Thanks to their first-place finish in the LPL Spring 2020 regular season, Invictus Gaming (IG) found themselves skipping the first two rounds of the playoffs. Their phenomenal 14-2 series record (with a 28-11 game record) puts a huge target on their back.
They were faced with Top Esports (TES), who ended Team WE’s playoff dreams in the quarterfinals with a commanding 3-1 series victory. One thing was for sure: this would be a battle between two talented teams. TES would be looking for a little redemption from the regular season too, as they fell 2-0 to IG. JackyLove was also looking to get one over his old squad.
The broadcast team were slightly in favor of Invictus Gaming with four of them predicting the victory.
Game 1:
Bans:
[IG] Thresh, Jarvan IV, Trundle, Nautilus, Leona
[TES]Kallista, Lucian, Varus, Braum , Taric
Invictus Gaming – Blue Side
Top: TheShy(Ornn) Jungle: Leyan(Lee Sin) Mid: Rookie(Leblanc) Bot: Puff (Aphelios)Support: Southwind (Morgana)
Top Esports – Red Side
Top: 369(Aatrox) Jungle: Karsa(Rek Sai) Mid: knight(Syndra) Bot: JackeyLove(Miss Fortune) Support: yuyanjia(Alistar)
Recap
It was a pretty aggressive start to the game, with skirmishes starting in multiple lanes in the first five minutes.
First blood came in the 8th minute, as 369, Karsa, and knight triple-teamed TheShy in the top lane. IG’s answer was to make a play for the herald.
A 4v4 broke out in the mid lane, and Rookie managed to take out yuyanjia to tie the kill score. TheShy fell again, but IG were able to then take the first dragon of the game. They also took control of the tempo by grabbing two turrets.
Leyan and Puff got picked off by TES in the 12th minute, giving them a 4-1 kill lead and opening up the dragon, giving both teams one apiece.
IG went after their second herald of the game in the 16th minute and easily got it, dropping it in the midlane but failed to take out the midlane T1 tower. They were forced to retreat after that fight, which then opened up a second drank takedown for TES. IG were behind by a little over 1K gold at the 18th minute, but the game was still a close and tense affair.
A 5v5 broke out again in the 19th minute at the botlane, which resulted in no kills but let IG take out the final outer turret.
369 got caught defending the midlane T2 turret in the 22nd minute and was taken out, and then IG jumped on top of the baron to start it up. It was a furious fight as IG grabbed the baron buff and also took out Karsa. They then followed up to give up a second dragon in the 23rd minute. At this point TES were still ahead 4-3 in kills, but fell behind 1K. IG were also ahead 5-3 in towers taken down.
IG play at a frenetic pace, and that certainly didn’t change. They had six towers down by the 24th minute and were already pushing early into the TES base in the bot lane. Leyan fell during that exchange, but IG managed to take out the T3 tower.
IG pushed into the TES base again in the 27th minute, and IG ended up getting deleted after taking out the top lane inhibitor. This was a costly gamble, as it opened up the available baron and dragon. TheShy, Leyan, and Rookie were taken out in a fight after the dragon, which pushed the kill lead to 13-6 for TES, and they also took close to a 4K gold lead. TES took a third dragon shortly after, and the momentum was all on their side.
TES weren’t able to take down any inhibitors with the baron buff, allowing the teams to reset. 35 minutes in, TES were ahead 15-6 in kills and 6K gold. They were taking the time to patiently take out one turret at a time.
IG went after the baron in the 36th minute, but got pushed away as Karsa solo’d the dragon to give TES their fourth soul.
A 5v5 broke out in the 36th minute, which allowed TES to push out IG and take a second baron. TES then sieged the IG base in the 39th minute, and that was the end of game 1. It was an 18-7 kill and 11K gold route for TES.
The midlane battle between Rookie and knight went in the latter’s favor, as knight was a straight killer with an 8/0/7 performance. knight’s Syndra was simply terrifying later in the game, and IG found little in the way of a counter – showcased by an 83.3% kill participation rate.
Leyan and TheShy struggled mightily for IG, both dying five times.
