The last regular sized week of the Spring LCS season got off to a pretty one sided start: ClakeyD gave up an early first blood while sneaking around Curse's Jungle. As Jarvan, he tried to duel Saintvicious on Volibear, but NyJacky and Elementz came to Saint's aid, saving him and picking up the kill. Elementz's life saving Flash/Aria of Perserverence was revealed to be even more clutch when in the post-game interview Saint clarified that Volibear's passive was actually down as he had let it pop on Red buff. After the first blood Curse never let up, with Saint applying pressure all over the map and securing kills for his team in both the Top and Bot lanes. MRN tried to get some action of their own going with a Teleport gank from MegaZero, which looked promising as they picked up a kill on Elementz very early in the fight. Voyboy responded with a Teleport of his own, and in conjunction with a Requiem from Jacky, Curse was able to turn the fight into a four for one trade overall. MRN showed some signs of life with a nice snipe on Cop and Elementz, but once they respawned it was clear MRN was just too far behind to deal with the fed members of Curse. Members of MRN just kept getting picked off fight after fight until Curse was able to force their way to Nexus.


With the battle for the #1 seed in the Spring Playoffs still raging between Curse and Dignitas, a win against CLG was certainly something Dignitas desperately wanted. Unfortunately due to family issues, Crumbzz was unable to play this week and Dignitas had to rely on substitute DJ LAMBO in the Jungle. It was clear from the very beginning that Dignitas was hurting without Crumbzz as he created a lot of early pressure for the team. With DJ LAMBO the synergy just wasn't there. CLG was able to grind out a lead through picking up first blood, the first Dragon, and the first turret of the game. Dignitas was on their heels all game long as CLG just took turret after turret and Dragon after Dragon with little to no contention. Dignitas' fate seemed truly sealed at around the 20 minute mark when a Nidalee Javelin Toss was able to snipe out Patoy and allow CLG to pick up two more kills as well as the Mid lane Inhibitor. This forced Dignitas to play defensively as CLG picked up a free Baron, but the power differential was just too overwhelming and Dignitas crumbled in the next team fight and lost the game.


Continuing his trend of playing unconventional Mids in the LCS, pr0lly channeled his inner Zekent and broke out the AP Janna. The game got off to quick paced start as Voyboy narrowly evaded an invading compLexity by leveling Leap first on Kha'Zix and jumping to saftey. Unlike their game previously in the day, the early game would not be as kind to Curse. Predicting coL's movements Curse laid in wait in the enemy Jungle, but underestimated their burst as Saintvicious was actually the first to fall giving up first blood. Luckily for Curse, Cop was able to secure a kill on Lautemortis so coL didn't establish a dominating lead. The teams traded several more kills back and forth through the early stages of the game, with the gold count staying within 1K of each other. CompLexity made good use of pr0lly's Teleport as Saint and Voy attempted to kill an overextended Nickwu, but he baited the fight perfectly and the timely arrival of pr0lly allowed coL to pick up two free kills In retaliation Voyboy used his own Teleport to try and make a play Bot lane. Cop and Elementz forced a fight with M eye A and brunch Ü and the arrival of Voy allowed them for win the exchange two for one. Curse was able to transition this into a Dragon pick-up as well, but this was far from free however as Voyboy was sniped by a Shock Blast/Acceleration Gate combo while trying to flee the scene. coL was then able to win the next couple skirmishes and pick up a Dragon, establishing a lead of almost 5k gold at the 18 minute mark. Saint managed to get caught out an unprecedented number of times this game, and at the 27 minutes mark this allowed coL to make an attempt at Baron. Instead of finishing off Baron, coL chased NyJacky all the way into mid lane. Things looked grim for Curse, but a beautiful Flash/Soul Shackle/Zhonya's combo from Jacky set up the members of coL to get aced with both Saint and Jacky surviving. Even so, Curse still trailed in gold by a significant amount. Curse would further chip away at this lead after another ace off the back of a great Death Sentence coming in from Elementz. Curse didn't retake the gold lead until 43 minutes into the game, by which point late game Twitch was beginning to shine. Even with Voyboy dead, Cop was just doing too much damage for coL to deal with picking up the ace and the victory for Curse.


