PAX Prime - NA LCS Playoffs

By Johnny Ngo on September 7, 2014

http://www.eventsforgamers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/banner_pax-prime.jpg

For the past few years, Riot Games has teamed up with the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) to host the regional tournament where the fate of each team in the North American League of Legends Championship Series (NA LCS) is decided. The event was a huge success and kept their 400,000 viewers on the edge of their seats for surprising results. With many victories and upsets, there was no doubt PAX Prime was an amazing finish to one of the best splits in NA LCS history. All matches were best of five.

Day 1 – 5th Place Match

CLG vs DIG

http://na.lolesports.com/na-lcs/2014/na-regional-2014/matches/round-3/counter-logic-gaming-vs-team-dignitas

After their unfortunate losses in the quarterfinals, the old school teams Counter Logic Gaming and Team Dignitas took it to the rift to fight the battle no one wants to fight. The 5th and 6th place match determines who gets to keep their spot in the LCS for the coming split and who gets relegated to the promotion tournament, where a challenger team can potentially win themselves a spot in the LCS. Game 1 of the match started relatively evenly without much happening, but CLG getting themselves an early baron and early towers got them a 9k gold lead in 33 minutes, finishing the game shortly after. In Game 2, the game was essentially a stalemate until about 25 minutes, when ZionSpartan teleports and takes down CLG’s middle inhibitor. Moments later, CLG sneak a baron under DIG’s noses, and the game goes on for about 20 minutes with less than 4k gold separating the teams; DIG comes out on top with superior teamfights and securing the 44 minute win. As the match goes on, CLG continues to play worse and worse – Game 3 finished in 34 minutes and Game 4 finishing in just 30 minutes. It was a much needed win for DIG to secure their spot in LCS, and much needed loss for CLG.

Doublelift talks to Travis Gafford, a popular LoL esports journalist, about the internal problems that he and the rest of CLG have had for a long time now; ever since Season 2, they’ve had more than their fare share of internal problems that all members of the team have always overlooked, and it’s only now that they begin to realize how important it is to solve these issues. The much needed loss of the 5th place match to get relegated is exactly what CLG needed to take a step back and realize they can’t continue to run away from their problems. DIG win this series 3-1 and CLG will play Curse Academy in the promotion tournament.

Day 2 – Semifinals

TSM vs LMQ

http://na.lolesports.com/na-lcs/2014/na-regional-2014/matches/round-2/team-solomid-vs-lmq

The semifinal matches’ winners guaranteed the winning team one of three spots to represent NA and the NA LCS at the World Championships. The losing team would not be completely disqualified from an opportunity to go to worlds, but it’s a much better feeling to have your spot secured over a gamble. The series was very well played and pretty entertaining to watch overall. TSM have really shown at this event that they deserve their spot at worlds. LMQ and TSM take turns winning on blue side taking it to Game 5, followed by an absolute sweep from TSM, finishing the series in a 26 minute game, up 15k gold and 13-2 in kills. An extremely dominating performance by TSM last game with the only win on red side, securing their spot at the World Championship.

CRS vs C9

http://na.lolesports.com/na-lcs/2014/na-regional-2014/matches/round-2/cloud9-vs-curse

Team Curse went 3-1 in the final week of Super Week as well as a 3-0 dominating performance against CLG in the quarterfinals; their momentum at an all-time high, they were ready to take on the world. Cloud9, however, has never lost a single playoff game up to this point. Unfortunately for CRS, this match was no different. After a dominating performance and amazing early game from C9, at 20 minutes, C9 was up 10-0, 10k gold, and 4 towers – followed by a surrender from CRS two minutes later. With their momentum dropping, they continued to slowly stoop downward towards the 3rd/4th place match, where C9 claims a baron, a 13k gold lead and CRS’ nexus at 26 minutes. Game 3 was no different – C9 finished with a 20k gold lead just around half an hour. A solid performance by C9 finishing CRS 3-0 guaranteed a spot at the World Championships.

Day 3 – 3rd Place Match

CRS vs LMQ

http://na.lolesports.com/na-lcs/2014/na-regional-2014/matches/round-3/curse-vs-lmq

These teams are fighting for their chance in the spotlight; the winner of the 3rd place match takes the third spot in representing NA at worlds, and the loser is the 4th place team who goes home with a secured spot in the LCS. Game 1 was a 45 minute win for CRS, which was the start of the bloodiest match of the entire event. In Game 2, Voyboy’s Yasuo and Cop’s Corki carried the team for the win, bringing them one win away from their spot at worlds.

However, this did not stop LMQ in their tracks by any means. LMQ came back with full force; Noname put the team on his back and carried his team to victory in Game 3, finishing in just 30 minutes and moving the series to Game 4. From that point on, CRS looked a lot like CLG against DIG; the losses for them got quicker and before they knew it, LMQ took CRS to Game 5 where all the marbles were on the line.

In Game 5 at just 24 minute and 26 seconds, CRS’ nexus was destroyed for the third time, and LMQ came back from a 0-2 start to the best of five series as the third team to represent NA in the World Championships. CRS, for the 5th time, has secured a 4th place spot in the NA LCS standings.

Day 4 – Finals

TSM vs C9

http://na.lolesports.com/na-lcs/2014/na-regional-2014/matches/round-3/cloud9-vs-team-solomid

Fun fact: ever since 2013 starting with the last match, the first and last match of each season has begun with TSM vs C9 – and this final match was no different. C9 won the last 14 out of 14 playoff matches that they have ever played in. In this final match TSM came in with the goal to ruin C9′s perfect playoff record and steal the first place title from them.

And that’s exactly what they did.

The match looked a lot like TSM vs LMQ; teams were taking turns taking wins on blue side. When Game 2 finished and TSM destroyed C9′s nexus for the first time, the crowd was chanting “T-S-M, T-S-M, T-S-M!” It came around to Game 5, and it was up to C9 to defend their title as the number one team in NA LCS, or for North America’s favorite team to take that title from them. It was an incredibly close match, and TSM finished on top with only 3k gold more than C9.

TSM broke C9′s streak of being undefeated in the playoffs and will continue to make their way to the world stage as the number one NA seed.

Here are the standings with the conclusion of the NA LCS playoffs:

1) TSM*
2) C9*
3) LMQ*
4) CRS
5) DIG
6) CLG^

* Indicates World Championship Qualification
^ Indicates relegation

A few fun facts:

Nidalee was banned 21/22 games, followed by Alistar at 20/22 and Zilean with 15/22.
4 of the 21 bans on Nidalee were from blue side by TSM, because Dyrus admitted his Nidalee play is not competitive enough (according to an AMA he did).
The one game Nidalee wasn’t banned, she was picked, and the game resulted in the loss for CLG in Game 3 against DIG.
There were 58 total bans against top lane champions (Nidalee, Alistar, Maokai, and Ryze).
Hai had the single most deaths in one game with a record of 1/9/7 in Game 2 against TSM, which was the same game that was C9′s first playoff loss.
The average game length was about 34 minutes.

I watched every game of every match all four days, and it was definitely worth every minute. If I had to choose one to recommend, I’d highly recommend the LMQ vs CRS match – the comeback was incredible.

We’ll soon find out about which teams will be in which of the four groups at worlds. I’m looking forward to TSM, C9 and LMQ’s performances on the world stage. Can the North American All-Stars take on the best teams around the world?

The Worlds Reveal show will be on Sept. 8, right after LPL finalizes which teams they will be sending to worlds. Stay tuned!