The 2021 LCS Summer Split continued today as day seven of the split. We saw games with base races, upsets and dominating performances. It seemed that no team would be spared in the games today. This was also the first day where teams in the LCS would be playing on patch 11.12.
Here are the results from the games today:
- Evil Geniuses > Cloud 9
- FlyQuest < Team Liquid
- TSM > Immortals
- Dignitas < Golden Guardians
- Counter Logic Gaming > 100 Thieves
Evil Geniuses vs Cloud 9
Starting off the third week of the 2021 LCS Summer Split, we had the resurging Cloud9 taking on the up and down Evil Geniuses. Despite a shaky start, and a seeming lack of communication, Evil Geniuses were able to stop on the gas and win the game on their terms. Using the global ultimates from the likes of Senna, Galio, Nocturne and Ryze, they were all over the map, making plays and constantly having Cloud9 on their back foot. It even got to the point where Evil Geniuses were able to obtain a gold lead at fifteen minutes of almost 5 thousand.
Despite getting an early kill on Svenskeren, Cloud9 never seemed to be able to get in the game. Even with champions like Akali, the same champion 100 Thieves mid-laner Abbedagge went deathless on last week, and Varus, nothing seemed to be going their way. They never seemed to win a single team fight or secure any objectives. Despite having a 3-0 week last week and looking like the team that had won the 2021 LCS Spring Split, this team still has a long way to go to regain their previous form.
FlyQuest vs Team Liquid
Coming off another week of questions about top laner Alphari, Team Liquid were able to shut down FlyQuest along with any attempts they had to come back in this game. In typical Team Liquid fashion, it was not a fast and explosive game, rather a slow and methodical dragon stacking and team fight domination game. The only objectives that were given up were the two rift heralds and the elder dragon, which they ended up trading for the FlyQuest nexus.
Despite doing nothing early, Tactical had a good showing today on Varus. Finishing with a scoreline of 7/1/2, he was able to use a combination of his poke and the infernal soul to deal massive amounts of damage to the enemy, regularly chunking the members of FlyQuest for half health or more. His damage numbers reflected this fact, due to the fact that he finished with 28731 damage to champions, the highest in the game.
TSM vs Immortals
With Immortals going 0-3 last week after their hot start, they looked to regain their footing against a TSM that had shown cracks last week. Unfortunately, in a game where they had two poke champions, they had a worse macro when compared to TSM. Early into this game, nothing was happening. First blood didn’t even happen until 18 minutes when Huni had a teleport flank that turned into a double kill for him. Despite that, there were plays throughout this game that will make highlight reels, such as Insanity stealing baron with a Ziggs ultimate, and a base race off the steal.
Without Huni, TSM would not have won this game. His split pushing on Jayce and the poke he provided was pivotal. While the rest of his team held back Immortals while they tried to take objectives, sometimes giving their life, he would be in the bot lane taking turrets or inhibitors, forcing a recall from at least one member of Immortals or causing them to fall back from a fight. It was also due to him that they won the game as he killed two half health nexus turrets and the Immortals nexus by himself.
Dignitas vs Golden Guardians
The fourth game of the day would see the Golden Guardians take on Dignitas, a game that would see a surprise Ezreal pick in the mid lane for Dignitas and Diana jungle for Golden Guardians. Starting off early, Dignitas looked like they had the early advantage, taking an early kill lead and taking early team fights. Dignitas looked to extend their early lead in the bottom lane with Neo on Khalista, a champion that is always banned against him, but Ablazeolive had other ideas. His Viego was able to keep even with Yusui on Ezreal in the laning phase, and find reset after reset on his ultimate in team fights, as well as using each champion that he took over to the best of his ability.
Ablazeolive was on fire this game. Finishing with a KDA of 6/1/5, he was seemingly unkillable in team fights and able to use the souls that he claimed as if it was second nature to him. He was all over the map and participating with his team whenever they needed him to carry a fight, finishing with a kill participation of 73.3%. In the laning phase against a ranged champion, a matchup that he should never have priority over, he was able to roam to the side lanes and prevent Dignitas from getting too much of a lead. If this performance level continues, keep your eyes on him as he will impress you.
Counter Logic Gaming vs 100 Thieves
The upsets finished the day with Counter Logic Gaming finding the win over 100 Thieves. Coming out with an unorthodox draft that took everyone by surprise, Counter Logic Gaming were able to make a statement with their win. Starting with Finn teleporting into the bot lane and getting first blood, the snowball only seemed to get larger as the game went on. Counter Logic Gaming didn’t seem to ever take any damage from 100 Thieves in any team fight, and would not drop once, finishing the game with a final kill count of twenty-one for Counter Logic Gaming and none for 100 Thieves. The game was not a perfect game, however, as Counter Logic Gaming would lose two turrets, but that is a small price to pay for beating one of the best looking teams right now in the LCS.
Surprising everyone with his Vi pick, Broxah stepped up to the plate today and had a dominating game against 100 Thieves. Despite the champion not being picked in the entirety of the 2021 Spring Split or the young 2021 Summer Split, the pick fit perfectly into the dive composition that they had. He was able to use his ultimate without fear of death and showed great confidence in both his champion and the ability of his team to follow up when he went in. His performance landed him with a final KDA of 4/0/12. If this level of performance can continue off of his Lee Sin pick, and the rest of his team play behind him the way they did today, we might be seeing the resurgence of Counter Logic Gaming before our eyes.
The 2021 LCS Summer Split continues tomorrow, with Cloud 9 taking on Immortals at 2PM PDT/ 5PM EDT/10PM BST.
