The final week of the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) Summer Split began with a clash between the best teams in North America: Immortals (15-1) and Team SoloMid (15-1). At stake was the right to the top seed going into the playoffs and the title (for now) of best team in NA. The second match, Phoenix1 (4-12) against Team Envy (7-9), was more to determine Team Envy's playoff positioning, as Phoenix1 wouldn't have been eligible for the playoffs even with a win.
The fight between Immortals and Team SoloMid (TSM) felt like a 12-round boxing match. These two teams were so evenly matched that any push was matched with a shove. Whenever a team controlled the map and attempted a power play, it would be stalled by the opposing side's defense.
Game one was a power struggle for map control. It was a frantic game that displayed both teams' desperation, overextension, and beautiful counter-play. The fatal mistake came from Immortals' greedy drive to obtain both neutral objectives in the late game. TSM punished and separated the Immortal teamfight into a game-ending push.
Game two was just chaos. TSM snowballed its lead from the early game, controlled the map objectives, and punished Immortals' risky play with perfect rotations and counter-plays. Despite some resistance from Immortals, TSM bullied its way through with multiple power drives to seal the set and the number one seed, 2-0.
The last matchup of the day, Phoenix1 (P1) vs. Team Envy, was also too close to call. The first game went nearly an hour long and didn't truly swing in anyone's favor until the 40-minute mark. Team Envy needed a base race and a teamfight victory to take the edge away from P1, which it finally achieved.
Game two was more of the resurgent P1 that took down TSM and less of the winless version. If 13 kills (and zero deaths) on Hecarim weren't convincing enough, the team put up 26 kills to Envy's six and almost fooled around for the majority of the game.
The deciding match came down to the wire. Team Envy attempted to control the map via traditional means: vision around neutral objectives, split pushes, and extended fights. P1 ran the same gambit, but traded much better. P1 made the right decisions and eventually reaped the benefits for the minor upset, 2-1.