Greetings, Summoners, from the Fields of Valoran! The third group to finish both rounds of Red Robin was Group D, featuring Team SoloMid from the NA LCS, Samsung Galaxy from the LCK, Splyce from the EU LCS, and Royal Never Give Up from the LPL.
Red Robin Round 1
Day 1
SSG vs SPY
Group D kicked off with Samsung Galaxy going up against Splyce. The early game was even, with Gold lead slipping back and forth. First Blood went to SSG Ambition with an Assist from CuVee, but SSG made a dive in bot lane that SPY punished with three Kills.
SSG didn’t back down, however, pushing through objectives to not only maintain but also grow their Gold lead. They snowballed from there, only giving SPY a few kills before taking down the EU team’s nexus.
TSM vs RNG
SSG’s victory was followed up by a match between Team SoloMid and Royal Never Give Up. Worlds suffered a hiccup here, and was forced to take a pause when Bjergsen couldn’t see Aurelion Sol’s orbs. The champion was disabled and would remain so for the first three days until the glitch could be fixed. The disable led to a complete remake between the teams, with a new Pick/Ban phase. RNG took First Blood early in, but the teams danced around each other while vying for Gold lead. TSM started to pull ahead around 12 minutes, moving for a Drake and a few turrets, but a team fight just past 18 minutes led to a Triple Kill for RNG Xiaohu’s Cassiopeia.
Steadily, TSM’s Gold lead declined while RNG started pushing for more objectives and fights to take the lead. TSM made a move for Drake at 28, but Mlxg showed up for the steal. TSM made one more vie for the lead before RNG shoved through and snowballed to end the match. Worth noting was RNG Mata’s impressive showing as Alistar through the entire match, ending 1/2/15 and proving his statement through the season of “Give me Alistar, and I will win you the game.”
Day 2
TSM vs SSG
Group D’s Day 2 kicked off with Team SoloMid going against Samsung Galaxy. With the home crowd in the arena chanting their name, TSM burst out of the gate with a strong lead and First Blood. They refused to relent through the entire match, only giving up one Kill and two turrets as they plowed through every SSG play for the victory.
RNG vs SPY
With the crowd ecstatic with TSM’s slaughtering performance, Royal Never Give Up took the stage to challenge Splyce. And Challenge they did! Like TSM before them, RNG took off with their match. Uzi snagged First Blood in the first five minutes, and RNG snowballed from there.
SPY managed to take three Kills and worked to defend, but there wasn’t a strong enough response to Uzi’s 10/0/4 Ezreal and RNG’s determination to win.
Day 3
TSM vs SPY
After the complete slaughters from Day 2, Group D came into Day 3 ready to rumble. Team SoloMid and Splyce had the stage first. SPY Mikyx took First Blood against Biofrost, but TSM’s Hauntzer quickly answered with a Kill.
Both teams continued to trade Kills and Objectives, but SPY Sencux started to step up for his team and shove their lead ahead. When SPY Trashy grabbed a Drake, the team started to push, extending their Gold lead, claiming several Kills, and grabbing a Baron. It looked like SPY would finally claim the game, but in truth things started to fall apart from there. Something seemed to flip in TSM. They started communicating better and tightening all of their plays, surging forward to grab a Drake, several Objectives, and Kills. They answered SPY’s snowball with one of their own before steamrolling over any attempt at defense and claiming the victory.
RNG vs SSG
The last match for RR1 came to Royal Never Give Up taking on Samsung Galaxy. Group D would have Day 4 off, with no more matches until Day 7. SSG Ambition started the game off with a First Blood and Double Kill at five and a half minutes. RNG came back with a Gold lead trailing up to a Drake, but almost immediately after, SSG took over the lead in Gold. Just after the 14-minute mark, RNG scored two Kills and a turret, but SSG answered with two Kills and two turrets. The teams danced around Gold lead for a while, with both claiming another turret while SSG took Drake. SSG started pulling for the lead, finally getting the break they needed with four Kills mid lane, Baron, and another Drake.
