Day 1 of the LCS at MLG Anaheim could best be described as a mixed bag. Overall, it featured a little bit of everything, including stomps, comebacks, and throws. What was most interesting about the games as a whole was seeing how teams reacted to similar situations in differing ways. A perfect example of these disparities can be gleaned by breaking down and comparing Velocity vs Curse and Coast vs Cloud 9. More specifically how teams handled early and mid game adversity and the moves they made to stay competitive in the face of huge deficits.

In Velocity vs Curse, Velocity managed to pull out to an early lead, but after losing a team fight that gave up a free Baron, the momentum of the game shifted in Curse's favor. They were able to take a significant turret advantage as Voyboy on Shen split pushed without much contention. Velocity transitioned into a very defensive mode being sure not to give up too many free kills. Then, a clutch Baron steal from Nk Inc further stalled Curse's assault. Velocity played smart waiting for Curse to slip up, and they were rewarded when Curse tried to take a base turret while Requiem was down. Velocity punished them hard winning the fight and shutting down a critical push from Curse. From farming up the constant stream of minions flowing into their base, Velocity reclaimed the gold lead and just took the fight straight to Curse, beating them in their base while Voyboy was attempting to split push. This was an example of a team playing very smart when behind and not letting the enemy snowball spiral out of control.

This was in stark contrast, look at the game between Team Coast and Cloud 9. Cloud 9 has developed a reputation for establishing an early lead and running with it, and this game was no exception to this rule. Coast made several mistakes and gave up a lot of easy kills while getting caught out. They fed Cloud 9 too hard and didn't do enough to stall out the game and stop the bleeding. Had they not given up so many kills they might have been able to claw their way back into the game, but Cloud 9's lead was just too massive. When the enemy team is pushing down your Nexus turrets before 30 minutes you know something has gone terrible wrong.

Playing from behind in LoL is no easy task. Knowing the enemy team can crush you in a team fight does terrible things to team morale and makes out playing the enemy even harder. But, through a mix of playmaking and luck it's certainly possible. Some teams are better at it than others, and it's certainly a valuable trait to have at a professional level.

---

Bans:       

11        TSM        46.7K
vs.
31        dig        59.0K

Bans:       

---

Right out of the gate Dignitas got MLG Anaheim off to a non-conventional start, running AP Yi in the Mid Lane and the rarely seen Ashe as their ADC. Both Junglers applied a lot of early pressure to the lanes, with Crumbzz helping Dignitas pick up first blood and TheOddOne burning two enemy Flashes before five minutes. Reginald and TheOddOne thought they had chance to get a free kill on Scarra, but the burst from AP Yi was too surprising and Scarra turned the fight around killing Regi and setting up Crumbzz to kill TheOddOne The flow of the game was heavily dictated by Scarra's roaming. In an extended engagement Reginald began to turn a fight around in TSM's favor after using Destiny, but Scarra just ran up the river right after him and grabbed a double kill and the fight went two for three in favor of Dignitas. After that fight Scarra just went off. He made his presence known all over the map picking up multiple multi-kills and in general just making TSM's life a living nightmare. Even when TSM looked like they were in control of a fight, Scarra would just show up and pick up a double or triple kill at his leisure. Reginald was never able to make good use of Destiny as Dignitas was always quick to respond and turn any fight around. Scarra was fed to the point where TSM couldn't do anything about it. They took free turret after turret and TSM did the best they could to defend their base. But it was too little too late as Dignitas' damage was simply too much and they rolled over TSM in their own base and took the decisive victory.

The power of the Support players in the NA LCS manifested itself through Day 2 of MLG Anaheim's LCS presentation. LemonNation was the first to show off his immense worth to his team on Janna, enabling Meteos's early kills with well-placed Howling Gales and great positioning, as well as saving Sneaky from CLG's counteraggression (and picking up an early kill as well). His influence on C9's increasing lead persisted throughout the game with C9's extensive warding, gank assistance (leaving Sneaky to farm on his own), and natural strength in pushing and defending turrets. By late game, LemonNation used Janna's repositioning skills to ensure that CLG could not make use of their AoE damage or short-range Vayne. He ended the game at 2/0/9, involved in 11 of C9's 15 kills.

