Game of the Week: Counter Logic Gaming vs Cloud 9

Let’s be honest here, week five of the NA LCS was not the best week in terms of game quality. However, one of the standouts of the week was Counter Logic Gaming vs Cloud 9, where we saw Cloud 9 play a quintessential C9 composition with Balls on Rumble and Hai on Zed.

Balls’ play on Rumble reminded us just why it had been banned against him multiple times in the LCS as Cloud 9 clawed back the gold lead with perfect Rumble ultimate after ultimate, decisively closing out the game with smart rotations and team fighting.

It was not the best performance for CLG whose team fighting again proved indecisive and lacklustre with a clear rift in communications as ZionSpartan attempted engages his team was in no way able to follow up on. That being said, Link was a stand out performer for CLG going 7-0-2 on Ahri. If CLG plan to make their stay in the top of the standings a long one, they’ll need to improve their team fighting as this is the second week they’ve struggled in that department after similar issues against Team SoloMid.

Honorable Mention: WildTurtle’s Pentakill vs Team Liquid.

Game of the Week: Fnatic vs. SK Gaming

Fnatic vs. SK Gaming is one of, if not the, oldest rivalries in all of eSports, let alone League of Legends. Games played between the two teams have been labeled as "el clasico," mimicking the Spanish football rivalry of Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. When these two teams face-off the games are always thrilling, and this one was no exception.

There were a couple of key points to note leading up to this match. SK Gaming was undefeated at the top of the table having gone 8-0 against every other team. Due to the shortened format of the LCS, a win over Fnatic would've meant that they were 50% of the way to a perfect season, holding a win over ever other team. On the other hand, Fnatic was putting pressure on them sitting in second place with a 6-2 record and history on their side. Twice before had Fnatic personally stopped teams from matching their EU LCS record 9 consecutive wins.

As for the game itself, both teams secured several comfort champions in picks & bans; Jarvan IV, Ahri, and Graves on the side of SK, and Rumble, Zed, and Corki for Fnatic. Unlike many games that are decided before they begin, this one would come down to who could force their playstyle onto the other team first. In the end, it was Fnatic who got to do exactly what they wanted to, fight early and often. Reignover's map presence with Rek'Sai got Fnatic off to an early kill lead and they never looked back. To SK's credit, they never backed down and were willing to fight back and secure objectives whenever they could. Both teams made plays all over the map to keep things exciting. However, when all was said and down, Reignover's Rek'Sai and Huni's Rumble were just too much to overcome. Once again, Fnatic defended their record.

Game of the Week: DetonatioN FocusMe vs DetonatioN RabbitFive

This week was a double-header for the LJL, with each team playing twice. It kicked off with the marquee matchup of DetonatioN FocusMe vs RabbitFive, which FocusMe won handily. Rascal Jester then took their second win over SJ. That's when things started to get weird. RPG took out 7th, 7th beat RabbitFive, and Rascal Jester beat FocusMe to end the day. RabbitFive was clearly having an off day, with their ADC Zerost playing uncharacteristically passive, and FocusMe chose to pick Anivia into Rascal Jester's Xerath. Whether it's inconsistency or simple overconfidence, something has to change if any of these teams want to take a win at the IWCI in two months.

This ultimately puts us right back where we started. FocusMe took out RabbitFive again in the JCG Grand Championship the following day, but RabbitFive had their usual spark back and put up a good fight to make it a 2-1 series. 7th heaven still feels like a less “complete” team than the two DetonatioN squads in spite of their tied score. CRJ and Rampage both had 2-0 weeks, but it's CRJ who's been looking stronger each week and just might be able to challenge for playoffs after all. There's only a few weeks left of regular season play, and at this point it's still anyone's game.

Oh yeah, as for the game itself? It was the showdown between the #1 and #2 teams, and Yutapon got a pentakill on Ezreal. I think that speaks for itself.

Game of the Week: KaBuM! Orange vs CNB e-Sports Part 1 & Part 2

After a strong showing last week playing “protect the AD carry” compositions, strong map rotations, and good team fighting, paiN Gaming took a serious step backwards this week, dropping a game to one of the bottom three teams in CBLoL 2015. In this match, they were out-paced by Dexterity Team, led by their jungler, Alexandre “Piolho” von Flach on Vi and mid-laner Gabriel “prZo” Hirota on Morgana, who set up kills nicely for AD carry André “Rellik” Guerra’s Tristana. PaiN picked it up in their second match, but the loss is concerning for a team that wishes to be considered one of the best in their region. The top two teams, INTZ e-Sports and Vivo Fibra Keyd Stars, performed well in Week 6, getting the job done against JAYOB e-Sports and KaBuM! Black respectively. With their 2-0 sweeps, both INTZ and Keyd are now automatically qualified for the semi-finals, each earning a first-round bye in the upcoming playoffs.

Hovering just beneath the top two teams are the aforementioned paiN and a scrappy CNB e-Sports squad that has continued to show improvement and development throughout the split. With the best drafting coach in the region, former INTZ jungler Thiago “Djoko” Maia, CNB puts themselves in very advantageous positions before their matches even begin. While they have opportunity areas – a lack of competitive experience for some, raw mechanics for others – CNB has proven that they are not only aware of these flaws, but are able to leverage their strengths to more than make up for them.

The matches of this week are the set between CNB and KaBuM! Orange. In these, CNB shows off their rotational prowess as well as their ability to dictate the tempo of their matches. They ensure that they set themselves up for objectives and team fights when they want, and prove themselves capable of disengaging from unfavorable circumstances. They are a team that others should look out for come playoff time, and their last regular season set against paiN Gaming next week will surely be exciting.