With half the season over, Cloud 9 remains undefeated and is the far and away best team in the LCS 2020 Summer split. After that, things get a lot closer - especially now underdogs like Golden Guardians and Dignitas look to be shaping up!
Closer leads Golden Guardians to victory
Despite Evil Geniuses being the ostensible favorites and securing First Blood, Golden Guardians soon equalized with several ganks by jungler Can "Closer" Çelik. While EG got several fights in their favor, often from good plays by mid laner Daniele "Jiizuke" di Mauro, the game remained close. Even the first Baron going to GG was not enough, but eventually Closer’s catches would help them win multiple fights resulting in an inhibitor, a Baron and the infernal soul.
Just as the guardians were on the brink of victory, a teleport flank led to an ace for EG and they quickly securedBaron. The game was once more close, but Jiizuke and co would have no margin for error - and when GG won a close fight in the middle of the map 4:3, it was enough for them to storm the base and secure the win. It was good effort from both teams, but especially for Closer as he put out a standout performance.
Cloud9 win Match of the Week
The bout between Team SoloMid and Cloud was billed as the match of the week for good reason - TSM had been on a roll lately and were seen as one of the few teams that could match the C9 juggernaut. As the game began, it was was as close as fans expected: the teams traded blows with both mid lakers getting early kills, though TSM had a minor advantage.
This lasted until 21 minutes into the game, when Cloud9’s masterful teamfighting resulted in three kills and the Baron going to them. TSM looked to defend themselves, but 29 minutes in C9 would get a 3:0 fight off a great flank tha deleted Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng’s Varus. Now 5v2, the spring champions pushed in the enemy base to complete the ace and end the game. It was a close call for much of the game, but once again, Cloud9’s map control and teamfighting execution gave them the win.
A demonstration of superior judgement by Impact rocks CLG
With FlyQuest and TSM faltering, this made the Team Liquid vs CounterLogic Gaming that much more important for both teams as they could rise in the rankings. With his first Shen ultimate Jung "Impact" Eon-yeong would give his team first blood and pressure in the mid and top lane. His team took this lead and ran with it, taking over the map and getting both towers and neutral objectives that gave them a 4.5K gold lead at 15 minutes. Led by their veteran top laner, TL kept up the pressure and secured their first Baron 23 minutes in, before threatening an infernal soul two minutes later. CLG managed to delay the soul after winning a teamfight as the drake respawned, but eventually, Team Liquid secured the second Baron. With it, they took down all three inhibitors. Despite losing a fight shortly afterwards, TL retained control over the map, secured the infernal soul buff and with it ended the game. From start to finish, Impact has a monstrously good performance, having seven of the team’s ten kills and becoming an unkillable monster that CLG had no answer for.
0-2 week for FlyQuest
The last game of the evening was FlyQuest’s match against a Dignitas fresh off their first win in this split. The game started well for the favorites as a level 3 gank by Santorin gives him first blood. Several minutes later, a skirmish in the bot lane ended up as 5v5 as both lanes committed - in the end, the close fight went to Dignitas as Kim "Fenix" Jae-hun’s Azir survived through it all and piled on the damage. Now with an early lead and a big pressure in the mid lane, Dignitas became much more active on the map and it resulted in a gold and dragon lead and a 25-minutes inhibitor.
FlyQuest’s fortunes appeared to turn when they killed the enemy jungler shortly afterwards and went for the Baron. Their focus was split, though, and while they secured it Dignitas took four kills. With this lead, DIG teleported in the enemy base where they had a pushing wave and finished the ace to take the game. Now two victories in a row, perhaps Dignitas should be taken more seriously in the second part of the split. FlyQuest, meanwhile, end up with a 0-2 week - and while still a playoff contender, they should definitely take a good look at their last few games.
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