Team SoloMid won a hard-fought series against Team Liquid 2-1 on Saturday at the Battle Arena in Los Angeles during the second week of the North American League of Legends Championship Series Spring Split 2017.
Team SoloMid took an early lead in Game 1 behind a handful of early turret kills and positive teamfight trades. However, Team Liquid stormed back late when top laner Samson "Lourlo" Jackson's Nautilus led a charge into Baron pit, stopping Team SoloMid from taking the objective. Mid laner Soren "Bjergsen" Bjerg took over in the second half and earned MVP honors of Game 1, performing two great Realm Warps on his Ryze. The first Realm Warp secured a Baron buff while the second Realm Warp took his teammates, AD carry Jason "WildTurtle" Tran's Ashe and support Vincent "Biofrost" Wang's Zyra, into Team Liquid's base to push the Nexus down.
Bjergsen scored first blood on Syndra in Game 2 when he roamed into the top lane and took down Lourlo's Poppy with some help. However, Team Liquid began to take control after jungler Kim "Reignover" Yeu-Jin's Khazix started to clean up in teamfights during the second half of Game 2. Team Liquid ran away with a lead after Lourlo's Poppy knocked Team SoloMid off of Baron with Keeper's Verdict, took the buff, and earned three kills. Team SoloMid overextended and forced a fight with their inhibitor down but Team Liquid punished them with an ace and then pushed down mid lane to even the series.
Team Liquid's momentum from Game 2 carried over into Game 3 as Reignover's Khazix scored first blood. However, Team SoloMid evened out the gold when it took down the first turret in the middle lane. Both teams played patiently, but Team SoloMid used better lane management to take a lead in turrets heading into the late game. Team SoloMid finally broke the game open, catching support Matthew "Matt" Elento's Thresh out of position, leading to a Baron and Elder Dragon buff. The buffs enabled TSM to push down Team Liquid's middle and top lane inhibitors. Team SoloMid would eventually storm through Team Liquid's base to secure the 2-1 series win.