In Week 7 and 8 Good Game University made an overlooked, but important impact on the standings, going 3-0 against fellow bottom four teams. This put them in a great position to escape the guaranteed relegation that had seemed so certain. With three games against bottom four teams in Week 9, GGU had another chance to further themselves in the pack. Daydreamin started the game off by landing a nice level one blind Death Sentence, but MegaZero's burst on Riven was too hard and he somehow managed to turn the pull around and pick-up first blood. MRN abused DontMashMe early game, picking up two kills on him and in conjunction with a Dragon pick-up they established a 3K gold lead 10 minutes into the game. For MRN the 3rd time wasn't the charm as another attempt on DontMashMe's life ended with him picking up a kill on ecco. MRN stayed in the driver's seat for most of the game, but the great equalizer Baron Nashor was their downfall. When trying to force the Baron pick-up MRN was caught off guard by GGU's engagement, and Jintae and ZionSparten picked up two kills a piece, netting an ace for one. Imbued with Baron buff GGU seemed revitalized. MRN tried to engage on GGU while their turrets were under siege, but they overestimated their small lead. GGU performed a perfect disengage and reengage that completely surprised MRN and let them secure yet another ace, this time with no casualties. This was all the time GGU needed to push into the base and destroy MRN's Nexus.



Coming off an impressive win over MRN at the end of Day 1, GGU carried their momentum into their match against Dignitas. On a normal week, the odds for GGU's victory would be nearly insurmountable, but the absence of Crumbz already proved devastating for Dignitas when they were stomped by CLG, making this GGU's best chance at a win over the #2 team. Though both teams grouped early, there were no Week-8-style confrontations and the laning phase began normally save several swaps from GGU. Despite Dignitas' penchant for early aggression (especially with KiWiKiD's top-lane Fizz), there were no kills until 8:30, when a Scarra gank got first blood for Imaqtpie but resulted in Scarra's demise to Jintae's Requiem. Thirty seconds later the teams traded kills again when Jintae managed to keep DJ LAMBO under turret and Defile long enough to Lay Waste to his Hecarim. After GGU got another kill trade and a Dragon in the next few minutes, Dignitas reverted to splitpushing mode, allowing KiWiKiD and Scarra to push the outer lanes while the rest remarkably held off GGU's aggression. Though Dig's splitpushing yielded several turrets (including an inhibitor turret), GGU eventually made several key pick offs that gave them the chance for a nearly-uncontested Baron. Exalted with Nashor's buff, GGU tried to push through mid, but poor communication and split decisions led to a 5:3 Ace for Dignitas and a mere turret trade. GGU attempted a second time to destroy the exposed middle inhibitor, but were similarly stymied by another Dignitas engage and subsequent 5:3 swing. Dignitas, smelling a comeback, engaged GGU further away from their base at 34:10, but this time their aggression resulted in a 3:1 loss and a demolished Nexus turret. With their confidence returned, GGU prepared ambushes for dig near Baron, eventually hooking imaqtpie with Daydreamin's clutch Death Sentence. GGU then capitalized on their 5v4 advantage, barreling through minions, Dignitas Champions, and finally the Nexus before 40:00. In a completely unexpected turn of events, GGU showed that even without Bloodwater they are stronger than ever, while Dignitas illustrated their reliance on their (typically) consistent roster.


The old guard and new clashed again in Week 9 Day 2's second match up between CLG and MRN. MRN started the game with a lane swap, putting MegaZero in his least favorite laning arrangement against CLG's star ADC. However the first casualty of the game was ecco, who only aggressive on LinK while thinking Chauster was top, only discover CLG's jungler ganking his own lane to get LinK's Lux first blood. Yet the early kill did not diminish MRN's confidence and they took Dragon at 5:45 from under CLG's nose, coming out ahead overall when CLG finally attacked for a 1:1 trade. Both teams farmed for the next few minutes, but the game heated up again when CLG won a 2:1 trade off of a failed gank on Doublelift and Aphromoo by ClakeyD. MRN reciprocated about a minute later, taking two free kills on stray CLG members after grabbing yet another free Dragon. Despite this back and forth, MRN took a huge lead at 15:40, when Heartbeat's incredible Crescendo caught all of CLG under MRN's bottom inner turret, allowing MegaZero and Nien to deal massive damage and get four free kills. MRN followed this with a 16:45 Baron, which pushed them far ahead despite losing two members while retreating from the pit. MRN kept firm control through the rest of the game and their power either destroyed CLG in teamfights or kept them scared enough for MRN to take easy objectives. MRN ended the game by taking another pivotal Baron Buff while CLG were forced to defend their base from a minion invasion. MRN followed up on their minions' efforts with their Baron-enhanced power. They took the middle inhibitor, three free kills, the bottom inhibitor, and finally the Nexus. MRN looked to have completely eclipsed their inexperienced origins with the dominant performance over strong early contenders CLG, who now fall back beneath a .500 win ratio.


