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The final match of Week 5, Day 4 in the League of Legends Pro League saw a rematch of last season's Gauntlet for the third seed at the 2016 World Championship. This time, Team WE (6-2, 13-6 match record) took down I May (4-4, 8-10) to close out Sunday's action in Shanghai, China.
Team WE took control of Game 1 early on, taking a couple of towers and kills before 15 minutes and giving the Rift Herald buff to mid laner Su "xiye" Han-Wei's Karma. Going on a mid-game rampage, WE barreled down the bottom lane to take five kills, two turrets and the inhibitor as they were firmly in control. Not willing to roll over and die, I May came firing back with a 5-for-1 ace in the top lane on the back of mid laner Kang "Athena" Ha-woon's quadrakill on Vladimir. The next 10 minutes were filled with fiestas as Team WE struggled to push further into I May's defenses despite securing two Baron kills. I May threatened to make the comeback a reality by winning consecutive teamfights in the bottom lane 4-for-1 with an exposed Nexus, even taking a late gold lead, but heroics from AD carry Jin "Mystic" Seong-jun's Ezreal, who dealt a game-high 91,600 damage and earned a 13/4/6 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) for 86 percent kill participation, stopped I May from finishing the Nexus as WE finally finished the game in 49 stress-fueled minutes.
After a heart-stopping Game 1, the magic seemed to disappear; the spark of fight left in I May fizzled out as subs took to the field against a kill-hungry Team WE. Diving two turrets in mid to give xiye's Jayce first blood at nine minutes, Team WE were extremely clean in the early game, winning skirmishes with consistent ease. After a fight in the middle lane went 4-for-1 in WE's favor, there was nothing I May could do to stop Team WE, who were powered by xiye's massive poke damage. Pushing through the bottom lane while taking kills, WE sieged incredibly well to crack open IM's base, where xiye earned some of his game-high 17,400 damage and flawless 6/0/3 KDA.
Team WE continue to march down the warpath with a matchup against a struggling LGD Gaming on Thursday at 7:00 a.m ET, while I May will look to shake off this loss against NewBee on Friday at 4:00 a.m ET.