Vici have two matches left, and they’re trying to sneak their way into the playoffs. Their current 6-8 record gives them the faintest of hopes if they finish 8-8, thanks to OMG’s loss to eStar yesterday. JDG did Vici a favor earlier today by beating Rogue Warriors and pushing them down to a 6-8 record as well.

OMG are currently in eighth place with a 7-7 record and have a tough last two games against EDG and Team WE, the latter of whom who are 6-6 and have four series left to play.

Vici were rightly favored against 13^th place Suning (1.37 to 2.61) and it was a do or die situation. A loss in today’s matchup would mathematically eliminate Vici from the LPL Spring 2020 playoffs. To add to the pressure, they needed to also win 2-0 to stay alive for the playoffs. A 2-1 series victory is not enough.

Game 1:

Vici: Cube (Ornn), Aix (Trundle), Forge (Leblanc), iBoy (Varus), Hang (Tahm Kench)

Suning: Bin (Wukong), SofM (Gragas), Angel (Galio), huanfeng (Miss Fortune), SwordArt (Taric)

It was a close game by the 16^th minute, with Vici holding a 2K gold lead, ahead two towers to one, and having grabbed one of the other souls – even while being behind 2-1 in kills.

Vici then grabbed their second dragon of the game while also taking SwordArt out, following that up by trading Forge and iBoy for SwordArt, huanfeng, and SofM along with taking a third tower. The kill lead flipped to 5-4 for Vici at this point.

Vici won another 5v5 in the mid lane shortly after, taking advantage of bad positioning by Suning to eliminate Bin and SwordArt to push the lead to 7-4. Their gold lead started to go above 4K at the 22^nd minute.

It was all Vici at the 23^rd minute as they took down their third dragon of the game. They grabbed their fourth dragon in the 29^th minute, with Forge taking advantage of Suning’s lack of CC and using his Leblanc to bully them to push the lead to 11-6.

Suning missed on key ultimates in a 5v5 in the 32^nd minute, preventing themselves from getting any kills to get back in the fight. A triple cloud soul also made life much easier for Vici.

SofM was just not having a great game, and got wrecked by Forge again in the 34^th minute for a 12-6 score. Suning were able to take forge down, but that didn’t prevent Vici from pushing the kill lead further to 14-7.

Suning had a huge moment at the elder dragon, though, taking out Aix and also grabbing the elder buff. Suning followed it up by taking out Aix and Forge in the 38^th minute and then taking the Baron down.

Now the game was up for grabs again, with Vici only ahead by 4 kills and 3K gold in the 40^th minute.

Forge wisely used a distraction from his teammates in the mid lane to solo his way into the bot lane to take out the last turret along with the inhibitor.

Vici started the fight at the elder dragon in the 42^nd minute, as Forge again used the distraction to push into the mid lane to take out the inhibitor. Hang went down for Vici, but they took out Bin, SofM, huanfeng, and SwordArt along with a steal on the dragon before going on to close out the exciting game in the 44^th minute with a 19-12 kill lead and 5K gold advantage.

Forge was the heavy hand in the game, putting out 25K damage in a 9/4/2 performance. He didn’t play perfectly, getting caught out a few times, but his aggression really helped Vici maintain enough pressure to win. iBoy did a phenomenal 42.5K damage for Vici in a 3/2/11 performance, while Suning’s huanfeng led all players with 46.3K while finishing 4/3/5.

Game 2:

Vici: Cube (Ornn), Aix (Rek Sai), Forge (Azir), iBoy (Varus), Hang (Tahm Kench)

Suning: Bin (Wukong), SofM (Trundle), Angel (Corki), huanfeng (Miss Fortune), SwordArt (Braum)

Vici may have won, but they certainly made mistakes that were almost punished.

It didn’t take long to see the first team fight. Suning saw them themselves lose huanfeng and SwordArt in the second minute, with a thousand gold lead already in place for Vici along with a 2-0 kill lead.

Hung and iBoy maintained good pressure for Vici in the bot lane, grabbing their first plate in the fifth minute while pinning SwordArt and SofM. However, they found themselves in a 3v1 in the sixth minute as Hang went down to huanfeng.

Suning also grabbed the first dragon and got themselves an infernal soul.

Bin and Angel helped flip the kill lead to 3-2 for Suning in the eighth minute, taking out Aix and Forge. Bin got another kill in the top lane a couple of minutes later, taking out Cube in the top lane.

Huanfeng made a big mistake, in the mid lane in the 13^th minute, which saw him taken out and opened the opportunity for Vici to get a cloud soul.

At the 15-minute mark, the score was 4-3 with Suning ahead, while the gold was just about even. Suning picked off iBoy and Hang in the middle lane, pushing their lead to 6-3 and their gold lead jumped to close to 2K.

The 18^th minute saw Suning take their second dragon and the ocean soul.

It was quiet for a while, with both sides poking out but avoiding major engagements. Hang fell near the dragon in the 23^rd minute, which gave Suning a 7-3 kill lead and allowed them to then pick up a second ocean soul.

It didn’t look for Vici in the 25^th minute, as they couldn’t win any team fights, and their faint playoff hopes were looking like they were going to be dashed.

Vici went for the Baron in the 26^th minute, and were successful. Hang again sacrificed himself to help the rest of Vici escape.

The two teams traded inhibitor towers in the 28^th minute, with huanfeng split pushing for Suning while Vici grabbed the mid lane.

Suning pushed for the dragon and a third cloud soul, but Aix miraculously managed to pull off the steal as his team also survived the fight.

30 minutes in, Suning were ahead 8-3 in kill ands 2K in gold. A massive fight broke out in the mid lane and Suning took out Aix and iBoy while losing SofM for a 10-4 kill lead.

Forge and SofM traded for an 11-5 score. The big fight broke out at the baron, with Angel and Bin leading a charge that deleted all of Vici. It ended shortly after that with Suning ahead 17-5 in kill and 8K gold. That was all she wrote for Vici’s playoff push.

iBoy led all damage with 32.4K in a losing 2/2/3 performance.

Angel went 5/0/8 and had 27.9K damage for Suning, while teammate huanfeng went 7/2/4 with 22.2K damage,

Game 3:

Vici: Cube (Sett), Aix (Elise), Forge (Silas), iBoy (Varus), Hang (Tahm Kench)

Suning: Bin (Renekton), SofM (Lee Sin), Angel (SofM), huanfeng (Miss Fortune), SwordArt (Braum)

The game 2 loss removed Vici from playoff contention, so there was only pride left to play for.

Vici grabbed the first dragon in the eighth minute, but by that point it was still dead even between teams on the scoreboard.

The first team fight ended in the 10^th minute and ended with a 2-1 kill lead for Suning, along with a herald.

Suning took a dragon and the infernal soul in the 13^th minute, but had a disastrous team fight that saw Vici take out huanfeng, SwordArt, and Bin for a 4-2 lead.

Forge pulled off a victory in a 2v1 against SofM and Bin, pushing Vici’s kill lead to 5-2. Suning answered by taking their second dragon in the 19^th minute and cutting the kill lead to 5-4.

Suning took their third dragon of the game in the 24^th minute, and traded one kill for five while deleting Vici. They took down the baron right after.

Suning pushed hard into the mid lane, taking out the inhibitor and also getting themselves four more kills while only losing SofM for a 15-7 kill lead and a 7K gold lead.

All of Vici went down again in the 30^th minute, finalizing the comeback victory of Suning. It was all about team play, with three Suning players reaching double digit assists, and the other two grabbing eight and nine.