SSG pushed from there, not giving another inch as they claimed their victory and ended RR1.
Round Robin Round 2
SSG vs TSM
Group D’s Round 2 started off with Samsung Galaxy taking on Team SoloMid. the teams danced around each other for the first few minutes before SSG made a move to claim First Blood. the next few minutes saw other confrontations, ending with a strong lead for SSG: three Kills to TSM’s 1. A beautiful outplay by TSM allowed the team to surge ahead. SSG made a move in the bot lane, but TSM Doublelift earned style points by not only using his abilities and his flash to stay alive but also taking down SSG CoreJJ.
Within moments, three TSM players moved for the bottom turret, taking down SSG Ruler in the process for a lead. SSG didn’t let them keep it for long, and a misplay by Biofrost causing Bjergsen to waste his ult aided SSG’s vie to reclaim the lead. The 15-minute mark saw a team fight with TSM taking down SSG Ambition and Crown. TSM rotated bottom and overcommitted, so SSG punished by pushing up mid and taking down another turret. While TSM recalled, SSG moved for an early Baron Nashor. 38 minutes saw a beautiful team fight with TSM taking down three members of SSG, but DoubleLift overstepped and got shut down by SSG Crown. SSG made a move at 40, taking down TSM’s health and chasing them away. Rather than going for Baron, they made a push for mid. After forcing TSM to defend, SSG pulled back for Baron. TSM attempted to challenge, but SSG came out on top with a Triple Kill for Ruler.
With Baron buff in place, they made another push for TSM’s base. TSM attempted to defend, but SSG scored an Ace and took down two inhibitors before being chased away. TSM made a quick push for Elder Drake, but SSG made it in time for the steal and chased them away before porting into TSM’s base and making a move for the nexus. TSM mounted a defense, but SSG overpowered them and took it down.
SPY vs RNG
Once the stage was clear, it was time for Splyce and Royal Never Give Up to prepare for their match. The first few minutes saw the teams dancing around each other, swapping damage but not landing a kill. RNG attempted a gank in top, but Wunder survived with some fancy footwork and Trashy arrived to push top back while the laner went to heal.
SPY made a move in the jungle against Xiaohu, but once again some fancy footwork and a good use of Summoner Spells led to an escape and no Kill. 11:30 saw RNG claim First Blood against SPY Wunder just before RNG Mata was taken down in bot lane.
13:40 saw SPY surge top lane, taking down a turret and earning Sencux a Double Kill. Down in bot lane, SPY Kobbe got the Kill on RNG Mata, but Uzi took down Kobbe in response before SPY Mikyx took him down to finish the 2-1 trade in SPY’s favor. Instead of sacrificing objectives to put pressure in other lanes, RNG tried to contest every take; another fight in bot lane led to a turret and Kills for SPY. SPY pushed ahead with a lead, winning a team fight and moving back to snag their first Baron at 26 minutes. SPY continued to shove through every team fight, taking one more Baron before rushing RNG’s base and ending the game for their first victory at Worlds.
SPY vs TSM
After a break to let SPY reset, the EU team took the stage once again to challenge Team SoloMid. SPY felt the pressure for this match; if they lost, they would be out of the running for Quarters. SPY Trashy took First Blood, but Bjergsen answered with a kill of his own. TSM then pushed for a second Kill, just nudging themselves into a Gold lead. TSM made a strong showing, but SPY came back to race for the first turret bonus. They beat TSM by a half-second before stealing a jungle camp for another Gold boost, but TSM answered by taking Mountain Drake. SPY continued to challenge, managing a 2-for-2 Kill trade in mid. Just before the 20-minute mark, Bjergsen’s Syndra got a Double Kill, leading TSM to push a mid that led to a turret and a confrontation with SPY before backing off with no losses.
