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8:03 pm ET — The Baron puts Team WE on a direct path to victory as they immediately push into the Flash Wolves base and take down their Nexus.
8:01 pm ET — Team WE grab a Baron and take a 2-0 trade on fights bringing their gold lead up to 3k at 35 minutes.
7:42 pm ET — This game has been full of odd fights so far and despite having a 7-3 lead in kills FW are only up about 200 in gold.
7:26 pm ET — Flash Wolves vs Team WE Pick and Ban
Well, these comps are strange and very aggressive. WE is going to have a ton of engage which they will have to hope distracts from the Kog’Maw since they have almost no way to protect him. FW are going to be playing a super pick comp that will be able to get CC and kills from almost every champion they have.
FW: Shen, Kha’Zix, Ahri, Ashe, Tahm Kench
Bans: Malzahar, Leblanc, Karma, Varus, Vladimir
WE: Kled, Lee Sin, Fizz, Kog’Maw, Galio
Bans: Syndra, Lulu, Kennen, Zyra, Ryze
7:03 pm ET — Game over as TSM take a massive victory of TSM who had no idea what to do against the Korean team. That brings TSM to 3-5 and SKT to 7-1 on the day.
6:53 pm ET — TSM continues to lose, but the bigger problem may be that they don’t seem to have a good idea of what works and what doesn’t in Pick and Ban for their team.
That being said, 30 minutes in and SKT have grabbed Baron and have an 11k gold lead and are up 13-3 in kills and 5-1 in towers.
6:44 pm ET — TSM gets over-aggressive bottom lane for no particular reason and ends up losing two towers and three kills for it taking them from even on gold to a 4k deficit in about a minute.
6:30 pm ET — Team SoloMid vs SK Telecom T1 Pick and Ban
Sona is going to be a really solid response to the Karma and the entire idea of TSM’s protect the Caitlyn composition. The if TSM can get solid fights for Kennen ultimates they may be able to beat out the strong pick potential of SKT.
TSM: Kennen, Ivern, Syndra, Caitlyn, Karma
Bans: Twitch, Lee Sin, Rumble, Jayce, Shen
SKT: Galio, Graves, Fizz, Ashe, Sona
Bans: Leblanc, Lulu, Nami, Thresh, Ezreal
6:04 pm ET — And another massive mistake — this time it was overstaying in the GAM base — leaves G2 caught out mid and GAM is able to push into the G2 base and end the game bringing their record up to 3-5!
6:03 pm ET — G2 pull themselves back into the game a bit with an ace into a Baron.
5:48 pm ET — Well, the thing I wasn’t expecting was for G2 to suddenly stop playing around objectives but here we are. G2 have spent the last 10 minutes wandering through the jungle and poorly attempting to take objectives. All of the safe play and awareness of the dangers in GAM’s comp have gone out the window and they have given away their gold lead.
That being said, full credit to Marines for finding their footing and starting to get aggressive. They have been rewarded with a 2k gold lead.
5:42 pm ET — Marines are finally starting to make use of their assassins, but they will be paying for their passive early game for the next 20 or so minutes. It is going to make winning very hard for them.
5:22 pm ET — G2 Esports vs GIGABYTE Marines Pick and Ban
Marines are going all or nothing with their double assassin comp to stay in the hunt for the Semi-Finals. G2 are going with a safe comp with plenty of disengage, so this game is likely to be all about the early game!
G2: Nautilus, Graves, Syndra, Ashe, Zyra
Bans: Gragas, Lulu, Kennen, Shen,Leblanc
GAM: Galio, Kha’Zix, Zed, Ziggs, Malzahar
Bans: Ivern, Tahm Kench, Fiora, Fizz, Jayce
5:01 pm ET — Called it! Flash Wolves take down SK Telecom T1 in a fairly dominant game that may give whoever they face in the Semi-Finals a bit of a blueprint to future success.
5:00 pm ET — SKT have made quite a few mistakes but the real story so far this game is how effectively Flash Wolves have dictated the pace of the game against SKT. They have thrown SKT completely off-balance and are forcing them into nothing but bad decisions.
Thanks to this FW have a 7k gold lead an inhibitor down and a 12-2 kill lead.
4:46 pm ET — This is quickly becoming one of those strange games where no matter what Flash Wolves do well, they just can’t seem to find a lead. That’s just how good SKT’s macro play is.
4:38 pm ET — Let the jokes begin!!! Faker fails a flash and loses his life giving Flash Wolves a momentary gold lead that is immediately answered by SKT who take the bottom lane turret and go up about 300 gold.
4:31 pm ET — The two teams have traded kills leaving them even at 1-1, however there is an almost 1k gold difference thanks to a 30 cs lead bottom lane for SKT.