Daydreamin of Team Coast had an even more visible impact on their game against Velocity with his play-making Blitzcrank. Unlike LemonNation's back line, aggression-thwarting Janna, Daydreamin's Blitzcrank allows him to effectively channel the offensive instincts that he's shown since entering the LCS. Though Daydreamin made few plays in lane (he was 0/1/0 at 17:00), his Rocket Grabs opened opportunities for CST through the next 30 minutes leading to their victory. Again and again, Daydreamin landed his pulls to pick off a member of Velocity (usually Evanikus), giving Coast huge windows to claim objectives without contest or destroy in subsequent teamfights. Daydreamin's magnum opus was the pull which secured the win, a needle-threaded pull on maplestreet to explode VES's primary carry and give them a 4:1 trade that CST used to bring down the Nexus.

Yet, the match in which the two Supports had the greatest impact on the game was in TSM v CRS. TSM dominated the early game against the slumping Curse and much of that momentum could be attributed to Xpecial's incredible skill with Thresh. Historically, Curse finds its early strength from Saintvicious and his early ganks, but Xpecial managed to thwart his Demacian Standard/Dragon Strike combos three times with well-timed Flays before 10:00. The third of these prevented Saint's escape from the mid outer turret after Xpecial landed a Death Sentence as well, netting First Blood for the nearby Reginald. Xpecial continued to make these epic moves throughout the game, consistently earned praise from the casters for his All-Star level performance. By contrast, Curse's newest member, EdWard played a passive game, slowly helping Cop get farmed in lane so he could find Quadra Kills from TSM's overextensions. In the teamfights that Curse won, EdWard's was a subtle role, ensuring they had map vision for their desperate Baron plays and using Sona's kit admirably to ensure that Curse sustained through their fights and could catch fleeing members of TSM. However it was a final Crescendo that really demonstrated EdWard's amazing support play. At 38:40, Curse lept on TSM in the mid lane, first catching Regi with Voyboy's Cocoon, but then being immediately followed up with huge lockdown from Saintvicious's Cataclysm and EdWard's Flash/Crescendo. This lockdown allowed Nyjacky and Cop to use their huge physical AoE damage with ease, blowing up Reginald almost immediately before Xpecial and TheOddOne went down seconds later, giving Curse the window to win the game. Once again, the proof is in the score: at 1/2/15 EdWard was involved in almost 90% of Curse's kills, providing the initiation, sustain, and utility that helped Curse eke out a comeback victory.

It was a banner day for NA supports, who once again proved that a high kill score is not always the best measure of success.

---

Bans:       

10        CLG        50.9K
vs.
15        C9        62.2K

Bans:       

---

Everyone loves a rematch, particularly when it is a rematch of one team's single loss. As such, C9 vs CLG was easily the most hyped match of the day as CLG hoped to recreate the magic which proved that C9 was not invincible. CLG banned the same champions against C9, ensuring that Zac and Rumble didn't go into C9's capable hands (and no one got Thresh). Afterwards, they managed to secure plenty of their comfort champions, including Doublelift's terrifying Vayne, Nien's Kennen, and Link's Twisted Fate. However, this allowed C9 to choose similarly comfortable champions like Balls' Ryze, Sneaky's Ezreal, and LemonNation's Janna as well as a few new ones like Elise for Meteos and Lissandra for Hai. Moving into the game itself, C9 clearly learned from their previous experience against CLG and was extremely cautious near their Red buff, and rightly so with CLG grouped in the Baron Suicide Brush. Though the game began with standard 1v2 lanes, the action began almost immediately with bigfatlp's three man dive onto Balls and Meteos's counter pressure in CLG's top lane. Yet Meteos's 1v2 lane pressure turned out to be much more effective. He, Sneaky, and LemonNation not only demolished CLG's top outer turret but dealt heavy damage to the inner turret and assassinated bigfat, Nien, and Link before CLG killed Meteos and forced them to retreat.

