What a delight was it to be able to watch the 1st Seed from both LCK and LPL fight eachother as early as Quarterfinals. HLE were definitely the favorites to win this match so let's dive in to see if they were as strong as people deemed them to be or if BLG had an ace under their sleeves.
Game 1
HLE first picks Sylas in an effort to put knight in an inferior matchup; His Ahri pick was predicted securing a good lane for Zeka. This is followed by Poppy and Gnar making this an example of perfect drafting. BLG does not do a bad job getting a very well rounded team composition. HLE can still easily counter everything they want to do off these champions alone however. Whether BLG wins this game or not will heavily influence the outcome of the series.
Instantly as the game starts HLE invades, collapsing on BIN with the entire team. They're seeing red, diving for the First Blood, unfortunately trading one for one favouring BLG as they have gold on knight instead of an Alistar.
The lane swapped is now matched which is rare to see and it stays that way which is even rarer. BLG has incredibly strong lanes, this propels them forward with tempo as the whole team can rotate to the first Voidgrubs spawn without losing any resources on the map. This becomes a free objective and their lead is now slowly growing.
ON gets caught which stabilizes his team but might lead to them losing the next fight. Given their current disadvantages the initial Dragon is forfeit, contesting it would most likely make things worse. Voidgrubs are now the next objective, HLE must take this fight in order to stay in the game. Viper is out of mana before it even starts, it looks like a terrible fight to take but they disagree. A perfect coordination nets them 4 kills and 2 grubbs without losing a single team member.
Doran gets dove topside since contesting Dragon wasn't an option. The crossmapping continues with botlane towers being traded for Herald and toplane turrets. BLG faces a crossroads where they either fight the next Dragon or keep trading objectives by collapsing topside. HLE doesn't react instantly to their decision of pushing top. Inner Tower falls and they run all the way to bot putting pressure on dragon and defending their own Outer Turret. An incredible engage gets Peanut killed but is still not enough to keep dragon for themselves. Nevertheless an amazing play for BLG, taking away the gold lead HLE used to have.
As the late game starts taking form, BLG have another crucial decision to make if they want to win this game: target either Ezreal or Poppy when engaging. One of these will win the fight and the other will lose them the game. The standoff for Dragon begins, HLE starts the objective while BLG find space to work with. Not given a chance to even fight with the Drake being secured and all Korean players promptly evacuate.
Suddenly Knight oversteps in his jungle getting instantly caught by HLE's incredible positioning. It's now impossible to fight over Baron but the Chinese team take their chances getting a kill and desperately looking to cancel recalls to pick HLE off, reducing the amount of people with a Baron buff. Sadly there's simply no chance as the whole team safely gets away thanks to Peanut.
BLG finds yet another perfect engage onto Poppy. This was not enough to shut them down with Viper butchers them. A quick reset and they now have Dragon, Ocean Soul and swiftly ace the enemy team. BLG cannot even walk into their own jungle without getting wiped as a quick fight secures a victory for HLE.
Game 2
After losing while playing some of their best champions BLG must optimize the pick/ban phase to avoid elimination. Comfort picks were definitely a priority this Game 2 resulting in an incredibly solid composition, whereas HLE's draft will heavily revolve around Viper's Kai'Sa.
A Level 2 invade from Peanut gives his team control over topside. They then attempt a dive on Bin since the botlane swapped lanes but he shuts down this play with a well timed Flash. This vertical jungling worked to BLG's favor as XUN had much better tempo compared to Peanut. He is able to defend Bin with a countergank and get first blood off of Doran.
Peanut gets spotted starting Dragon, prompting XUN to repeat gank picking off Doran before he's able to reach his lane. This decision created a massive 1k gold lead on Bin along an uncontested capture of Voidgrubs. To add insult to injury, BLG's botlane was able to get Peanut off the Drake, leaving HLE unable to get any form of compensation. Dragon is eventually claimed by them given the considerable lead in both gold and XP on every laner.
HLE tries to fight over the next Voidgrub spawn. They should've been more patient and catchup in resources before making a play. Now BLG gets more kills and objectives, snowballing even harder. Trying to clear vision for second Dragon they now get picked off without even getting close to the river. Unable to get absolutely anything desperate plays start happening; The cost for the two kills they did manage to obtain is too steep and their grave keeps being dug deeper.
BLG seems unstoppable at this point as the fight for Soul point arrives. Both ADC's die instantly and HLE somehow takes down all key players claiming the objective for themselves. BLG wastes no time, instantly running towards Baron knowing they cannot be contested. Thanks to homeguards and available Teleports, HLE cannot make it due to them having to recall after claiming their objective.
Knight gets picked off trying to push, will this buy HLE enough time?. Kills keep being traded, managing to survive until next Dragon. The stand off begins, BLG start the engage right after securing it. HLE gave the illusion of having a chance but the lead is simply too much and BLG get their first win this series.
Game 3
Very surprising draft from both teams with picks such as Zeri for Viper and Wukong for XUN; this could easily go either way. HLE might have the edge here, they longer the game goes on the more likely this team is to find themselves in a better spot.
Once again BLG matches the lane swap with their very forward positioning putting botlane in an amazing place as Viper lost half his health and Flash when trying to enter the lane. Their tempo was very awkward since Elk was unable to transform his early laning lead into something, losing the first half of Voidgrubs. Dragon ends up traded and both sidelanes still look amazing. This prompts their botlane to look for a 2v2 fight that unfortunately HLE was expecting. Peanut and Zeka collapse on the lane, shutting them down and tipping the scales in their favor.
