Maryville University surged after losing Game 1 of the League of Legends College Championship, rattling off three straight wins to defeat the University of Toronto 3-1 in the grand finals on Sunday in Los Angeles.
While Maryville University gave up first blood when top laner Tony "Saskio" Chau's Kled was killed by University of Toronto top laner Alvin "Gaow Gaiy" Ngo's Shen just under five minutes in, MU bounced back and seized control of the early game. MU picked up first tower gold and secured a second outer turret, adding up to a 5,000-gold lead by 15 minutes. Toronto clawed back into contention when it started to win teamfights, taking a 3-for-0 at 18 minutes and a 3-for-1 at 24 minutes, respectively. With these won fights leading to Baron buffs, Toronto simply weathered MU's heavy objective-focused early game to secure a 34-minute comeback after a 5-for-2 ace in MU's base, winning Game 1 in style.
Whereas Game 1 saw several late game teamfights, Game 2 was pretty much won in the early game. Maryville jungler Cody "Walrus" Altman's Lee Sin took down Gaow Gaiy's Rumble early on for first blood, leading to first tower in the top lane. Walrus wreaked havoc across the map, giving MU a 3,000-gold lead by 10 minutes. That lead ballooned to almost 10,000 by the 16-minute mark, on the back of MU top laner Saskio's massive quadrakill on Renekton about 13 minutes in. From then on, MU controlled the pace of the game, picking up objectives and bullying Toronto around the map. Saskio put the nail in Toronto's coffin with his relentless split-pushing, taking an inhibitor and Nexus turret while his teammates took a 3-for-1 in the top lane, finally uniting in Toronto's base to secure the Game 2 win in 37 minutes.
For the second straight time, MU dominated the early game, snowballing out of Toronto's control. While Toronto started off with two kills in the top and bottom lanes around eight minutes in, MU responded with matching double kills from mid laner Andrew "ckg" Smith's Orianna and jungler Walrus' Lee Sin. This snowballed MU into the lead, which crescendoed with a massive 4-for-1 teamfight win for MU that gave it complete control of the game. By the time the 20-minute mark had passed, MU had amassed a sizable 10,000-gold lead that it never relinquished. While Toronto top laner Gaow Gaiy's Shen tried to keep Toronto alive with three kills, MU was simply too far ahead. MU then took two inhibitors and a Nexus turret at 24 minutes before top laner Saskio's Kled destroyed Toronto's Nexus for a lightning-fast 26-minute win.
MU continued its streak of dominating early games, taking an early lead in Game 4 and never letting go. This time, the game-changer came in the form of Walrus' pocket Nidalee pick that paid off in spades. Picking up first blood just a few minutes in, Walrus' phenomenal play from the jungle allowed MU to push in every single lane, picking up the outer and inner turrets in all three lanes by the 20-minute mark. Saskio, playing Renekton, split-pushed with impunity, taking the bottom lane inhibitor turret for the second game in a row. While Toronto threatened to fight back with a couple kills, Walrus shut the Canadians down with an incredible pentakill at 30 minutes that all but sealed the deal. It took a couple more minutes, but a final 4-for-1 teamfight win gave MU the 32-minute win and brought the League of Legends College Championship back to the United States.