IEM Katowice: Day 3 Recap

[Finals] Team SoloMid vs Team WE

Game 1

WE came into this match strong after taking down the GE Tigers in the semi-finals.  TSM looked to have their work cut out for them.  WE was able to secure a few comfort picks in Champion Select, and around 24 minutes it looked like the game was getting a little too late for TSM to be able to turn things around.  WE found a few good picks and secured a baron, then used the buff to push up the mid lane and take an inhibitor (and three kills besides).  Just when it looked like things were looking like they were going to inevitably close out in favor of WE--as TSM's mid inhibitor tower fell at 35 minutes--TSM turned up the pressure and got a 4 for 1.  With this new found momentum, objectives started to fall like dominoes.  The dragon fell first, then tier 2 tower first in the mid lane, followed by the mid inhibitor tower and inhibitor, along with a 3 for 0.  TSM turned back to pick up baron for a little bit of extra pushing power, and came back strong with a push up the mid lane.  WE put up a good fight and took down 3, but TSM answered with an Ace and closed out the game at 41 minutes.  7-7 towers, 19-15 kills.  Notable player of the game: Dyrus on Rumble, who really turned his game a notch for the IEM Grand Finals and landed some perfect Equalizers.

Game 2

Things started to heat up early when WE caught Dyrus roaming down the jungle behind the baron pit.  It looked like things might be off to a bad start for TSM, but instead of retreating and regrouping TSM took advantage of the positional information and capitalized on the situation with two more kills.  WE managed to pick up a few more kills off of TSM, but TSM didn't let that get to them--instead, they answered deaths with turret kills, first in the mid lane, next in the bot lane.  TSM took a four minute break from pushing objectives and netted six kills, widening their gold lead to 6k.  WE didn't have anything to answer back with--in the next 12 minutes of the game, they were able to bring down two towers, while TSM gutted their base and eventually secured an Ace, which lead to a surrender just under 30 minutes.  9-2 towers, 24-10 kills.  Notable player of the game: Bjergsen on Lissandra, who went 10/0/9 and frequently forced WE into tight situations.

Game 3

Team SoloMid turned up the aggressive pressure right out of the gate, pushing down the top turret and securing a kill on Aluka (Hecarim) in the first four minutes.  Team WE seemed to demoralized with the last two games--they tried to make things happen at various points, pushing for picks and team fights throughout, but they were never able to secure more than two kills at any particular time.  On the other hand, Team SoloMid pressed advantages hard, bringing back the level of play that we expected from TSM as a world class team--an aggressive early game, dynamic objective control, and complete domination of their opponents.  In fact, WE was not able to secure a single objective the whole game--not so much as a dragon or a tower.  WE surrendered just under 27 minutes.  8-0 towers, 25-7 kills.  Notable player of the game: Santorin on Nidalee, who was all over the map making things happen (and securing the first kill on Hecarim).