behind in farm after the early objective disadvantage that Dignitas was able to consistently take small advantage after small advantage on their way to a win. But those small advantages bordered on negligible, as Dignitas took Dragon after Dragon, Baron after Baron, and Feral Flare stack after Feral Flare stack before finally pushing in for the win with over a 15k gold lead!

Game 2

Coast didn't really seem to improve their rotations in this game, but ZionSpartan snowballed highly out of control, with kill after kill on Irelia on his way to an eventual 5-0-1. As usual, though, Shiphtur was the backbone of the team, being involved in 11 of the team's 12 kills. Dignitas was miles ahead in cs, but only took 1 tower to Coast's 7 after the initial 2 for 2 trade, and ended up 10k gold behind by the end of the game, losing tower after tower as Crumbzz endlessly farmed his jungle. With their gold lead, Coast split ZionSpartan top while they pushed bot, teleporting him in for a dominant teamfight victory and the win.

Game 3 From the beginning, this game started to look just like game 1, even with the same 3 picks to start. Coast picked up Thresh and Elise in their first 3 picks every game, and Lucian was the starting pick in every game. In fact, Dignitas was eerily repetitive, running Leona and Lee Sin every game, and Lucian, Nocturne, and Orianna in 2/3 games. Once the game started, Shiphtur seemed like he had kept his momentum from the previous game, picking up a level 3 1v1 kill onto Scarra, and converting on a gank on Scarra shortly thereafter. However, from there on out, it was game 1 all over again, with Dignitas slowly but steadily taking every objective, and forcing Baron dance after Baron dance until they finally had a large enough gold lead to push for the win. In this game, Coast kept seeming like they were going to win the perfect team fight for their comeback, and then Scarra would land the perfect Orianna ultimate, sending them running. Eventually, the mounting gold lead was too much for Coast to handle, and Dignitas was able to coast to their victory, and avoid relegation. MVP: Imaqtpie Scarra landed a series of clutch Orianna ultimates in game 3, but the game would have been impossible without Imaqtpie's stellar play throughout the series. Even in their loss, he didn't die, going 1-0-0 despite his team's 12-2. He was incredibly safe in teamfights, content to just put out damage from the backline, for a total KDA of 16-2-16.

Third Place Preview: CLG vs Curse

Both CLG and Curse have looked massively different at the close of the season than they had previously. Both teams have stellar rotations. Both teams are extremely versatile. Both teams have innovated heavily in this patch. The real question is this: which team will show up? Will it be the CLG who forced TSM into unfamiliar territory and dominated them? Will it be the CLG who made a crucial mistake and lost a nearly certain victory? Or will it be the CLG who let TSM dictate the terms of the game and subsequently was walked over? And will it be the cursed Curse that chokes, or the Curse who dismantled Dignitas in the quarter finals?

Finals Preview: Cloud 9 vs TSM

Some weren't even sure TSM would make it past CLG to the finals. They have, but it doesn't appear that TSM has adapted particularly well to patch 4.5. They lost the first patch 4.5 style game they played against CLG, and only won the second one through mistakes by CLG. Cloud 9 won't be nearly as easy for TSM to handle. Of course, they want to force Cloud 9 into the laning game, not the early rotation game. But they also have to make sure that Balls doesn't continue to win over Dyrus, as he has consistently done in the past. If they play Cloud 9's game, TSM should have a hard time in this series. But if they play TSM's game, it'll be up to TheOddOne to not only hold even with Meteos in the jungle, but also help Bjergsen snowball while he protects Dyrus from getting snowballed on. The power picks for Cloud 9 are definitely going to be Elise and Soraka, so look to see those contested with bans or counters. The power picks for TSM are going to be focused in mid, with Syndra, Nidalee, and Karma all being dangerous. If Cloud 9 doesn't pick up hard engage, Nidalee and Karma could cause huge problems for them if they fall behind, so their best bet is probably in early game champions they can abuse rotations on. The heavily contested picks should be Lucian and Renekton. Dyrus and Balls both play exceptionally well on Renekton, and getting Renekton would allow Cloud 9 to dominate early lanes and early rotations, and shut down TSM's poke composition early. Lucian, on the other hand, has been contested throughout the playoffs. Then of course there are the new OP picks. Jax comes to mind especially, and though Balls and Dyrus don't have much playtime on them, Balls showed that he knew how to handle the champion vs Curse. Whichever team manages those picks best should have the edge, but this series will largely depend on TSM either adapting better to the rotations game or forcing C9 to play TSM-style. Mattias "Gentleman Gustaf" Lehman is a League of Legends mathcrafter turned esports journalist who spends his spare time staring at mountains of League of Legends data. Follow him @GentlemanGustaf on Twitter.

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