After earning two wins in Week 9, GGU's final fight of the day was against the last place (yet surprisingly entertaining) compLexity. Both teams brought atypical picks to the table, including a support LeBlanc for the hyper-aggressive Daydreamin, a mid lane Kennen for pr0lly, and a 1v2 top lane Viktor for Nickwu. Unfortunately for compLexity, GGU's meta defying choices were far more successful: Nickwu's 1v2 Viktor failed miserably against GGU's Caitlyn/Leblanc lane when he gave both the mid outer turret to GGU and first blood to Daydreamin. No amount of lane swapping or unorthodox itemization could truly help compLexity as their members and structures were poked and prodded to death by GGU's explosive abilities. However, the game was not without sloppiness on GGU's part, including several teamfights during which both teams traded kills back and forth after overextensions, poor map awareness, and unadulterated hubris. In the end, GGU survived most teamfights with a few members at low health and compLexity failed to survive them at all. The straw that broke the camel's back was an uncontested Baron by GGU that led to another favorable teamfight, getting them a 4-2 trade that they rode all the way to a Nexus kill a minute later. Though another loss is the unfortunate norm for the struggling coL, GGU's victory was a phenomenal one, giving them their first 3-0 LCS week even without their longtime support Bloodwater.


The most important match of Week 9 was also the last: a battle between the #1 Curse and the #3 TSM. After Dignitas' loss earlier in the day, a TSM victory would tie them for second place, ensuring that both teams would be fighting their hardest to adjust the standings in their favor. Curse pulled out their tricks early: Nyjacky began the game by teleporting forward to place an early ward, then the entirety of Curse ran through TSM's jungle for a Blue buff invade. Saintvicious took TSM's Blue with ease, but TSM noticed Curse's absence and moved towards Curse's own jungle to even the buff placements on the team. However, Curse was not willing to give TSM an inch, leading to a long stalemate around Curse's Blue buff. Eventually Saintvicious took the buff, but due to the lanes being pushed into their towers, their laners lost a large amount of experience and gold. Curse followed up with first blood when Dyrus forgot about Nyjacky's teleport long enough to foolishly dive a half-health Saintvicious under turret. At this point, it seemed as if Curse was in the lead, but the early buffs and first blood belied the farming deficit during the buff standoff, from which Curse suffered immensely. Furthermore, TSM still took a turret and Dragon before Curse, giving them an early lead which became apparent when TSM won a 4v5 around Curse's bottom outer turret. TSM cemented their lead at 13:30 when they employed their item-backed AoE skills to take a 4:2 teamfight and the outer mid turret. After this, Curse could not find any openings whatsoever and TSM smashed them in every encounter. At 20:30, TSM positioned themselves to take an early Baron. When Curse arrived to contest the objective, TSM turned on them, destroying them all before proceeding to Baron and sealing Curse's fate. Four minutes later TSM ransacked Curse's base and easily destroyed their Nexus. With this win, TSM closed the gap between themselves and Curse and, perhaps more importantly, tied themselves with the slouching Dignitas immediately before the Season-deciding Super Week.

Bans:       

8        Counter Logic Gaming        43k
vs.
18        Team MRN        61k

Bans:       

After last week’s loss to compLexity and subsequent fall below .500, CLG opened Week 9 with a dominating victory, over an albeit weakened Dignitas lineup. For CLG, a victory over MRN would secure a winning record, a playoff seed, and give them a positive head-to-head over yet another of the 5th–8th place teams. Team MRN, who were a coveted 5th last week, had dropped 0:2 on Day 1, with losses to GGU and Curse. Now in danger of entering Super Week a solid 7th, MRN needed the win for any reasonable chance at a playoff seed.

CLG began with a defensive formation, aiming to spot a MRN invade. HotshotGG guarded CLG’s Blue entrance from Top tribrush while Doublelift scouted Bot tribrush. Aphromoo warded the upper Mid lane river brush, and then Link, Chauster, and Aphromoo grouped around a Sapling at their wraiths entrance. Heartbeat warded the same brush, which is pinged and timed by CLG, and then regrouped with his team at purple-side banana brush.

