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7:12 p.m. ET -- After a completely ridiculous game, Team SoloMid have taken down Immortals in Game 4 to win the NA LCS Summer Split and advance to Worlds as the number 1 seed.
7:06 p.m. ET -- Both teams just keep dying. We have traded the last six or seven team fights and both teams are basically even. TSM is outscaling and should probably win soon.
6:57 p.m. ET — IMT do the same thing ... again. Over-extending during a push giving TSM the opportunity to get an ace and a Baron and bring the gold within 3k.
6:53 p.m. ET -- IMT’s push goes well, right up until it doesn’t. Trying a little too hard to push the middle inhibitor, TSM engage and pick up their first 3 kills of the game, giving them a bit of life in a mostly hopeless game.
6:48 p.m. ET — IMT have a fantastic tower dive that leads to 3 kills and a tower moving their gold lead to almost 10k.
6:44 p.m. ET — After 17 minutes Immortals are out to a 4-0 lead on kills a 4k gold lead and up 2-0 on towers.
6:20 p.m. ET — Pick and Ban Game 4
Both teams are going to be looking for team fights with IMT favoring the mid game and TSM having the better late game.
IMT: Rumble, Sejuani, Lucian, Xayah, Alistar
Bans: Orianna, Jarvan IV, Syndra, Cho’Gath, Maokai
TSM: Gnar, Gragas, Corki, Tristana, Rakan
Bans: Kalista, Kog’Maw, Cassiopeia, Kennen, Elise
6:02 p.m. ET — TSM take the advantage handed to them by IMT and turn it into a victory in game 3, taking a lead in the series at 2-1.
5:57 p.m. ET — A risky Elder Dragon from IMT winds up coming back to bite them as TSM steal away the dragon and win the fight that ensues. This helps TSM take down an inhibitor, a Nexus tower and Baron, completely swinging the balance of power in game 4.
5:46 p.m. ET — A nearly 6 minute long Baron dance leads to IMT getting Baron, but TSM taking two kills and a tower.
5:40 p.m. ET — IMT have a pretty secure handle on the game, but team fights are still incredibly close. Thanks to that, we are getting a lot of split pushing and passive wave clear.
5:32 p.m. ET — After 13 minutes without kills we finally have a couple as each team gets one then takes a tower.
5:27 p.m. ET — In an, otherwise extremely slow, early game, IMT takes first tower thanks to some creative warding from Xmithie.
5:11 p.m. ET — Pick and Ban Game 3
There aren’t a lot of differences in this composition from Immortals. It’s still all about protecting their mid and top AD Carries and helping them scale into the game. TSM are going to match it with a slightly more mobile hyper carry bottom lane, and a little less protection for their side.
TSM: Cho’Gath, Gragas, Orianna, Tristana, Alistar
Bans: Cassiopeia, Lucian, Kog’Maw, Sejuani, Morgana
IMT: Shen, Jarvan IV, Corki, Jinx, Tahm Kench
Bans: Kalista, Taliyah, Rakan, Syndra, Gnar
4:57 p.m. ET — Gordon Hayward is here on the analyst desk and laying down some analysis.
4:53 p.m. ET — After two great team fights in a row, IMT take down the Nexus and even the series up 1-1!
4:48 p.m. ET — Despite IMT’s lead, TSM manage to counter their tower push and pull out a strong team fight that helps them retain a bit of hope.
4:44 p.m. ET — IMT take a huge fight in the TSM jungle and it couldn’t go much better, taking down 4-1 and taking Baron at 24 minutes.
4:38 p.m. ET — The last two fights haven’t quite gone TSM’s way and now they are off to an early gold deficit, which could very easily be a death sentence against the strong scaling composition of IMT.
4:31 p.m. ET — IMT go for the same play a second time, but TSM is ready for it this time, countering the dive and picked up 3 kills for 1.
4:25 p.m. ET — A perfectly executed tower dive top by Immortals nets them first blood for Xmithie.
4:13 p.m. ET — Pick and Ban Game 2
Immortals banned six mid game champions and Bjerg just went Kassadin. It seems like this is a challenger by IMT to force him onto the champion. If TSM doesn’t manage a win by about 30 minutes, things are going to get very, very difficult for them, thanks to IMT’s hyper scaling and TSM’s early game power spikes.
IMT: Jarvan IV, Sejuani, Corki, Kog’Maw, Tahm Kench
Bans: Syndra, Taliyah, Orianna, Vladimir, Galio
TSM: Renekton, Zac, Kassadin, Xayah, Rakan
Bans: Kalista, Luciam, Cassiopeia, Alistar, Gragas
3:58 p.m. ET — TSM took full advantage of IMT’s mistakes and take game 1 with a massive gold lead and relatively little trouble.
3:52 p.m. ET — The fight in mid lane was all TSM needed to take a commanding lead of the game. The Baron they took lead them to take almost 2 inhibitors and an almost 10k gold lead.
3:49 p.m. ET — TSM win a massive fight in mid lane and pick up Baron at 29 minutes, thanks to Xayah’s burst damage.
3:34 p.m. ET — Both teams pick up a few more kills with the kill score at 5-2 at 15 minutes. But all the action has been centered on the bottom lane.
3:30 p.m. ET — Team SoloMid get first blood in the series with an excellent engage bottom lane by Biofrost with Doublelift an Svenskeren right behind him to follow up.
3:27 p.m. ET — Summoners have been burned by both teams in all three lanes thanks to some aggressive play, but no kills at about 8 minutes into the game.
3:14 p.m. ET — Pick and Ban Game 1
TSM have picked a fairly strong team fight composition with a bit of pick potential for Syndra. If they get an early lead, they’ll aim to fight constantly, while an early deficit would force them to rely on picks. IMT are going to be able to meet them head to head in any team fight thanks to their Tristana centered composition that should scale into the late game incredibly well.
TSM: Gnar, Gragas, Syndra, Xayah, Rakan
Bans: Cassiopeia, Lucian, Kog’Maw, Sejuani, Alistar
IMT: Cho’Gath, Jarvan IV, Galio, Tristana, Bard
Bans: Zac, Kalista, Taliyah, Orianna, Corki
The 2017 NA LCS Playoffs come to an end on Sunday when Team SoloMid take on Immortals in the Finals.
TSM entered playoffs with the number one seed after finishing first place in the Summer Split. In their semifinal match against Team Dignitas, TSM played two incredibly dominant games in the first and second match of the series, before a fairly sloppy game three, a loss, and game four, where they finished out their win in the series. The crux of the team is their team fight prowess and the combined carry threat of mid laner Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg and AD Carry Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng.
Meanwhile, Immortals came into playoffs as the number two seed, with, arguably, a more consistent split than Team Solomid. Immortals dropped a couple of series to top teams during the split, including one to TSM, but looked incredibly strong throughout. In their one playoff series, it has been a bit of a different story. Last week in the semifinals against Counter Logic Gaming, Immortals struggled to get their compositions off the ground, relying exclusively on defensive, reactionary play before simply overwhelming CLG in the late game with their teamfight mechanics and hyper carry champions.
LINEUPS
Team SoloMid
- Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell
- Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnson
- Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg
- Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng
- Vincent “Biofrost” Wang
Immortals
- Lee “Flame” Ho-jong
- Jake “Xmithie” Puchero
- Eugene “Pobelter” Park
- Sun “Cody Sun” Li Yu
- Kim “Olleh” Joo-sung
HOW TO WATCH
The TSM vs IMT series will be a best-of-five and is watchable on the NA LCS Twitch channel. It is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. ET. or at the conclusion of the EU LCS Finals