Game 2:
Bans:
[IG] Thresh, Jarvan IV, Ornn, Leona, Yuumi
[TES] Kallista, Lucian, Varus, Maokai, Nautilus
Invictus Gaming – Blue Side
Top: TheShy(Jayce) Jungle: Leyan(Trundle) Mid: Rookie(Orianna) Bot: Puff(Senna) Support: Southwind(Tahm Kench)
Top Esports – Red Side
Top: 369(Renekton) Jungle: Karsa(Lee Sin) Mid: knight(Syndra) Bot: JackeyLove(Aphelios) Support: yuyanjia(Karma)
IG looked like they were grabbing control of game 1… until they suddenly lost control. They would have to work hard to ensure that they didn’t get punished for risk-taking.
They answered 369’s strong showing with Ornn by banning him. JackeyLove decided to take Aphelios for himself, taking that away from IG.
Trundle switched sides to IG.
Leyan grabbed first blood in the 2nd minute, taking out knight. However, by the 10th minute, TES had a huge 8-2 kill lead and were already almost 5K gold ahead.
Karsa was extremely effective with his Lee Sin, doing a good job of split pushing while the rest of his teammates kept IG active.
20 minutes in, TES were in control of the game with a 10-4 kill lead and 6K gold lead along with a 4-0 advantage in turrets downed. They grabbed the baron in the 21st minute, and TES held both baron and herald at the same time – a rare occurrence that showed their dominance.
IG looked to be on tilt, and TES sieged the IG base in the 24th minute that left barely any life left on the nexus turrets. The final siege came in the 26th minute, another resounding victory for TES. Game 2 ended with a 14-5 kill and 12K gold lead.
Karsa finished 4/0/4 while knight went 4/2/2. JackyLove led all damage dealers with 13.9K damage against his former team with a solid 3/2/3 performance.
TheShy continued to struggle again in Game 2, putting up a dismal 0/5/0 performance.
Game 3:
Bans:
[IG] Thresh, Jarvan IV, Trundle, Leona, Jayce
[TES]Kallista, Lucian, Varus, Rek Sai,Graves
Invictus Gaming – Blue Side
Top: TheShy(Mordekaiser) Jungle: Leyan(Qiyana) Mid: Rookie(Leblanc) Bot: Puff (Aphelios) Support: Southwind(Nautilus)
Top Esports – Red Side
Top: 369(Renekton) Jungle: Karsa(Lee Sin) Mid: knight (Syndra) Bot: JackeyLove(Miss Fortune) Support: yuyanjia (Alistar)
IG curiously avoided banning knight’s Syndra again, and I was left wondering about whether or not that would come back to haunt them.
JackyLove grabbed first blood by taking Southwind out in the botlane.
Rookie and knight traded deaths in the midlane in the seventh minute, and then IG won a 3v3 in the botlane to even the kill score at 3-3. TES grabbed the first dragon in the tenth minute, but were having trouble in the team fights.
IG grabbed the herald in the 11th minute, and then won a great fight to push their kill lead to 7-5 and grabbing over a 1K gold advantage.
16 minutes in, it was a tight game again. IG held a 7-6 kill lead, but the gold was even and TES had already downed one turret.
TES picked up their own herald in the 17th minute, but IG set up a side lane push that saw JackyLove and Karsa get caught out. TES quickly answered back, taking out TheShy and Leyan in the bottom lane to make the kill score 9-8.
IG grabbed a second dragon in the 21st minute, and then the 5v5 broke out in the midlane which saw the two teams trade a kill to make it 10-9 in IG’s advantage.
knight overextended in the 24th minute, but TES stole the baron even as IG pushed their kill lead to 14-10. knight again got caught in the 26th minute, getting pushed out.
IG pushed their kill lead to 18-11 in the 28th minute, and 19-11 shortly after. Rookie continually created chaos and IG pushed into the TES base in the 30th minute. They ended up having to retreat, but pushed their kill lead to 25-12 and gold advantage to 7K.
IG finished the game in the 33rd minute in convincing style. They were ahead 26-12 in kills and 10K gold. TheShy redeemed himself in this game with a 5/2/9 performance and led all damage with 29.6K. Puff had a great time with Aphelios as well, finishing 7/0/4.
Rookie also had a great performance, and his 3/4/9 came with 26.6K damage.