TSM took Ocean Drake before Bjergsen earned Unstoppable by taking down Mikyx’s Karma. After a few moments to cool off, TSM rotated top to take down two turrets and several SPY members before backing off of the base. After another push top ending in a 3-0 confrontation in TSM’s favor, SoloMid rotated down to take Baron Nashor. TSM made a push at 27, shoving up the mid and bot lanes to take down turrets and inhibitors before rotating to the top inhibitor and going for the nexus.
SSG vs RNG
With the stage clear and ready for the next bout, Samsung Galaxy took on Royal Never Give Up. The teams danced around each other for a while, with SSG Ambition taking early control of the jungle, and First Blood went to SSG Crown’s Viktor. SSG then pushed for first turret, taking the lead before taking Drake. At 15 minutes, SSG had the largest early lead of any team at Worlds 2016. At 21, they went for Baron– in another Worlds 2016 record, I might add. RNG Uzi tried to steal with an Ezreal ult, but he just missed the last hit. SSG collapsed on RNG’s base at 23, smashing through RNG’s defense to win the fastest game of Worlds 2016.
SPY vs SSG
Despite no longer having a chance at Quarter Finals, Splyce took the stage once more to challenge Samsung Galaxy. The teams had a few spats in the jungle– and a few taunts –but First Blood came to SSG in the bot lane just after four minutes. SPY got a kill in answer before their second bot lane champion went down in a 2-for-1 trade in SSG’s favor.
SPY tried for an ambush on Crown from the jungle, but they were overcome by Crown’s back up, and the mid-laner made an escape. SSG pushed through their objectives, getting an Ace and breaking their just-made record for fastest game. With this victory, SSG wins the First Seed advantage for Group D and moves on to Quarter Finals.
RNG vs TSM
The last match of the day came down to Royal Never Give Up and Team SoloMid to decide who would take Second Seed. RNG made a power play right at the beginning, invading TMS’s jungle to steal their blue and Gromp. Seven minutes saw an ambush in river that ended in a Triple Kill for RNG Unzi’s Ezreal.
RNG also took first turret of the game, taking a strong lead against TSM. They continued to snowball, grabbing an Infernal Drake to extend their lead. Around the 13 mark, RNG Looper made a move for TSM Haunter in the jungle, and the teams met head on in a 2-for-2 trade. RNG then rotated down for a Mountain Drake. TSM moved for defense, sending DoubleLift to whittle down minion waves while Bjergsen and Hauntzer worked on their CS to keep RNG’s Gold lead from spiraling. A team fight at 23:30 saw RNG Uzi make some impressive kills, but Bjergsen’s Ryze got a Double Kill– including a Shut Down on Uzi. The fight ended as a 3-for-3 trade and proved that TSM wasn’t down for the count quite yet. The team exchanged damage at 26 with no Kills, and RNG made a move for Baron to force an exchange. TSM Hauntzer took two turrets, but that was not a good answer to a Baron and two Kills.
With one minute remaining on their Baron Buff, RNG made a hit and run of top, taking down the inhibitor before backing off with no losses. At 32, RNG made a push to take down the bottom base turret, and TSM had a moment of “enough,” charging into the team fight for an Ace against RNG.
TSM quickly pushed to take a mid turret while their inhibitor began its countdown to respawn. Another team fight in the jungle ended in a 2-for- one trade in RNG’s favor before RNG moved to bait the Baron to draw out TSM. When TSM didn’t take the bait, RNG moved for Baron. TSM Biofrost just missed the steal, with RNG claiming a second Baron. 36 saw RNG push for the base, with Uzi getting a Triple Kill into an Ace. With that, RNG took the nexus and advanced to Quarter Finals.
What’s to Come
With six of the eight Quarter Final teams decided, we now prepare to watch Group B to see who among Cloud9, I May, Flash Wolves, and SKTelecom T1 will claim the last two seeds to round out the roster for the Quarter Finals.
I’ll see you on the rift!