Meteos continued to dominate the early game for C9, securing objectives and kills with the help of his teammates (particularly Balls and Sneaky). However, CLG managed to avoid falling too far behind due to Doublelift's constant farm and 1v1 strength and Link's Destiny/Gates to pick off stray members of C9. Knowing that C9's strength lay in 5v5 teamfights, CLG chose to splitpush with Nien and occasionally Doublelift in the mid game, which allowed them to gain ground while keeping C9 off their inhibitor turrets. Unfortunately for CLG, their deficit grew considerably in a fight at 30:20, when their flanking engage went pear-shaped, allowing C9 to counterinitiate with Hai's Lissandra combo for a 4:1 fight and the middle inhibitor. On the back of this lead C9 also picked up Baron, killed off Nien and Doublelift again, and took down the top lane inhibitor. At this point, C9 could not be stopped and forced down CLG's final inhibitor with just their powerful poke and the regen from the Baron buff. With three inhibitors down and a still-exalted C9 in their base, CLG could not stop C9 from taking their redeeming their only defeat this season.

Fast map movement and aggressive dives decorated Day 3 of MLG. Although Cloud 9 are usually the team to control the map and dictate the pace of the game, Vulcun were able to throw them a wrench. Delivery Cloud 9 another level 1 loss, Vulcun took Sneaky's Flash and secured a 2v2 Top. They followed this up with strong Mid pressure from Xmithie, allowing mandatorycloud to roam and gank lanes with Xmithie. Vulcun countered Cloud 9's succinct pushing with constant rotation, using the mobility of Lissandra, Jarvan, and Jayce to set up picks and secure development for Zuna's Kog'Maw.

In TSM's match against CLG, TSM's powerful team fight synergy and late game scaling were not enough to make up for the mobility of Elise and Zed. CLG dove early and often, barely escaping death (whenever Requiem was on cooldown) with Rappel and Living Shadow. Late-game, when CLG were unable to win engagements, Zed and Elise's wave clear, mobility, and skirmishing power allowed CLG to retain meaningful pressure on the map and control the game for a win.

Curse and Dignitas won their games simply off of the power of their early aggression alone. Voyboy on Elise and scarra on Zed simply mopped the floor with their lane counterparts, snowballing their own lanes without sacrificing map pressure, roaming the map, and blowing up anything that stood in their way. With such fed assassins, the two teams fearlessly dove between towers in their respective matches and finished MLG with dominating victories.

---

Bans:       

24        CLG        95.0k
vs.
28        TSM        91.1k

Bans:       

---

TSM opened with an invade aimed at CLG's Red, but two early wards from Janna foiled TSM's plans. Although Dyrus received some free farm, TheOddOne had to jungle without a strong leash, and with jiji showing presence top, the first few minutes ended up even. But Bot Lane, with their wave pushing, Doublelift landed Corrosive Charge on both Sona and Varus, bombarded them with Acid Hunters, and secured First Blood. CLG continued to play very aggressive, as Link's Zed shoved wave after wave and pinned Reginald to his tower. Meanwhile Bot Lane, Doublelift picked up a free kill when they caught WildTurtle backing in a bush. He picked up a second kill as jiji dove on to Sona with Paranoia, but Crescendo, Chain of Corruption, and Requiem were enough to return a kill onto WildTurtle and forced CLG to scatter.

TSM's priorities were revealed once again to center heavily on Reginald. The combined effort of Cho'Gath and Karthus forced Nocturne and Zed off of Mid, and Regi picked up yet another kill. Moreover, each time Link pushed up the Bot wave and attempted to dive Turtle underneath the Bot Inner tower, a Requiem would be ready and waiting to shut him down and trade even or better. However, all of TSM's focus Mid and Bot left Elise uncontested. With his early lead from Zed's ganks, Nien continued to bully Dyrus, catching him farming at Top Inner, and blowing him up in a single spell rotation. 25 minutes into the game, while the rest of CLG continued to be rebuffed at Mid and Bot, Nien remained pushing Top and dove Dyrus again, this time underneath the inhibitor tower, surviving Kennen's stun and the Tower damage through great use of Zhonya's and Rappel. Though Requiem would eventually help Regi crush another spider, Skittering Frenzy allowed Nien to almost burn through the bulk of the inhibitor tower's health.

