LCS Week 7 Day 2 Recap: The Stage is Set

The final day of week 7 League of Legends Championship Series has concluded, and what a day it was. There were upsets, barnburners, fiestas, and it generally set the stage for an exciting finale next week. I will be breaking down the results of each game in depth and giving a quick headline of how it went.

Let’s get started.

Game 1 (10-5) > (7-8)

TLDR: Evil Geniuses almost claw their way back, but 100 Thieves shut the door at the major objectives.

Summary: That game was a lot closer than it probably should have been, and one EG will be kicking themselves for losing.

In the early to mid game, it was textbook 100 Thieves. Not too explosive in the kill department, fast dragon stacking as a win condition, hyperscaling bot, ganking power in jungle in mid, a carry top, it was the whole shebang. Things were looking pretty done and dusted for EG come the mid game. 100T had secured a cloud soul off Ssumday’s auto attack as Graves despite Inspired still being alive with smite. They chained that into a baron and marched down the mid lane. But against all odds, EG won the elder fight and held off Ssumday’s backdoor attempt! After taking the objective bounties and the baron, suddenly it was EG marching down the mid lane for the end. From there, the game was even. Danny won the 2nd elder fight with a triple kill on Zeri, but Abbedagge saved the game on Twisted Fate as he swapped to smite and stole the dragon right out from under EG! A one-sided stomping turned into one of the most exciting games of the season!

In the end though, it just wasn’t enough for EG. The final fight almost turned their way thanks to some fancy footwork from Danny, but 100 Thieves were simply too well coordinated and too skilled. 100 Thieves probably feel lucky to walk away with the win after everything that happened, and that one is going to hurt for the young EG roster. A crucial win against a top team to break away from the pack was what they needed headed into the season finale, instead they will have to fight to the finish for their playoff lives.

Game 1 (7-8) > (7-8)

TLDR: Golden Guardians head into superweek on a high note. Dignitas does the opposite.

Summary: Given the fairly brutal final weeks these two teams have ahead of them, (ESPECIALLY DIG) this felt like it was somewhat of a must-win game. And Golden Guardians got the memo.

Licorice tried to answer the age old question of “can one champion win your team the game?” and if his Fiora play was any indication, that appears to be yes. The rest of the lanes were volatile, with bot lane in particular looking like a juicy Dignitas win condition, but Licorice got the first kill over FakeGod in the Fiora/Tryndamere matchup and it snowballed out of control from there. Licorice’s individual power also bought enough time for the rest of the comp to come fully online and Pridestalkr and Ablazeolive took full advantage of it. Golden Guardians close out the week 2-0, stop their skid, and have 2 winnable games coming up!

Meanwhile Dignitas might be in some serious danger. They have the pleasure of playing Team Liquid, 100 Thieves, and Cloud 9 to close out the season. None of those games look winnable on paper. And given how close everyone is in the standings, Dignitas could end up being on the outside looking in when the dust settles.

Game 1 (8-7) > (11-4)

TLDR: Team Liquid throw away the game and their shot at first. Flyquest correct course.

Summary: Team Liquid usually has multiple games a split where they throw a game away against a clearly inferior opponent thanks to overconfidence and cutting corners. Glad to see that tradition hasn’t changed.

For the first 20 odd minutes Team Liquid completely dominated FlyQuest mostly through the top lane. Bwipo busted out the Lucian top for the 2nd time and it found considerable success. The team knew it needed to get ahead (as did the entire comp, TL’s late game 5v5 was quite dreadful) and they constantly made Kumo’s life miserable with plenty of dives. And then it all went wrong with one overextension in the top side of the map. That was all Flyquest needed to get back in the game. Johnsun’s Tristana ran rampant as Team Liquid had no answers for her. The team got horribly outscaled and all Flyquest had to do was wait out the clock and clean up the fights. With this, Team Liquid have essentially thrown away the gift TSM gave them yesterday and sunk any hopes of getting first place. While it is far from a dealbreaker, it is still frustrating to see a top team play significantly below the level they have shown and should be at.

For Flyquest, that was a much-needed jolt going into the final week. Things were looking quite dire especially as some of their fellow middle tier teams were beginning to heat up. With this, Flyquest now has a game of separation above the massive tie below them. It still isn’t a complete fix, but it is signs of life from a roster that was beginning to flatline.

Game 1 (12-3) > (5-10)

TLDR: Cloud 9 take care of business.

Summary: Cloud 9 completely dominate an inferior team on their way to an easy victory to reassert their claim for first. There really isn’t much to talk about. Cloud 9 are still head and shoulders above 80% of the league and they are probably the best of the remaining 20%. CLG are still underwhelming but young. Peak status quo was the name of this match.

Game 1 (4-11) > (4-11)

TLDR: Immortals throw away a golden opportunity and all but die. TSM show incredible resilience and keep the miracle run alive.

Summary: If you ever wanted to watch a franchise die live on stage, boy do I have the game for you.

When you somehow find a way to lose despite having a Cassiopeia with 4 kills and a mythic item by 8 minutes and 30 seconds and your enemy having one of the worst early games of any team in any league this year, you know that you’re a special kind of terrible.

IMT killed Spica at level 1 for first blood, killed him again at his own red buff. They were diving TSM under their own tier 2 turrets before the 10-minute mark. Yet if you checked into this game after 15 minutes or just looked at the final tally, you never would’ve known it. Revenge laid an egg in the top lane as Huni’s Irelia ran rampant in the 1v1 and teamfights. Arrow went down almost 100 CS to Tactical (who they gave Jinx up to for free on blue side by the way). Despite having every advantage in the world, Xerxe’s Viego failed to take off while Spica was very impactful in fights. PowerOfEvil utterly failed to carry the game despite having every tool to do so. The decision making was atrocious on a macro (taking a fight at numbers disadvantage without their main source of damage) and micro (PoE stasis’d allowing TSM to run a fight over despite building tank items).

There is no other word for this game than complete and total failure. The only competition Immortals is winning is the race for rock bottom (they now have sole possession of last place).

Meanwhile, TSM has their first 2-0 week of the season. Playoffs are all but an impossibility still, but the entire roster and Spica in particular showed mental fortitude in the face of adversity. That should have been an ugly loss for all intents and purposes, but TSM found a way to bring it back. There might be some actual promise and hope for the future after all, and I don’t think anyone expected to say that given how the week started.

That wraps up week 7 and as you can see, no one is mathematically eliminated entering the final week! Whether that speaks to the parity of the League or the quality of play is open to interpretation. Team Liquid are going to need another free gift and to not choke on their own foot if anyone wants to ursurp C9 from the top spot. 100 Thieves have all but locked top 3. Meanwhile, the soup of FLY, DIG, EG, and GG are all going to be battling out for the final spots. Given that many of them play each other, it is sure to be a photo finish. The battle for 4th in particular will be fun to watch as it is the difference between getting a 2nd life in the upper bracket and being forced to run the gauntlet. Meanwhile CLG, IMT, and TSM are all going to need practically divine intervention if they want a shot at the postseason.

The LCS will resume play Friday at 4:30 PM CST with Team Liquid vs Golden Guardians. You can catch all the action at https://www.twitch.tv/lcs, the LCS YouTube channel, https://lolesports.com/