Counter Logic Gaming took on Phoenix1 in Week 4, Day 3 of the North American League of Legends Championship Series on Sunday. In a back-and-forth series, CLG emerged from Los Angeles, CA with a 2-1 series win.
CLG came out of the gate swinging, with Zaqueri "Aphromoo" Black's Thresh finding picks to put CLG ahead in the early-mid game. While P1 snuck a Baron kill at 25 minutes, CLG continued to dominate teamfights with Darshan "Darshan" Upadhyaha's Maokai disrupting P1's backline while Aphromoo found several clutch picks with Death Sentences, en route to a 3/1/14 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) for 77 percent kill participation. P1 threatened to come back in the late game, but CLG held them off, winning a final 3-for-0 teamfight around Baron to secure the Game 1 win in 45:30.
P1 came firing back in Game 2, rising from the ashes as No "Arrow" Dong-hyeon's Varus picked up first blood on Aphromoo's Karma just before eight minutes. Jungler Rami "Inori" Charagh had a huge game on Kha'Zix, picking up kills across the map throughout the early-mid game. CLG looked to mount a comeback of their own when AD Carry Trevor "Stixxay" Hayes stole the Baron kill with a Varus Piercing Arrow, but P1 responded with a 4-for-0 teamfight win at the 24-minute mark. Inori was huge for P1 throughout the game, earning a 12/1/10 KDA for 88 percent kill participation, assassinating CLG's duo lane to set up a final P1 push to win Game 2 in 35 minutes.
Emotions were running high in Game 3 as CLG struck first with Jake "Xmithie" Puchero's Rengar picking up first blood on Inori's Kha'Zix in a 3-for-0 fight that went for CLG at 13 minutes. Inori would find several kills subsequently, however, as the game remained close well into the mid game. The longer the game went, the more damage Darshan's Gangplank did, scaling well into the late game as he dealt a whopping 42,000 damage to enemy champions. After a P1 Baron attempt gave CLG a 5-for-0 ace at 37 minutes, CLG took a 5-for-1 ace to close out the game in 44 minutes to secure the 2-1 series win.