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TSM Keeps Their Crown in the Spring NA LCS

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Published: April 20, 2015 5:06 PM

Fans of the League Championship Series were treated to the rematch of the century as Team Solomid and Cloud 9 met again at the NA LCS Finals. Both teams gave it their all, but in the end, Team Solomid has kept their title as the North American League Champions. Cloud 9 and TSM have been long time rivals ever since Cloud 9 first premiered in 2013, and rocked the professional League scene as underdog champions. Solomid fought to retain their crown as last years Summer Split Champions. As is to be expected, this game was full of exciting plays and shows the skill of the best players in North America. But in the end, after a promising start for Cloud 9, Solomid was able to sweep the board, winning three games in a row out of a total of four games.

Cloud 9 started off strong, taking Game 1 at 4-11. Team Solomid started off rocky, giving up some major team fights, and allowing key playmaking moves by Cloud 9’s legendary Jungler, Meteos, playing as Sejuani. Game 1 featured flawless play by the C9 marksman, Sneaky, as Sivir, who managed to wrack up 5 of the teams 11 kills without once being caught by TSM.

https://youtu.be/OS6LNKAsO08

Game 2 took an interesting start, with both teams using an early double Jungle strategy, and Cloud 9 lane swapping to allow their Support to harass Solomid’s Jungler Santorin. The early strategy managed to deny Santorin early levels, but Solomid was able to recover and ended up with an early experience gap over Cloud 9’s Meteos. Both teams played it safe throughout the game, resulting in a very calculated first half. Both teams traded team fight wins and Dragons going past the 30 minute mark. But the renowned TSM Mid-laner Bjergsen, playing Kog’Maw, managed to lead their team to victory, pulling off near flawless play in team fights. Solomid ended up taking Game 2 almost 45 minutes in, at 7-17.

https://youtu.be/nCQEmyq8mWg

In Game 3, Cloud 9 unsuccessfully attempted the same strategy at the start of game, returning to typical play with Sneaky and LemonNation returning to bottom lane. Solomid was given the early game edge in kills, but Cloud 9 managed to maintain map control by taking a majority of the early game turrets. For the second time, Solomid demonstrated their amazing skill in extended team fights.  A top lane team fight went bad for Cloud 9 as Support LemonNation managed to rescue top-laner Dyrus. Meanwhile Cloud 9’s Balls was taken down on the other side of the map in a distraction attempt. This allowed Solomid to secure a Baron, despite the best efforts of Cloud 9 to contest. With this victory came a massive gold lead, allowing them to snowball into their second victory at 20-4.

https://youtu.be/F7dSFxD3A20

It all came down to Game 4, with some famous picks on both sides. Cloud 9’s Meteos played his then undefeated Zac, with the rest of Cloud 9 going for a very different team composition from the previous three games. Meanwhile on Solomid Bjergsen selected Cho’Gath, considered a surprising pick, but which allowed him an incredible amount of crowd control and power within the game. Unlike the previous games, Solomid was able to claim a definitive lead in the early game, picking up two kills based on a coordinated effort in the mid lane.

https://youtu.be/nS6jyKKLAGY

Cloud 9 managed to contest an early Baron, but it was not enough to bring them even with Solomid, as they managed to continually push Cloud 9 off of objectives. The game ended with stunning final team fight at Cloud 9’s nexus with Solomid Marksman WildTurtle picking up a Quadra Kill, and securing total victory for Solomid.

https://youtu.be/GBZ5ESfGM1M

With their win, Team Solomid were declared this years Spring Split LCS Champions. The Summer Promotion begins next week, to kick off the new 2015 Summer Season.

Didn't catch the finals? Check out the full coverage and gameplay at LoLEsports! What did you think of this years Spring Split? How do you think these teams will change their formulas moving into the Summer Promotion series?

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| Staff Writer

Teacher's aid by day. Gamer by night. And by day, because I play my DS on my lunch break. Ask me about how bad my aim is.