With the North American LCS Spring Championship title on the line, Counter Logic Gaming and Team SoloMid went all out in front of the boisterous crowd at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
It took five long and exciting games for the family versus superstar match-up to reach a conclusion--and CLG's family seized the day, so to speak, in the final team fight of game five.
At the 45:30 mark, following an overextended play by Kevin "Hauntzer" Yarnell and Team SoloMid's ensuing usage of defensive cooldowns, Trevor "Stixxay" Hayes's Tristana (6/1/4 Kill/Death/Assist spread) hopped from target to target, executing each one of them in succession--killing TSM's championship hopes in the process.
"I'm really happy that my Guinsoo's [Rageblade] Tristana worked out, 'cause if it didn't work out...well." Stixxay said during the postgame interview, noting that his gamble could have failed just as easily. "It was a pick we had talked about the whole series--and that game was the correct game for us to do it when we have Lulu and Tristana, especially when we scale that far into the game."
That risk may not have happened on a previous CLG roster, and Zaqueri "Aphromoo" Black explained why: "[Our] mindset is a lot better. Everyone is willing to accept criticism, and there's no people afraid to have a voice in the team."
Just as importantly, this roster iteration has shown flexibility beyond the "protect the AD Carry" norm that was common during the team's Doublelift era.
In game one, CLG rallied around Jake "Xmithie" Puchero's Kindred (6/2/8 KDA, 100% kill participation ratio), a hard-scaling jungle pick, and managed to recover from a 3.5k deficit at the 24 minute mark with secured barons, controlled skirmishes, and turret takedowns.
We did it! Defended our title. Back to back champions! #CLGWIN #CLGFIGHTING pic.twitter.com/0SUQvkjvuj
— Counter Logic Gaming (@clgaming) April 18, 2016
With the enemy's side lane inhibitors down, the team continued to pressure baron, distracting TSM from the wave of minions that ended the game at the 43:44 mark--earning CLG the 'winions' distinction in the process.
Game two proved different as TSM used a "protect the Doublelift" composition, with Bora "YellOwStaR" Kim's Alistar and Hauntzer's Poppy standing on the front line. Soren "Bjergsen" Bjerg's Lulu (5/1/7 KDA, 75% Kill Participation Ratio) became an efficient enhancer and damage threat.
In a back and forth game, TSM broke through CLG's gates at minute 26 following a decisive Alistar Pulverize, a Baron Nashor takedown, and an ace.
The third game proved to be the bloodiest of the season as CLG and TSM scored 37 combined kills (18 for CLG and 19 for TSM). Despite that, CLG was dictating the pace of the game from the very beginning. AD carry Stixxay managed to end the game with a delayed quadrakill following an extended team fight.
In contrast, TSM won game four by a landslide (12 kills to CLG's two kills), in large part due to the impact of Dennis "Svenskeren" Johnsen's mobile Nidalee (4/1/8 KDA, 100% kill participation ratio). As he snowballed lanes, his teammates secured leads, pushing CLG into desperate plays (the game-ending chase standing as proof).
Throughout the series, CLG remained focus on victory as they had convened a few weeks ago for a meeting. "We made a goal and it was to win everything. So now we won this, and now it's time to win MSI," said head coach Tony "Zikz" Gray.