Counter Logic Gaming win the the first series of the 2017 North American Summer Split 2-1 against Spring Split runner up Cloud9.

Game one went Cloud9’s way as Dardoch struggled to focus on objectives getting caught out frequently leading to C9 picking up a large early gold lead. C9 were able to capitalize on this lead thanks to Sneaky’s Varus whose CC helped orchestrate many of the team’s midgame picks.

Counter Logic Gaming were not deterred, however, going into game two picking a better teamfight composition and playing it perfectly. Despite C9 getting out to an early lead, CLG’s constant objective focus and effective map warding allowed then to consistently engage on Cloud9 with Huhi’s Orianna Shockwaves doing huge amounts of damage every fight.

The effective focus on objectives for Counter Logic Gaming continued into game three as they took four dragons and an early game Baron — thanks in part to Huhi’s fantastic Aurelion Sol positioning in teamfights. These objectives helped turn the tide from an early deficit to a significant lead as they slowly managed to close the game and the series taking the first win of the NA LCS Summer Split.

While all eyes going into the series were on new CLG jungler Dardoch, the star of the series for Counter Logic Gaming was Huhi who, after the first game, had spectacular positioning and managed to push the team forward through every teamfight in the series.

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9:13 pm ET — CLG continue to push into the C9 base but the defenses are strong as they fail to take the Nexus after three attempts. CLG still has a gold lead, but at 52 minutes it doesn’t matter much anymore.

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8:57 pm ET — A fantastic Ashe Arrow picks off Stixxay, but CLG fight back and wind up with much better teamfight mechanics than C9 winning another fight and taking the mid inhibitor.

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8:55 pm ET — Both teams miss all their engage, but CLG chases C9 down anyway grabbing 4 kills and another Baron.

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8:51 pm ET — CLG use their Baron lead well and take a slight gold lead.

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8:48 pm ET — CLG, despite a slight gold disadvantage, sneaks are Baron out of nowhere.

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8:40 pm ET — CLG take Rift Herald, use it to clear the midtower then C9 take it down immediately. Despite their tower lead, CLG are still down almost 1k gold.

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8:32 pm ET — CLG attempt to take first dragon and have it stolen by the strangest possible steal as Contractz’s Hunter’s Talisman burn takes the Infernal drake.

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8:21 pm ET — Pick and Ban Game 3

CLG look to be going largely for comfort champions, though they make for a pretty solid teamfight composition. Cloud9 on the other hand are going to be looking for some solid picks with Ashe arrows and Ahri Charms.

C9: Kennen, Kha’Zix, Ahri, Ashe, Lulu

Bans: Shen, Leblanc, Xayah, Zyra, Syndra

CLG: Gragas, Lee Sin, Aurelion Sol, Caitlyn, Bard

Bans: Zac, Elise, Galio, Olaf, Ivern

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8:02 pm ET — CLG counters a strong C9 engage thanks to a great Xayah ult by Stixxay, score an teamfight win and close the game.

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7:54 pm ET — CLG give away a few picks in a row but the Rakan Orianna combo combines for a few kills that lead to the middle inhibitor.

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7:44 pm ET — Dardoch shows bottom lane and C9 immediately take Baron and take a tower gaining a gold lead of about 500 gold.

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7:42 pm ET — 20 minutes into the game and CLG have a slight lead of about 1k in gold as well as 2-1 in towers and 5-4 in kills.

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7:20 pm ET — Pick and Ban Game 2

Ray is going to be very frightening on Jarvan thanks to his incredible damage especially against Renekton. Cloud9 will looks to capitalize on that and dominate skirmishes. Counter Logic Gaming on the other hand is going to have to look for solid teamfights and combo stuns from Xayah with Orianna Shockwaves.

CLG: Renekton, Gragas, Orianna, Xayah, Rakan

Bans: Elise, Olaf, Shen, Fiora, Leblanc

Cloud9: Jarvan Iv, Lee Sin, Syndra, Varus, Lulu

Bans: Zac, Galio, Kennen, Kha’Zix, Ivern

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6:58 pm ET — Another overly aggressive dragon fights leads to CLG losing 4 people and their base as C9 take a dominant win in game 1.

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6:50 pm ET — CLG commit to a Dragon fight with all 5 members against 3 of Cloud9 and lose 3 people for only one kills. Allowing C9 to take 3 turrets as a result.

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6:36 pm ET — After a few skirmishes Cloud9 are up 3-1 in kills and almost 1k in gold, however, no turrets have gone down yet.

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6:27 pm ET — Speaking of roaming aphromoo comes into mid from bottom lane and along with Huhi helps Dardoch get first blood!

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6:20 pm ET — Pick and Ban Game 1

C9 are going to be looking for some solid team fights and a good early game from Olaf. Meanwhile, CLG is going to have to have a great early game thanks to their roam heavy composition.

C9: Galio, Olaf, Orianna, Varus, Lulu

Bans: Shen, Leblanc, Fiora, Syndra, Jayce

CLG: Gragas, Lee Sin, Taliyah, Cailtyn, Karma

Bans: Zac, Elise, Ivern, Jarvan IV, Cassiopeia

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6:10 pm ET — Cloud9 will be starting Ray. Last split Ray was all about the carries for Cloud9 so let’s see if the pattern will continue into this split.

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The North American LCS 2017 Summer Split kicks off Friday with Spring Split runner-up Cloud9 facing off against quarter-finalist Counter Logic Gaming.

When the two teams met in the Spring Split they traded series wins 1-1 with both series ending in close third games. Since those games, however, Counter Logic Gaming has altered its core identity trading out their consistent rarely electric former jungler Jake “Xmithie” Puchero for Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett, one of the league’s best and most aggressive junglers.

The key to success for CLG this split will be whether or not Hartnett will workout with the team’s well established chemistry. After a year and a half of playing together, Counter Logic Gaming is one of the most consistent rosters in the league, opening up huge questions as to how Hartnett’s personality will gel with the team.

Not to mention his antithetical style to that of Puchero, who often preferred to a much more utility focused role compared to the carries that Hartnett has made his claim to fame. While, both the team and Hartnett will want to come out of the gate hot, it’s likely that this series could be the beginning of a long learning process for both.

On the Cloud9 side, little has changed from last split. This is both a good and bad thing as they did well in the Spring, but ultimately came up one game shy of winning the league. The good news for C9 is that their Rookie jungler Juan “Contractz” Garcia, who proved to already be a player more than capable of performing on the LCS stage will come into the split a smarter and more experience player who has likely gotten even better over the off-season.

Watching these two hyper aggressive junglers is going to be the series’ main event as both look to prove that they will start the season in the best spot. During the Spring Split, Hartnett had the highest Solokills of any jungler at 22 with Garcia right behind him in second place at 19 which should mean a huge focus on invades and frequent fights out of these teams’ most exciting players.

Rosters

Cloud9

• Eonyoung “Impact” Jeong and Ji “Ray” Won Jeon
• Juan “Contractz” Garcia
• Nicolaj Jensen
• Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi
• Andy “Smoothie” Ta

Counter Logic Gaming

• Darshan Upadhyaya
• Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett
• Jaehyun “Huhi” Choi
• Trevor “Stixxay” Hayes
• Zaqueri “aphromoo” Black

How to watch

The series will be a best-of-three and can be watched on Twitch and lolesports and should start around 6:15 pm ET.