Samsung Galaxy emerged victorious from its Intel Extreme Masters Gyeonggi League of Legends semifinal match against Team Liquid 2-0. The North American team seemed capable of contending against the World Championship finalist for 29 minutes, before Samsung awakened and crushed its opponent decisively.
Game one was a game full of risky decisions on both sides; Samsung's were in the early game, while Team Liquid's showed up later. Samsung committed numerous errors and subsequently conceded outer turrets in mid and bot; however, SSG kept up in farm and traded towers whenever possible, such as their takedown of the bottom lane tower to reciprocate TL's mid lane outer turret takedown around minute 15.
In 29 of the first 32 minutes, Team Liquid (on red side) held the initiative following a jungle pathing risk from SSG's Kang "Ambition" Chan-young, as a failed attempt to gank Samson "Lourlo" Jackson early threw off his own timings. This allowed new TL signing Kim "Reignover" Yeu-jin to take the lead in farming and ganking with the threat of a counter-gank significantly lessened. However, Samsung Galaxy kept up in farm and won two team fights (a four-for-one trade at the 29-minute mark near Baron Nashor, and an ace at the 32-minute mark near dragon) to win the game.
Game one was the only game TL truly contended in, as game two seemed like it ended as soon as it had started. The bot lane started crumbling at the three-minute mark when Park "Ruler" Jae-hyun and Jo "CoreJJ" Yong-in outdueled Chae "Piglet" Gwang-jin and Matthew "Matt" Elento before Reignover could gank the lane, resulting in a one-for-one trade and a pathing advantage for Ambition.
In the end, Samsung had too much map control for Team Liquid to survive. Despite Greyson "Goldenglue" Gilmer's roaming and duelling efforts, and despite Lourlo's early-game advantage, Samsung decisively won the game in less than 23 minutes and will progress to the main event finals on Sunday.
Performance highlights
TL jungler Reignover's play on Rek'Sai was devastating in game one. As soon as Ambition had failed a gank up top, he secured advantages in the mid lane with a First Blood at the 5:30 mark, snuck a Dragon at 9:40, followed it up with a gank in the bottom lane (10-minute mark) and foiled Crown's roam up top for a two-for-none trade (11th minute). He finished the game with a 4/2/7 KDA (kills/deaths/assists).
SSG mid laner Crown took some time adjusting his play to best counter his opponents' composition in game one (specifically Matt's Zyra), but when it kicked in, he spelled doom for Team Liquid. Gone was his blunder at the 21-minute mark, when he used his ultimate (a wide area teleport) into a Zyra ult, and in came the backline killer in the final teamfight, when his flank quickly dispatched Piglet and Goldenglue at 32 minutes.
Top laners Lourlo and CuVee impacted their respective teams' fates as much as they possibly could. Despite his ability to fend off his opponent in the laning phase, TL's Lourlo (on Nautilus both games) was unable to match SSG's CuVee's Maokai in team fights throughout the series. Lourlo held a 3.0 KDA ratio across the series, to CuVee's 6.66.
TL bot-lane duo Piglet and Matt were a no-show in game two. Constant summoner spell usage in risky pick attempts or chasedowns backfired when they were subsequently ambushed in return. Samsung was free to deploy wards to capitalize on this factor even further, with a devastating three-for-zero trap at the 17-minute mark as an illustration. The pair combined for a 2/11/3 KDA, whereas their counterparts Ruler and CoreJJ combined for a 9/2/20 KDA.
Up Next
Immortals and Kongdoo Monster play on Saturday to determine who will face Samsung Galaxy in a best-of-five contest at the IEM Gyeonggi finals on Sunday, December 18.