MRN then indeed invaded, sweeping down past Dragon and into blue-side tribrush. Doublelift spotted them and pinged to his team; Chauster responded by moving to his wolf camp. MRN, their cover blown, only placed a ward at CLG’s double golems and retreated back into their own jungle. MRN then initiated a lane swap: Riven stayed behind at Blue buff to help leash for Jarvan while Sona and Vayne rotated to clear wraiths and headed Top. CLG continued with a standard Blue side opening; Thresh threw out a Death Sentence to check the brush and then farmed double golems with Twitch. Nasus and Lux helped Maokai clear wolves and Blue buff.

For the first few minutes, the 2v1 lanes played out without much action. Hotshot traded blows with Heartbeat, as he attempted to use Sona’s poke to zone Nasus off of the creep line, whereas MegaZero hugged his tower and waited for the wave to push in. ClakeyD headed Top for a dive, but because Hotshot started Spirit Fire, he was able to stall the wave from hitting his tower until 3:20, and thus delayed ClakeyD. This allowed Chauster to farm an extra wraith camp before meeting ClakeyD Top. Chauster showed his presence to MRN by tossing a sapling into the lane, and then headed directly to Mid, just as the early ward timed out. Link had baited ecco into playing aggressive and then landed a Light Binding just as Chauster arrived. Maokai’s CC guaranteed the kill, while Lux tossed out Prismatic Barrier to barely survive Ahri’s burst.

Chauster continued on through purple-side Blue to ostensibly dive MegaZero, but he had been pinged out and MegaZero backed out accordingly. CLG attempted to take down Bot Outer, but is again thwarted; after ecco gave up first blood, ClakeyD shifted Mid to hold lane and then upon ecco’s return, rotated Bot just in time to help defend the tower. Meanwhile, Heartbeat and Nientonsoh had destroyed Top Outer tower and were switching back Bot as CLG abandoned MRN’s Bot Outer tower: Chauster moved to gank Mid while Doublelift and Aphromoo recalled.

With five members in position and Hotshot stuck clearing top, MRN seized the opportunity to claim Dragon. Aphromoo stopped his recall but had depleted his wards, so could only throw out Thresh’s lantern for vision.


Just as MRN was finishing Dragon, Hotshot teleported in. Chauster had looped around the Dragon pit and initiated with a Twisted Advance onto Jarvan. Jarvan reacted with a Q-E combo and pulled Maokai with him into four of MRN, who promptly obliterated Maokai. Seeing that Twitch had not yet returned to lane, and with Ahri joining from Mid, MRN pressed further onto CLG. However, Lux had hit 6 right before MRN took Dragon, and Ahri was still level 5. Lux landed Light Binding and Final Spark onto Vayne and Jarvan, effectively shutting them out from the fight. Twitch finally rejoined CLG and his presence forced the MRN retreat. Wither locked down Sona, and CLG evened up to exchange 1:1 in kills, but down a Dragon.

ecco immediately resumed farming mid, while the rest of MRN recalled or respawned and headed to their lanes. Hotshot held Mid while Link recalled, and after spawning, Chauster held Top for Hotshot. Sinced the Top wave was past CLG’s ruined Outer tower, MegaZero took double golems and swung Mid. ecco used this opportunity to recall, but unfortunately Blue had just spawned and CLG stole it easily, allowing Hotshot to take their own Blue. Chauster cleared Red and sat Bot for half a minute hoping to pull of a Dark Passage-Twisted Advance combo gank, but alas, ended up short. Mid and Bot lanes continued to farm passively, while, Top lane, Hotshot rebuffed MegaZero’s aggression and cleared waves thanks to Blue buff.

ecco managed to sneak into a Bot brush, but action was foiled again, as Doublelift and Aphromoo backed off the moment the wave cleared. At 12:35, ClakeyD managed to sneak into the Bot river brush with a Flag combo from over the wall. In what looked to be the first successful gank since first blood, Sona opened with a max range Crescendo onto Twitch. Jarvan followed up with Demacian Standard-Dragon Strike, knocking Twitch into the air. Twitch managed to Flash out just as the Cataclysm came down, but despite a Dark Passage shield and Barrier, died to Ignite. Meanwhile, The Box locked down MRN, giving time for Lux to walk down and Nasus to Teleport in. Vayne Cleansed out, but was already too low, and Final Spark incinerated her. Caught by Death Sentence, Jarvan too fell to Siphoning Strike. CLG turned the gank around to go 2:1.

CLG then recalled, while MegaZero stayed Bot to clear out the wave. Doublelift respawned and headed to Red buff, but MRN had already regrouped and began Dragon just as it spawned.