JackeyLove was consistently caught out by former teammate Rookie, finishing 2/6/3. He also made a crucial mistake, cancelling his own bullet time in a fight that could have helped get TES back into the game.
Game 4:
Bans:
[IG] Thresh, Varus, Aphelios, Blitzcrank, Nautilus
[TES] Kallista, Lucian, Senna, Morgana, Jayce
Invictus Gaming – Red Side
Top: TheShy() Jungle: Leyan(Trundle) Mid: Rookie(Leblanc) Bot: Puff (Caitlyn)Support: Southwind(Karma)
Top Esports – Blue Side
Top: 369(Aatrox) Jungle: Karsa(Lee Sin) Mid: knight(Syndra) Bot: JackeyLove(Ezreal) Support: yuyanjia(Leona)
IG chose to switch to the red side for game 4. IG went with a less-than common lineup, fielding Caitlyn, Karma, and Kennen to go along with Trundle and Leblanc.
After a dismal game 3, 369 picked his favored Aatrox, a champion he hadn’t lost with so far this split. JackeyLove chose to pull out the Ezreal for TES, and Yuyanjia went with Leona. Karsa and knight stayed with their Lee Sin and Syndra.
knight fell first but leyan went down shortly after to make it 1-1 in the third minute. Yuyanjia was then taken out in the botlane in a 2v2. Early on, it looked like IG wanted to pile on the pressure.
The kill score was tight by knight in the fifth minute, as he to out TheShy in the top lane.
IG grabbed the first dragon of the game in the eighth minute.
Karsa confidently went to solo the herald in the tenth minute.
Leyan got himself in trouble in the mid lane, and so did Southwind, which allowed TES to take a 4-2 kill lead. They then used their herald to take the first turret of the game in the botlane.
369’s game 3 frustration was turned into focus, as he grabbed a solo kill on TheShy in the top lane in the 13th minute.
Rookie and Leyan answered by taking down a turret in the 14th minute in the botlane. 15 minutes in, TES were ahead 5-2 in kills and 3K gold.
theyShy got himelf in trouble again in the 16th minute, pushing it to 6-2. JackeyLove then got picked off by Rookie and Puff to make it 6-3.
TES used a herald to take out the midlane outer turret, and then grabbed their second dragon of the game.
TES looked like they made a big mistake, losing knight and Karsa due to overextension, but then JackeyLove decided to lose his mind and grabbed a quadra-kill against his former team. That crucial turnaround opened up the baron for TES as well.
JackeyLove was so confident hat he was confident enough to challenge IG 1v4 – pushing them away until his teammates had time to reach. The choice to draft Ezreal was paying great dividends.
TES had a 5K gold advantage and 10-5 kill lead after 25 minutes, and they had three souls to one. They were the aggressors, having taken out all of the T1 and T2 turrets by that point.
A big fight in the midlane happened in the 29th minute, which surprisingly only saw one casualty to push the kill lead to 11-5. TES then grabbed their fourth soul of the game.
TES baited IG into challenging for the baron in the 31st minute, and took out TheShy and Leyan to make it 13-5 along with grabbing the baron buff.
They made the final push in the 31st minute, and TES finally defeated their nemesis to end the series 3-1. JackeyLove far outpaced all damage dealers with 23K in the deciding game, and there’s no doubt that his 7/1/3 performance was the best of the game.
Concluding Thoughts
IG play a high-risk style, and they were exposed in these semifinals. TES played a tighter team game, and certainly showed a lot more patience in their 3-1 victory. JackeyLove as the shot caller was a huge advantage for TES, and his brave play for the quadra-kill in game 4 must have been unbelievably satisfying.
It was a fantastic battle between knight and Rookie, but the former won out. TES will be brimming with confidence entering the finals and will eagerly be awaiting whoever wins tomorrow’s JDG vs. FPX matchup.
This series was sweet, sweet revenge for TES. They had lost the last four series they played against IG, including a semifinal last year. It’s a pretty impressive achievement for a team that’s just come together recently.
We’ll be covering tomorrow’s next semifinal match as well, so remember to visit us after the series is done!
IG will have a lot of fallout to deal with after faltering against their former whipping boys. We’ll have to see how they bounce back.
