TL;DW – LTA North Edition: C9 Buries SR in Game 3
Week 4, Day 1 of the LTA North Split 2 Playoffs. C9 vs SR. C9 is on Blue, SR is on Red. C9’s roster is Thanatos (top), Blaber (jungle), Loki (mid), Zven (bot), and Vulcan (support). SR’s roster is Fudge (top), Contractz (jungle), Palafox (mid), Bvoy (bot), and Ceos (support). C9 won Games 1 and 2. For more information on what Early, Mid, and Late Game means, see Terms at the bottom of the article.
Champion Selection: To Fight or Not to Fight, That is the Question
Game 3 sees Annie, Vi, Lucian, Gwen, Caitlyn, and Ambessa taken away.
C9 gets first pick, and they choose Yone. SR opts for Aurora and Rumble. C9 counters with Galio and Maokai. SR takes Trundle as they go into the 2nd ban phase.
Both teams target the Bot Lane with Sivir, Jhin, Corki, and Alistar banned away.
SR starts things back up by grabbing Kalista. C9 closes out their comp with Ezreal and Karma. SR last picks the Renata. C9 has a good amount of CC and engagement power. SR is more disengage-focused with strong burst damage.
Team comps are: C9 – Galio (top), Maokai (jungle), Yone (mid), Ezreal (bot), Karma (support) vs SR – Rumble (top), Trundle (jungle), Aurora (mid), Kalista (bot), Renata (support).
Early Game Highlights: What Goes Up, Must Come Down
SR pushes into C9’s Jungle for early wards. In Bot Lane, Vulcan walks into Ceos and Bvoy, who were hiding in a bush. He has to burn Heal to stay alive. Contractz Invades and, in spite of a back and forth with Blaber, manages to Steal Red Buff. Wow, something interesting actually happened at the start of the game for once.
And yet, an interview…
The interview gets interrupted as Contractz heads down to the Bot Lane to for a gank. He comes in from behind C9’s duo lane, through the Tri-Brush. Vulcan tries to Flash away but gets Knocked Back by the Trundle Pillar. He dies to Contractz for 1st Blood. After Vulcan dies, Zven gets hit with a Handshake, pulled back, and dies to Bvoy. 2-0 for SR.
So, now that an interview has been interrupted due to THE GAME, can we be done with them now?
Blaber and Contractz both hover around Bot Lane. Contractz ends up pushing Blaber away and forcing him to use his Flash.
Blaber gets caught out in Top River, chased into his Blue Side Jungle, and then gets burned to death by Fudge. On top of the kill, Thanatos also wasted his Ultimate to try and help. 2 tanks, 1 Equalizer.
Ceos attempts to gank Mid but it fails, so he eventually backs off.
SR takes the 1st Drake (Hextech) uncontested. While they are fighting the objective, Loki and Palafox get into a fight of their own in Mid Lane. Loki has to use his Ultimate to get away.
Ceos, Contractz, and Bvoy all rotate Bot after taking the Drake. They try to go in on to Vulcan, but he Flashes away, and Blaber arrives to counter-engage. Zven ends up killing Contractz and Ceos while Blaber takes down Bvoy.
C9 takes all 3 Voidgrubs uncontested.
Early Game ends with C9 ahead in gold by just 500 and also ahead in farm.
Mid Game Highlights: C9 Push Ahead
A fight in Mid Lane results in a trade of Flash for both ADCs but no kills.
After the 2nd Drake (Cloud) spawns, both teams start heading towards it, but C9 gets there first. This allows them to engage with Nature’s Grasp as SR approaches. Contractz is the first to fall. He dies to Loki. Despite reaching the Bailout, Bvoy drops to Zven next.  Ceos follows soon after, giving Loki another kill. The rest of SR back off. Fight goes 3-0 for C9, who secure the Drake afterwards.
After the Drake, C9 takes SR’s Outer Mid Turret for the 1st Turret of the game.
C9 takes the Rift Herlad uncontested.
Both teams meet up in Bot River. C9 engages and gets a few members of SR low, but no one dies yet. After a prolonged chase up Bot Lane, Loki is able to kill Contractz.  Fudge comes in from behind and tries to cut off C9’s escape route, but Zven is aggressive, pushing forward anyway, so it doesn’t matter.
Blaber and Thanatos engage Fudge, and though Blaber gets a little low, he manages to get the kill on to Fudge. While this fight is happening, Zven kills Ceos. Fight goes 3-0 for C9, who drops Herald in lane and uses it to take the Inner Turret before driving it to Mid Lane to take the Inner Turret there as well.
Mid Game ends with C9 still ahead in gold (now by 7.5k) and in farm.
Late Game Highlights: Apply Pressure and Never Let Up
C9 takes the 3rd Drake (Hextech) uncontested.
C9 takes the Atakhan also uncontested. Afterwards, C9 chases SR out of Mid Lane and into their own Red Jungle. After SR takes the Red Buff, C9 goes in. Thanatos tries to land a taunt on to Bvoy, who Flashes but still ends up dying to Loki. Ceos is then chased down and eventually killed by Blaber.
C9 heads up to Top Lane to siege the Inner Turret. Fudge TPs in behind them, but Contractz goes into early. He dies to Blaber before Fudge can even fully engage. Palafox is the next to die. He goes down to Zven.
Fudge tries to find a kill by Flash, onto a Low Health Thanatos manages to tank the damage and gets away. Fudge does, however, kill Loki, who was tanking Turret shots.  Bvoy also gets a kill by taking down Blaber. Fudge then tries to take down a low Health Zven, but he counters and kills Fudge instead. Thanatos, who recalled to heal up, TPs back in, but the fight is over. It goes 3-2 for C9.
Bvoy, while farming in Mid Lane, jumps to near to C9 who were gathered in his Red Jungle. He gets CCed and dies to Blaber. Loki then kills Ceos. Blaber gets another kill by deleting Fudge. Contractz is chased through is Blue Jungle by Vulcan and eventually killed by Zven. Fight goes 3-0 for C9.
C9 starts up the Baron on spawn. While Blaber keeps the Baron’s attention, the rest of C9 zone away SR. Loki takes out Fudge first. Then Zven drops Contractz, so there is no chance of a Smite contest. He then kills Palafox. The Baron goes over to C9 a split second before Thanatos deletes Bvoy. Ceos is the last member of SR alive, and he gets chased down and killed by Zven for the ACE.
With everyone dead on SR ends the game, though they do give up 2 kills. First Thanatos dies to the Fountain Laser and then Vulcan dies to Fudge.
Post Game Analysis: LTA North Split Finals Now Set
C9 ends the game at 26:13 with a 13.2k gold lead. The final score was 23-7.
This game was also a bit of a one-sided affair, though, during the early Early Game, SR did have a small advantage. Then, everything changed when the Maokai attacked. Like with Game 2, C9 was able to see/bait and engage by SR and then turn it around on them.
Considering the penchant for LTA players to get caught out, you can’t exactly hold it against SR for taking the obvious opportunities in front of them. That said, points to C9 for winning with the same strategy twice. After that, counter-engaged in Bot Lane, the game was effectively C9 to control.
With the conclusion of this series, C9 will now face FLY in the Finals. Whoever wins that match will be the Champions of Split 2, as well as be granted a spot at MSI.
Terms
Early Game: Any time before 10 minutes, first Outer Turret down, or first level 10 (whichever comes first).
Mid Game: Between Early Game and either 20 minutes, 2 Inner Turrets down, half the players are level 16, or 3rd dragon killed.
Late Game: Any time after Mid Game.
