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Newbee fought hard on Sunday in a chaotic and messy series and managed to put Snake Esports down 2-1 to open up Week 5, Day 4 in the League of Legends Pro League in Shanghai.
One of the sloppiest series of the split saw Snake Esports (1-6, 4-13 match record) take an early lead in Game 1 on the back of jungler Le "SofM" Quang Duy's Elise, who picked up a couple of early kills by camping the top lane. Snake's early lead was tenuous at best, though, as Newbee (5-4, 12-12 match record) clawed back in the mid game through teamfighting.
The later the game went, though, the more time Snake had to scale up with its huge pick potential, leading eventually to a 40-minute stalemate between both teams. In the end, Snake stood (slithered?) tall thanks to SofM, who finished with a 4/2/12 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) as Snake took Game 1 in 43 minutes.
Newbee shook things up in Game 2 by drafting a hotly contested Galio and putting it in the bottom lane for support Zhang "Mor" Hong-Wei as part of a potent siege composition. Newbee's early tower dive potential was realized at nine minutes when it picked up two kills and first tower gold in the bottom lane, putting it ahead of Snake for the rest of the game.
Despite the lead, Newbee almost slipped up at 30 minutes by losing a 4-for-2 teamfight, but mid laner SHin "Coco" Jin-yeong saved the day as Corki and prevented Snake from capitalizing. Afterward, Newbee attacked Snake's base with renewed focus, taking a 5-for-4 teamfight in the SS base to expose the Nexus at 35 minutes. After that, Newbee, led by Coco's 33,600 damage dealt to enemy champions and 10/1/7 KDA, secured a Game 2 win with a 5-for-2 ace at 40 minutes.
For Game 3, Snake went for a teamfighting composition in its draft while Newbee settled for a comp built around Sejuani. Both teams traded kills and objectives back and forth until 23 minutes, when Snake dominated a teamfight and turned to Baron. Somehow, though, despite SofM's Zac having Smite and AD carry Oh "Ohq" Gyu-min's Kalista having Rend, Mor's Rakan managed to steal the Baron kill with a Gleaming Quill, putting Newbee ahead.
While Snake fought hard to stay even, securing a 31-minute Baron, it could never beat Newbee's potent frontline and crowd control. After Newbee took a four-stack Elder Dragon and second Baron by 39 minutes, there was nothing Snake could do to stop its opponent. Mor posted a phenomenal 1/0/14 KDA for 94 percent kill participation as he earned MVP honors in Newbee's 39-minute win.
Snake Esports next play OMG at 8 a.m. ET on Thursday, while Newbee will take on Invictus Gaming on Friday at 8 a.m. ET.