BLG arrives to the second half of Voidgrubs first, while unable to get more than 2 this is still very good for them since HLE won't be able to spawn Voidmites. Dragon must now be conceded, multiple members of HLE are sitting on power spikes; Herald is the same story.
Herald is used botlane taking down outer tower, but as they get close to Tier 2, Elk lands an Ashe arrow beginning a fight. BLG plays incredibly well and HLE is shut down; Zeka forced to run away with all nine tails between his legs as the lead is taken away.
Game state is very even, both teams start setting up for Dragon. Elk kickstarts the fight once again with an Ashe arrow, his team completely dominating HLE in very one sided teamfights.
Some time later Elk is killed midlane, BLG quickly reacting, catching Viper and Zeka before they can escape.
Next Dragon spawns and seems like HLE will be able to position themselves first. Unfortunately for them Elk's arrows are just too good. Zeka is stunned and the fight's outcome is decided instantly. Drake is claimed by BLG, Baron is attempted but ultimately defended. HLE has bought enough time for its players to respawn while the Chinese team is forced to recall.
HLE's team composition is heavily reliant on sidelanes which they simply cannot control in the current game state. Their options are thin as the next fight will either give them a chance to get back into the game or end up in an unwinnable scenario.
They start setting up Dragon while BLG still has total control of the map. With some really good positioning Bin seems to get caught, although barely surviving Drake's still theirs. This was not for free however, completely unable to leave this place alive. A dragon was won but too much was lost, HLE can neither defend Baron nor themselves.
Even when finding a kill on Elk there's nothing left to do this game. The team is soon aced in botlane and Nexus falls before they can respawn.
Game 4
BLG definitely made draft interesting, boldly picking Galio and Kindred. HLE could shut them down since they were able to get Gnar, Poppy and Sylas; these are champions that the players definitely love playing but also do great into their opponent's team composition.
Before given a chance to farm, four players are sent botlane by HLE to dive Bin. ON manages to rotate in time but he dies regardless. The team clearly struggled with this play, regardless Viper walks away with a lead and everything seems to have gone according to plan.
First 3 Voidgrubs are taken by BLG due to HLE using all resources to keep Peanut alive. Dragon is taken aswell but so much time had passed the second half of grubs got traded now. Fighting doesn't seem like a viable option with Galio building tank items, Kindred unable to get a single mark and the whole team lacking a gold lead. Will they be able to reach a state where these champions can deal damage before HLE becomes too strong to deal with?
First tower falls in BLG's botlane and Viper is killed in retaliation. Elk is finally catching up and Kindred gets her first mark. Herald and Dragon were able to be taken without fighting; HLE does respond by taking the toplane turret, which is then traded via using Herald botside.
We're getting further into the midgame and BLG may not be able to keep cross mapping longer, they will start being forced to fight over objectives soon. They're free to take what they please for now. HLE does have a gold lead but is patiently waiting to reach power spikes on their key players. If HLE fights when they have completed items on Sylas and Miss Fortune their chances of winning are significantly bigger.
A pick is found and XUN goes down. HLE may have used too many resources to make this happen; Baron is up and having no Teleports to work with will make botlane difficult to defend. BLG start taking dragon and it's hard to know if HLE will be able to do anything about it. Zeka had to prevent the botlane tower from falling taking away his ability to Teleport to the fight. Peanut manages to steal the drake but BLG's teamfighting was just so precise getting them 4 kills.
HLE now tries to force a fight by starting baron. BLG rotates in time, although in vain, an amazing Poppy ultimate buys the team enough time to reposition, chipping down BLG and acing them. Baron is slain putting them clear in the lead.
Standoff for Dragon begins with XUN stealing the objective this time. A beautiful teamfight breaks out with BLG coming out on top. Only 4 marks on kindred after 30 minutes, the game hangs by a thread. Some sneaky movement past the whole team lets Peanut get a pick on Elk. He survives burning all his summoners and knight dying to save his life. HLE decides to start Baron after this and BLG must buy time for knight to respawn. Bin jumps into the pit, even though he dies Baron resets creating a very tense situation. If HLE lets go of this pressure they risk losing Mountain Soul as the Dragon is only a few seconds away from spawning.
The fight finally breaks out and Elk beautifully outplays everybody, taking down almost all of HLE's players as he stayed completely unreachable regardless of his team being down a player the entire time. Both teams now have to wait to respawn as sights are set on Dragon. Fight starts as ON gets oneshot, all of HLE collapses on Elk but now they have no way of stopping XUN's Kindred. This Mountain Soul for BLG is followed by a quick rotation to claim Baron.
If Viper can be peeled by his team they stand a chance. Although it seems impossible to shut down BLG at this point. Structures are falling and they don't have the damage to kill any of BLG's players. With three inhibitors down there's simply nothing left to do but watch them advance to semifinals.
An incredible performance by BLG. The LPL aggression we know and love was in full display giving HLE no chance to approach the game slow and methodically as we know Koreans love to do. One could say they played extremely confident so they might suffer from this as they get closer to the finals.
Congratulations to everybody who guessed the winner correctly! However only one person will be awarded the 30€ prize. The winner this time was @SealPower. We will be contacting you in order to claim your prize! Keep an eye on your inbox.