Riot Games NACS Logo courtesy Riot Games.
This series happened today. The winner of this finals does not actually earn a spot into the NA LCS. The new franchise system means that this will be the last NA LCS Promotion tournament. Phreak’s clarification at the beginning of this match means that both the winning and losing team from this series earn a $3 Million dollar discount toward their application into the NA LCS. So honestly this whole series is just a resume builder for NA LCS applications and a hefty discount. My recaps for each game will be brief and I’ll try to explain that soon, on to the games!
Game One: First Rotation Rek’Sai, feels bad man
So I really don’t like eUnited’s draft but more on that later. eUnited were doing relatively fine for a good portion of the game. As the game went on you could see eUnited’s decisions gradually get worse. Watching eUnited lose that teamfight in the river around dragon was heartbreaking. eUnited had just won a teamfight outside their base, it was a great hold. The immediate call to rush dragon was a grave mistake and they got Maokai ult’d into Gnar ult.
Game Two: AP Galio Mid Was Not A Good Idea
Neither team really wanted to take chances for the majority of this game. The low kill count can attest to that. eUnited kept it relatively even and eUnited even held slim leads for stretches in this game. After Phoenix1 secured the Baron they laid siege to eUnited’s base and crippled them. After that eUnited never really recovered. Their inhibitors may have respawned but eUnited never closed the deficit between them. Phoenix1 went for a second Baron and wiped eUnited for the win in Game Two.
Game Three: Third Time is Not the Charm
Game Three was the best representation of what this series should have been. eUnited managed to keep it close, they even eked out a lead for a minute or two. There was a sizable pause during this game as well. I doubt the pause had any really effect on the outcome here. Phoenix1 out rotated and teamfought significantly better than eUnited. There’s not much else to say about this game, eUnited cracked.
Phoenix1 (3) vs eUnited (0): Now What?
eUnited look like every other NA Challenger team that’s very successful in the NACS but can’t win a single best-of-three against an actual LCS-caliber team. DanDy and GBM looked alright in these games but honestly they looked like pail imitations of their former glory.