While rotating to check Baron however, Doublelift manages to chunk Karthus to below half through Corrosive Charge/Acid Hunter, and then swapped in Cho'Gath. TheOddOne Flashed out immediately, but despite TSM's strong disengage tools, Reginald Flashed into CLG. Already low, Regi was unable to place down enough damage, and CLG got a delayed Ace, Baron, and a delayed quadra kill for Nien. Equipped with Baron buff, CLG managed to clean up the rest of TSM's inner towers and were left to siege the inhibitors. Unfortunately, the Urgot pick and TSM's strong wave clearing meant CLG could not siege effectively. Nien pushed Bot up to the inhibitor tower while the rest of CLG sat in front of Mid inhibitor; eventually Nien just tanked the tower without creeps and burned it down with spiders and Skittering Frenzy. This cost his life but opened up TSM's base for CLG to slowly whittle in.

Despite holding over a 10k gold lead, Nien's suicide would set the tone for the rest of the game. With an open inhibitor and huge lead, CLG could have easily sieged down TSM's base, but repeatedly Doublelift found himself caught out by Rupture, Chain of Corruption, or Crescendo. Link attempted to backdoor and assassinate whoever TSM sent to defend, but would only trade deaths at best. jiji became the unsung hero of TSM: each time CLG was caught in TSM's initiation, jiji would survive with barely any health and drag TSM with him to chase him, unsuccessfully. This bough time for CLG's split push to finally break all of TSM's inhibitor towers. Though TSM's base was ravaged, the game had gone late enough that a clean Ace would allow them to finish the game. Yet on the other hand, CLG's penchant for getting caught was not a free win for TSM; the staggered death timers and dispersed death locations continued to play into CLG's ability to trade for time and allow waves to naturally push against TSM.

Regi, with Zhonya's seconds from cooldown, burned his Flash to chase down Link and trades 1:1 seconds before TSM arrived. Dyrus, left to defend against Nien's backdoor, suffered flashbacks from the first 25 minutes of the game and did not engage Elise until after TSM lost all 3 inhibitors; meanwhile TSM were unable to burn through jiji and Chauster, despite a 3v2, thanks to Locket and Randuin's. Dyrus managed to finish off Nien as Reginald spawned, but the rest of CLG had spawned too leaving a 5v4 on the map for TSM. TSM left Dyrus to stall the waves of Super Minions and pushed down Mid as four. CLG prevented TSM from taking Mid inhibitor tower in just one wave and, before the next wave, engaged on TSM 4v4; CLG traded 1:4 but took out Turtle's GA, and critically, a beefy Nocturne survived long enough to finish off Karthus. Thus by the time TSM had made it to CLG's Nexus towers, Nien had respawned. At this point the game was forfeit. If Dyrus grouped with the remainder of TSM, they most likely would not have been able to finish off CLG's Nexus before waves of super minions finished theirs. Without Dyrus however, TSM were unable to dive two Nexus towers past a fed Nien.

Despite losing every engagement for the last quarter of the match, CLG closed out the game with their super minions: truly counter logic gaming.

The NA LCS goes into Week 4 with a single, immense 8 play day on the 4th of July and the middle of the bracket is closer than ever. With only first and last place certain, the remaining six are all within two games of each other. Curse wants to finally get a foothold into the season, but they have to face Vulcun and Cloud 9 to do so. Velocity goes up against TSM and CLG and we will see whether TSM has truly fallen as far as the standings show - a loss to the bottom ranked team could be devastating to morale while Velocity would tie itself with TSM if they can pull off an upset against the slumping TSM in the head-to-head game. CLG seeks to secure its spot in the upper rankings with a contested match against Coast. While it’s unlikely that they can tie first place (C9 needs to go 0-2 as well) they’re in a race against Vulcun over second, with Coast and Dignitas only 1 game behind. With no direct matches between any of the tied teams, the middle 6 LCS teams are in a freestyle footrace to the top, and it’s anyone’s guess who gains and loses this week.