Game 3 of the LoL World Championship Quarterfinals - Team WE vs. CLG.eu

Finally!

The last game of the Quarterfinals saw Team World Elite looking to come back after being narrowly defeated by Counter-Logic Gaming Europe in a 61 minute game 2.  Indeed, WE needed a major resurgence as CLG.eu was showing strong dominance in the multiple remake matches during the connectivity issues last Saturday, arguably “beating” WE twice before the disconnects.

For two teams known for holding out until the late game, WE and CLG.eu went very aggressive from the get go.

Both opened by stealing the others blue buff from the jungle, getting into minor skirmishes in the process.  Hoping to go for immediate pressure, WE pulled a lane swap by sending Leona and Corki top to take on a solo Jayce.  The strategy paid off, as a level 4 tower dive with the help of a backdoor Maokai allowed WeiXiao to pick up first blood on Wickd at the 5 minute mark.

With a huge creep wave and 3 potential threats knocking at top tower, CLG.eu jungler Snoopeh had no choice but to cover the lane – taking pressure out of the jungle and allowing WE to know exactly where he was on the map.  The Leona/Corki/Maokai combo quickly took advantage of the situation, once again diving the top tower and picking up WE’s second kill before the 6 minute mark.  However, this play came at a price as turret damage took Fzzf’s Leona extremely low on health.  Seizing the opportunity, Froggen retaliated with a Karthus ult, picking up CLG.eu’s first kill of the match.

Due to the early aggression, WeiXiao now had a huge advantage over Wickd in top lane.  WE proceeded to straight bully that entire side of the map, calling for another blue steal as soon as it was up.  Trying to gain vision, Snoopeh popped in to place a ward only to be blown up by 4 WE members lying in wait.  An aggressive push in bottom lane allowed CLG.eu to stop some of the bleeding as Yellowpete took down Olaf, but the victory was short lived.  Not soon after, the terrible trio up top dove a third time onto Jayce at the tower and secured yet another kill.  Trying to salvage a bad situation, Wickd was able to focus down and kill Leona with the help from the tower before falling himself.

CLG.eu countered the top lane aggression by picking up dragon uncontested close to the 9 minute mark.  With the top tower now gone, WE implements another lane swap, sending Leona and Corki back to bot.  However, with such an early tower destroyed Wickd essentially received a free farming lane which would allow him to catch back up in gold.

An extremely aggressive dive from Leona on to Yellowpete takes Kog’Maw down, but not before Krepo is able to get his Nunu ultimate off.  Combined with the turret shots, the Kog’Maw passive, and a Karthus ult from Froggen CLG.eu turns it into a 1 for 1 exchange.  But there is no fear in Fzzf; without hesitation he dives Yellowpete at the bot tower yet again, allowing Maokai, Corki, and a waiting Vladimir to swarm the lane, picking up two more kills and a second tower near the 15 minute mark.

As WE move to take blue buff and contest Dragon, Wickd pushes up bottom lane like there’s no tomorrow.  Caught way out of position, Maokai and Corki come down to pick up what looks to be an easy kill.  However, Wickd is instead able to perfectly flash bait the two a aggressors just long enough for Snoopeh to enter ambush the duo with Skarner.  The tables immediately turn as CLG.eu get the kill on Corki and pick up an uncontested dragon.

Looking to bounce back, a 3 man gank is called mid lane as CLG.eu take the opportunity to push further up top.  Baiting an unsuspecting Froggen, Misaya’s Vladimir quickly counters with Leona and Maokai to melt Karthus.  Yet even before the gank was happening, CLG.eu sensed something wasn’t right and began collapsing around mid lane.  This in turn led to a major team fight in which – with the help of their turret – CLG.eu keeps at an even 3 for 3 exchange.

The two teams would not meet each other again until nearly 10 minutes later, at the 28 minute mark.

Aggressive to take back the map advantage, WE focus on destroying another top lane turret.  Before they’re able to take it out completely, CLG.eu collapse in from the jungle and force an all out 5v5.  The Nunu ult from Krepo combined with Froggen’s defile quickly drains all of WE, dropping health pools around the halfway mark.  Misaya stops the bleeding by picking up the double kill on Karthus and Nunu, but can do nothing against Froggen’s ult.

With a now severely weakened team, WE gets cleaned up one by one as CLG.eu score the ace, pick up an uncontested Baron, and take the lead for the first time in the game.

Buff in hand, the European team continues clearing out turrets until the 36 minute mark.  Knowing WE has no choice but to defend, CLG.eu force their opponent out with another Baron attempt.  By allowing WE to gather outside over the Baron wall, Krepo, Wickd, and Yellowpete are able to range focus down the team and have Froggen pick up the kill on Maokai.  Taking the second Baron kill, CLG.eu press on to WE’s inhibitor.

In a last ditch effort, WE try a 5v5 engage at their last remaining base tower.  Unfortunately by this point it’s too little too late; CLG.eu manage to burst down the Chinese team and nearly pick up a second ace before taking another inhibitor.  Extremely cautious, CLG.eu decide to back off and secure buffs before the final push minutes later.  With nowhere to hide, WE initiate another team fight at the top inhibitor, but simply cannot out damage the collective AoE of their opponent.    After the 4 for 1 exchange, CLG.eu move on to take the nexus.

CLG.eu wins game 3 with a combined score of 22/15/63, 10 structures taken and a 10k gold lead.