With nine weeks completed and just one to go, the LMS Spring Split is winding down its round robin phase. Two clear leaders have emerged, with Flash Wolves sitting atop the standings with a 12-0 scoreline and ahq e-Sports Club comfortably in second with a 10-2 record.
Flash Wolves dominant
Flash Wolves all but secured first place with their 2-0 series win against ahq back in the sixth week of the campaign.
In the opening game Flash Wolves’ star Mid laner Maple stole the show with his incredible LeBlanc play. While the clash started slowly for both sides, a fight for Dragon on 17 minutes led to First Blood and saw Maple kill the Cloud Drake. This resulted in Flash Wolves adopting a strategy of centering their play around the Mid laner, methodically coordinating around the map and punishing ahq for any minor mistake.
After slowly building their gold lead, FW secured the elder dragon buff and pushed into ahq’s base. Now in the ascendancy, Flash Wolves only gave up one kill and two turrets on their way to a 13-1 39-minute victory, with Maple ending the game with 8 kills, 0 deaths and 4 assists.
While Game Two was more competitive early-on, the mid game abilities of FW were too much for ahq to overcome. Ahq picked up First Blood after Flash Wolves’ Jungler Karsa made an overly aggressive move into ahq’s red-side jungle. From there, however, it was all downhill for ahq as Flash Wolves consistently secured objectives such as first turret and multiple dragons to regain control of the game.
Flash Wolves were down 3 kills to 2 before pulling off 12 kills without reply over the subsequent 20 minutes to win the encounter in 33 minutes. Maple was once again at the forefront for Flash Wolves, ending the game 7-1-1 on Syndra.
The most dangerous aspect of Flash Wolves’ game is their willingness to play standard “meta” picks every time. It’s incredibly easy to predict which champions Flash Wolves will select as they consistently play the same ones, but then no gimmicks are needed when the team has incredible mid to late game shot calling to guide them beyond any early game stumbles.
Consequently, Flash Wolves are not only a threat to win the LMS, but could also make significant noise at the World Championships later this year.
Third place on the line
One of the closest battles in the standings coming into Week 10 is the one for third place, with J Team at 8-4 closely followed by Machi 17 on 8-5. After J Team took the first meeting between these teams back in Week One, Machi got their revenge in the rematch in a close series five weeks later.
Game One opened up at such a slow pace that an incredibly rare event occurred; the baron buff was taken before First Blood was achieved. On 22 minutes Machi sneaked the baron, setting up the First Blood just three minutes later onto J Team’s Jungler Breaker. The baron buff was all Machi needed as they slowly picked up kill after kill, leading to turrets and inhibitors falling in their favour.
Machi and J Team evenly matched
Game One was the cleanest of the series, with Machi securing a 9-1 victory in 35 minutes, but Game Two was a fairly close affair until Machi made a devastating mistake in the top lane. In their pursuit of kills, Machi lacked coordination and became separated, giving J Team an advantage. Picking up three kills, J Team took the lead and never looked back as they secured the baron shortly after and won a series of fights before pushing into Machi’s base. In the end, J Team claimed the victory in 35 minutes with more than twice the kill total of their rivals (20-9).
Game Three was more kill heavy than the previous two, and a closer game to boot. J Team and Machi battled for 30 minutes while keeping the kill score within 1-2 kills until Machi finally broke through. After getting two kills with none in return, Machi turned to the catalyst of their previous victory; the baron. Machi secured the baron easily as J Team’s Jungler Breaker was one of the members previously killed, giving them the first real advantage in the game. J Team made a desperation engage in the mid lane but it backfired horribly, giving Machi the ace while losing no one, allowing them to secure a 23-14 win on the 33-minute mark.
It’s now on to Week 10 for the teams and while who finishes third is still to be decided, the four teams to advance to the playoffs are already confirmed, with Flash Wolves, ahq, J Team and Machi 17 due to battle it out for the opportunity to move on to the 2017 Mid-Season Invitational.
