EPTThe oscars have been assigned and now it’s time for the real deal. OMG, the Chinese powerhouse is taking on LGD Gaming, who are on a mission to MSI. Was OMG really throwing games intentionally as their coach stated, or was this a cover up for their sloppy performances? LGD’s story is clear, they trolled their way into the 6th seed to avoid EDG. Well for both teams, it was time to perform and take it onto the rift!
Game 1 Picks and bans game #1
Giving the Tristana to Uzi forced OMG to initate the laneswap and with mixed success. Gogoing managed get first blood after Cloud and Loveling assisted him in the 1v2 bot, where a few moments later Cloud went back to his ADC to donate a kill to him.
TBQ who picked up the Nunu made it work! Being extremely annoying with the counterjungling, which set Loveling behind by 2 levels early in the game. He started the dragon right before the 4th minute mark as he continued to bloodboil Imp to try and take down the turrets as fast a spossible.
The first outplay came from Acorn, who teleported to the botlane as Gogoing’s teleport was on cooldown. OMG was pushing the bot lane in so that Gogoing could join them for a potential dragon fight, Acorn beat him to it. The teleport started a 5v4 chase that ended in a triple kill for Imp after GodV placed down a outstanding Shockwave. 3-0 LGD victory and their second drake.
The gold and dragon advantage that LGD picked up was translated into more warding and starving OMG by jungling in their jungle. Full vision was obtained over both OMG’s jungles around the 15 minute mark, LGD could do whatever they pleased.
The lackluster performance from OMG and the great vision and objective control coming out of LGD lead to a 4-0 dragon lead. LGD was also leading by a huge amount of gold, OMG did manage to take a couple of turrets down to try and close the gap but it wasn’t enough.
A desperation pick onto GodV ended in a kill for Uzi but got turned in favor of LGD with Imp picking up another triple kill on the Kalista! The baron was picked up right after and the 5th drake spawning in a few minutes was up for grabs too.
LGD Gaming picked up every single objective without hesitation and forced a dominating victory in game 1.
Game 2 Picks and bans game #2
Both teams opted to go for the standard lanes. There wasn’t much happening the first few minutes except for Uzi going all in onto Imp, TBQ’s sudden appearance into the lane forced OMG’s botlane away from the assault.
As OMG’s lanes were getting slightly ahead in farm, Gogoing and Loveling wanted to get Cool a bigger advantage, their gank onto GodV got turned around as GodV escaped with 1 AA away from death. TBQ jumped into the midlane with Acorn who teleported in and grab a 2-0 and the first drake.
The countergank gave LGD, just as in the first match, a comfortable early lead on which they continued to build. TBQ was appearing mid more frequently than Loveling was doing across the map. The multiple 2v1’s in the midlane caused GodV to eventually get ahead in gold of Cool and TBQ ahead of Loveling.
Acorn’s teleport plays have been outstanding throughout the season, as he committed himself once more this game towards the botlane, picking up a kill for his team. The teleport was made possible thanks to the vision that TBQ and Pyl got for their team in the blue side jungle of OMG.
As the second drake spawned, OMG decided to take LGD’s top turret to get some global gold into their pockets. LGD rotated towards the midlane after their second drake and got the turret down. All the outer turrets went down and again the same situation occured. LGD was controlling the pace of the game and the camp spawns in OMG’s jungle.
Where OMG did get 2 picks off in both their jungle sides, this wasn’t enough for them to force objectives of off this. As LGD took another uncontested drake and Imp and Acorn freely splitpushing to keep the waves managed, they got incredibly far ahead.
As OMG was getting behind by almost 10k gold, they picked up the baron after surprisingly enough winning a 5v5 in the midlane that went 3-2 in their favor. The baron was picked up while even standing on a ton of wards but they didn’t care much for that. The baron did go down, but at what cost? LGD collapsed onto the OMG formation, taking 3 souls to the afterlife, thanks to a ori ball onto the horse ulting into the baron pit, as they grabbed their 4th drake and the T2 middle turret.
LGD continued to increase the gold lead by taking all the resources away from their opposing team. With Acorn still pushing the top lane out, being so far ahead of anyone on OMG’s team in both gold and levels, he was free to do so.
LGD waited for the 5th drake and the baron, as they picked them both up without any fight, they forced themselves onto the toplane of OMG. Towerdiving, forcing the 5v5 as a double buffed team to grab a convincing 2-0 lead!
Game 3 Picks and bans game #3
Do or die for OMG who jumped into the rift with Loveling playing the Maokai and with success. A 5 men lvl 1 gank onto Imp gave the tree a hard earned 400 gold for his flash.
Loveling, who didn’t affect the previous games too well played more aggressive this game, couldn’t make his pressence translate it into a comfortable lead.
A gank on the botlane, Loveling picking up Cloud’s lantern, gave OMG a kill onto Pyl but got turned right after as TBQ and Flame, with the teleport, turned it around and picked up 2 kills for their team.
The early game was going back and forth as kills were picked up randomly on the map with both teams contributing to it with their supportive players.
A teamplay kill onto Godv’s Kassadin lead OMG to their first dragon this series(!!). Overall the early game was quite even and both teams went into the midgame with equal chances.
As LGD dedicated 4 men into the toplane to get the turret and a kill onto Gogoing, the fast pony managed to get away and the rest of OMG pushed the midlane. Towerdiving Imp who was alone in the midlane , while LGD was trying to get back into position. OMG took both middle turrets and a 3-1 kill trade, looking good!
Unfortunately for OMG, LGD kept getting picks, most of the time Cool was the scapegoat, who didn’t make a very good impression on his Azir. Right before the 4th drake spawn even, Cool got picked off which ended up in OMG fleeing from LGD as they took out Loveling and Cloud and secured their 3rd drake.
The decisive teamfight in this match got initiated by OMG, a 5 men hurricane of damage was unleashed onto Flame’s Gnar as OMG continued the push in the toplane. A 5v4 teamfight that was initiated by OMG got quickly turned around by GodV who’s damage was insane, as TBQ used his Explosive Cask to perfection. Imp then made sure that none of the OMG members would be able to flee as he Fate’s call knocked them all up while GodV finished his job with a triple.
LGD picked up the baron afterwards and prepared for their final push as they pushed mid, even before the turret went down, Flame already jumped in to keep the members in position as LGD picked up the ace and a very convincing 3-0 victory over OMG.
Round-up
The key to this series lays in OMG’s mindblowing pick&ban phase and LGD’s outstanding performance.
OMG who persistently kept banning the Urgot throughout the 3 games and the Trundle in the first game caused a lot of confusion. Letting GodV and Imp play on comfort champions such as Orianna, Kassadin and Kalista.
Gogoing was forced on the Hecarim twice this series while the Gnar was open for grabs during all the P&B phases.
In terms of transitioning expectations into performance, TBQ out performed everyone on his team. Being the weakest jungler in the LPL, he outperformed one of the most experienced ones. His Nunu was great and had a huge contribution in their first game victory. The Sejuani and the Gragas were not too different for TBQ either, he looks very comfortable on these tanky champions and his early game looked a lot more confident too.
LGD outplayed OMG, only giving up a single dragon in 3 games and maintaining great vision control over both enemy jungles. Looking forward to the Semi finals where they will be facing Snake, this might be the team that could make it all the way to MSI!
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