League of Legends match commentary from the LCS floor courtesy of RheingoldRiver

With excellent overviews of each match and interviews with the expert summoners involved, RheingoldRiver brings fantastic insight into the League of Legends Championship Series event this past week.

RheingoldRiver is a valued member of the terrific LolKing community; the site for all of your League of Legends tools, guides and information. You can also find additional, regular LoL insights at Rhein’s own blog, right here.

Game 1: Cloud 9 v Vulcun Techbargains

Balls: Rumble

Meteos: Nasus

Hai: Kennen

Sneaky: Draven

LemonNation: Thresh

 

Sycho Sid: Elise

Xmithie: Lee Sin

mancloud: Twisted Fate

Zuna: Kog'maw

BloodWater: Janna

Match Highlight: BloodWater steals Baron with a Howling Gale

In its second LCS match on the 3.8 patch, Cloud 9 had a much better level 1 than it had had earlier.  Though Meteos did lose his red buff, the team responded by sending him to push with its 2v1 toplane, which resulted in both top outer and top inner turrets falling in exchange for only bot outer going to Vulcun by 5 minutes.  The rest of the early and midgame were characterized by Cloud 9 securing objectives and Vulcun winning teamfights, in large part thanks to great Lee Sin play from Xmithie. 

By 30 minutes, Cloud 9, finally able to win teamfights after a 24-minute baron, had pushed down both mid and bot inhibitors and looked to secure an easy second baron for itself.  However, despite the fact that Xmithie had been taken to a sliver of HP from across the wall, BloodWater stole the objective away with a max-charge Howling Gale.  This put about a 10-minute pause timer on the game, as Cloud 9 was reluctant to dive and Vulcun couldn't push out. 

A failed engage, wasting mancloud's flash in botlane, finally allowed Cloud 9 to go for the engage at 43 minutes, and Zuna, mancloud and BloodWater were melted by the crowd control from LemonNation and damage from Hai.  The teamfight allowed the blue team to re-push mid and bot inhibitors, and they won the game at 44 minutes.\

Game 2: Team Solo Mid v Counter Logic Gaming

Dyrus: Jayce

TheOddOne: Cho'gath

Reginald: Karthus

WildTurtle: Ereal

Xpecial: Thresh

 

Nientonsoh: Malphite

bigfatlp: Nocturne

Link: Twisted Fate

Doublelift: Caitlyn

Chauster: Lulu

Match Highlight: Nientonsoh's Unstoppable Forces

Against the hard-engage global composition of Twisted Fate/Nocturne/Malphite, TSM needed to win lanes and get ahead early.  And it did get the first dragon and two towers of the game, up by 2k gold at 20 minutes.But CLG took the next few dragons, and TSM's team fighting was not as coordinated as it needed to be to get past the massive AoE crowd control of Malphite and Lulu. 

CLG had taken the gold lead by 25 minutes, and won a fight 4-1 at 30 minutes, leading to a baron at 31.  TSM did take back 3 kills off the baron, but with two members still holding the buff at 33 minutes, CLG won another fight in botlane, this time 5-1.  The next baron was successfully completed by CLG, and though TSM almost won the ensuing fight, it was Link with a great triple kill for the clean-up, and meanwhile Doublelift successfully  micro'd past TheOddOne's ruptures to take down the TSM nexus at 42 minutes.

Game 3: Velocity eSports v Team Coast

Cris: Zed

Nk Inc: Nasus

Vileroze: Xerath

maplestreet: Varus

Evaniskus: Thresh

 

ZionSpartan: Riven

NintendudeX: Jarvan IV

Shiphtur: Lissandra

DontMashMe: Draven

Daydreamin: Nami

Match Highlights: Outplays from both Cris and ZionSpartan, and Shiphtur's engages

An early first blood went to Evaniskus in the 2v2 botlane, giving Velocity the lead in that lane, but it was ZionSpartan who came out ahead in toplane.  Early objectives were even, with a turret and dragon to Team Coast in exchange for two towers to Velocity. 

The teams exchanged turrets and kills, with the gold consistently even for a half hour.At 28 minutes, though, Team Coast won a 4-0 fight near Baron after melting through Nk Inc's health, which also granted the team the buff and a 3k gold lead.  Velocity was able to hold on a bit, but the game was clearly slipping away from it as ZionSpartan on Riven got more and more terrifying, completing two Bloodthirsters, a Last Whisper, and a Guardian Angel. 

At 37 minutes, Velocity tried for a risky Baron play—not only was it unsuccessful in finishing the objective but also Coast aced them 5-0 and NintendudeX stole it away.  ZionSpartan did get caught, but at 42 minutes Coast forced its way into the Velocity base, Cris falling first.  Velocity tried to fight for as long as it could, but Coast focus-fired the nexus turrets and then the nexus, winning the game mid-fight at 43 minutes.

Game 4: Curse v Dignitas

Voyboy: Shen

Saintvicious: Nocturne

NyJacky: Karthus

Cop: Ezreal

EDward: Leona

 

KiWiKiD: Jayce

Crumbz: Lee Sin

scarra: Evelynn

imqtpie: Draven

Patoy: Blitzcrank

Match Highlight: Team composition power plays from Curse

After Dignitas opened with a Blitzcrank pick, Curse countered with an entirely anti-Blitzcrank composition and two global ultimates. 

Though Dignitas picked up first blood off a turret dive in their 2v1 toplane, it was a 1-1 exchange.  Dignitas took the early tower lead, while Curse took the early kill and dragon lead.  Gold was even at 15 minutes, but then Curse won a fight at Dragon and took both that objective and also a turret, giving it a 3k gold lead by 17 minutes.  The next part of the game was characterized by Curse catching members of Dignitas out, utilizing its strong global and semi-global presence to make plays across the map.  When full-out teamfights happened, Nyjacky died every time, but his death was never in vain, and Curse consistently won fight after fight. 

After taking Baron, Curse began to push onto Dignitas's base, with bot inhibitor falling at 27 minutes.  Soon after, Curse pushed the mid inhibitor, paused to take Baron again at 31:30, and then methodically closed out the game soon after.

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