4:23 pm ET — Flash Wolves vs SK Telecom T1 Pick and Ban
SKT is playing a quasi-teamfight composition direction into a pick comp. If they manage a slight early lead heading into the 12th minute they should have enough damage to end fights quickly, other wise FW should be able to take down SKT’s individual members.
FW: Lee Sin, Fizz, Syndra, Ashe, Karma
Bans: Kennen, Twitch, Fiora, Ezreal, Ekko
SKT: Rumble, Graves, Orianna, Varus, Nami
Bans: Leblanc, Lulu, Gragas, Thresh, Caitlyn
3:58 pm ET — Team SoloMid played a little more like they were expected to earlier this tournament and made short work of GAM in the two’s seventh match of the tournament. This moves TSM up to 3rd place with a record of 3-4.
3:50 pm ET — While the game may still be fairly close, it is pretty clear that this is an entirely different TSM from the one we saw on day one against GAM.
TSM is quick and decisive making strong objective choices without getting caught in situations with no escape. If TSM are going to move on to the Semi-Finals this will have to be the version of the team that shows up.
3:35 pm ET — Team SoloMid is, for the first time in a long time, dominating the 2v2 bottom lane giving them a 4-3 lead in kills and a 2k gold lead all before ten minutes.
3:27 pm ET — Team SoloMid vs GIGABYTE Marines Pick and Ban
TSM have strong damage from three members, but are going to be very reliant on Svenskeren to create a lead for them through the games first 15 minutes. For GAM, if this game makes it to late, their picks are going to be dreadful for TSM to deal with.
TSM: Renekton, Lee Sin, Syndra, Caitlyn, Lulu
Bans: Ziggs, Gragas, Kennen, Galio, Shen
GAM: Nautilus, Graves, Leblanc, Varus, Karma
Bans: Ivern, Ezreal, Ashe, Fizz, Rumble
3:02 pm ET — Turns out, there really wasn’t much they could do. Team WE back off after the inhibitor then walk right back into the base and take the Nexus to move to 4-3 at MSI so far.
3:00 pm ET — WE take their first G2 inhibitor and it doesn’t seem like there is gonna be much G2 can do to get back into this one.
2:46 pm ET — We are back from the pause and a gank bottom lane has helped give WE the first meaningful lead of the game at 2.5k and a 4-1 lead in kills.
2:35 pm ET — We have a technical pause thanks to potential network issues! No word on when things will return.
2:30 pm ET — Things are going Team WE’s way as the first 10 minutes have been incredibly safe from both teams with just one kill on either side. With WE having the better scaling of the two teams they will certainly be happy with those results.
2:20 pm ET — Team WE vs G2 Esports Pick and Ban
G2 seem to have been trying to bait out the Leblanc pick here and they have the perfect comp for it. They’ll be a little low and damage in the late game and reliant on Trick having a strong early Elise. If WE can survive that early game with Condi’s Lee Sin, they are going to have an outstanding late game composition.
WE: Gragas, Lee Sin, Leblanc, Ashe, Malzahar
Bans: Ivern, Kennen, Zyra, Fiora, Fizz
G2: Shen, Elise, Ryze, Varus, Tahm Kench
Bans: Lulu, Karma, Graves, Kled, Rumble
As the Mid-Season Invitational enters its fourth of five days, we see nothing but must win match ups for most teams. While SK Telecom T1 secured their trip to the Semi-Finals on Day three, the rest of the teams at the tournament still each have a shot at moving on with no team looking significantly better than their opponents.
The day kicks off with a battle for second place, for now, between China’s Team WE and Europe’s G2. Both teams have had their ups and downs at the tournament so far and are tied at a record of 3-3. In their first meeting of the tournament, Team WE won handily, beating G2 in only 28 minutes and holding them to only three total kills.
North American hopefuls Team SoloMid will also be featured in a pair of games today including an early must-win match against GIGABYTE Marines. With both teams tied in the standings, and having more games against each other than any teams in the tournament, this could be the closest match the teams have played so far. Team SoloMid will also face off against SKT later in the day in a shot at redemption from their day two defeat.
Each match up during the Group Stage will be a best-of-one, with the top four teams advancing to the Semi-Final round.
Schedule:
All times Eastern
WE vs G2, 2 p.m.
TSM vs GAM, 3 p.m.
FW vs SKT, 4 p.m.
G2 vs GAM, 5 p.m.
TSM vs SKT, 6 p.m.
FW vs WE, 7 p.m.
How to Watch:
You can watch every game live on Lolesports as well as on the Riot Games Twitch channel.