Chauster jumped into MRN, once again just as they finished Dragon, but Aphromoo was without boots and still across the map. MRN split perfectly and avoided Final Spark. They then re-engaged, Riven Flashing onto Twitch and executing him while Ahri picked up a kill on Lux. MRN won the fight 2:0 and continued to take Mid Outer tower.

While the rest of MRN recalled, Nien headed Top to farm. CLG immediately cleared Mid and converged Bot to finish the Outer tower and start on the Inner tower. With MRN’s Bot Inner tower at fractional health, Heartbeat nonchalantly walked up and landed a four-person Crescendo. CLG promptly got dunked: Dragon Strike followed up the Crescendo, while Orb of Deception and Wind Slash eviscerated CLG.



MRN promptly headed to Baron, and ClakeyD secured it at 590 HP, mere milliseconds before Final Spark finished casting.


Having rushed to Baron, CLG arrived in time to engaged as MRN was retreating. Maokai targeted Riven with Twisted Advance, and leapt into MRN, only to get exploded again, dying to Ki Burst, Orb, and Fox-Fire. However, Nasus and Lux had caught up and picked up kills onto Sona and Vayne. CLG won the engagement 2:1 but again lost the objective.

CLG followed up by quickly pushing down Mid Outer turret with their numbers advantage. CLG continued to Mid Inner, but was repelled by MRN. MRN pushed back against CLG and rotated four Bot to take Bot Outer, while MegaZero stole Blue from right under Link.


Equipped with Baron, MRN sieged Bot Inner, but was unable to push it down against Lux. MRN shifted back toward Mid and cleared Dragon uncontested for the third time. MegaZero and ClakeyD attempted to ambush Doublelift farming, but a quick Lantern from Aphromoo forced them off. MRN recalled and sent ecco and MegaZero to clear Bot and Top while ClakeyD and Nientonsoh pushed down Mid. CLG flanked around upper river and Hotshot landed Wither on ClakeyD, catching him out of position, with MegaZero and ecco at least twenty seconds away. Light Binding locked Jarvan in position while CLG collapsed in. Buying time, Jarvan leapt onto CLG, holding them down for Sona to land another 4-man Crescendo. Riven and Ahri had finally arrived, and Wind Slash picked up the immediate double kill. Ahri and Riven chased down the rest of CLG and MRN won the engagement 4:1. MRN consequently destroyed Mid Inner tower.


At 25 minutes, MRN pushed out their lanes, regrouped, and took the second Baron of the game, while Doublelift pushed up Bot. Hotshot poked his head into the Baron pit and was promptly erased, as MegaZero recalled to deal with Doublelift.MegaZero pushed Doublelift off MRN’s Bot inhibitor tower, but continued to chase. Twitch popped Ambush and juked all of Broken Wings and Wind Slash, turning around with Spray and Pray to kite Riven down.


Despite the minor setback, MRN was too ahead to stop. They took yet another Dragon, successfully sieged down Bot Outer tower, and destroyed Bot inhibitor without much of a fight from CLG. They then rotated Mid and attempted to brute force the inhibitor tower, but without Baron and with Hotshot respawning, backed off to claim CLG’s jungle and recall. With MRN still backing, CLG pushed straight up Mid to take Mid Inner. MRN arrived in time to deny CLG the inhibitor tower and pushed CLG back into their base. MRN played out the rest of the game textbook style: rotating between Top and Mid, dodging the CLG hard engage, posturing at Baron, letting Bot push in with Super Minions, taking the free Baron, and then just pushing into CLG’s base for the win.

Although CLG outmaneuvered MRN almost everywhere else, their poor map movement around the first two Dragon timings gave MRN an early objective lead. In addition, Chauster’s initiation in early teamfights was questionable, as he evaporated before getting any mileage out of his ultimate. Perhaps feeling pressure, CLG’s overcommitment at Bot Inner turret effectively sealed the game: MegaZero got huge and would be able to split CLG in teamfights, leaving ecco to dash around and chase down the remaining kills. Although MRN would have to take three Baron buffs before finishing the game, their slow play avoided any serious errors. CLG, having to fend off three pushed lanes, could only sit and watch as MRN took the victory and the 2–1 lead in head-to-head matches.

With Week 10, this marks the end of the regular season for the Spring NA LCS. TL LoL Admin, NeoIllusions, has written an article over at LoLeSports.com highlighting the possible outcomes of Super Week #2 as well as what will happen in the postseason with Split Playoffs and Summer Promotion.

After this week, only two teams can rest comfortably, knowing that they've advanced to next season, while the remaining six fight for their last opportunity to remain as LoL pros.