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Phoenix1 gained ground with a third place finish in the standings as it dispatched Team Liquid in a 2-0 sweep on Saturday during Week 8, Day 2 of the North American League of Legends Spring Split in Los Angeles.
The beginning of Game 1 was slow and steady as both teams farmed until the 11-minute mark when a teamfight broke out in middle lane. Phoenix1 (10-5, 24-11 match record) gave up first blood as top laner Derek "Zig" Shao's Nautilus died but picked up two kills in return. Team Liquid (4-12, 14-27 match record) made some bad calls in the mid game, such as overextending and taking poor turret trades that put it behind 4,000 gold 20 minutes in. TL scraped together a few kills late, but lost vision control over Baron, giving Phoenix1 an opening. After Phoenix1 forced and won a 4-for-1 teamfight over Baron at the 31-minute mark, thanks in large part to mid laner Yoo "Ryu" Sang-ook, who Charmed his way to a 8/1/2 KDA (kills, deaths, assists) as Ahri, it quickly rotated to the exposed top lane inhibitor to push and finish Game 1.
Team Liquid subbed in support Matthew "Matt" Elento for Adrian "Adrian" Ma in Game 2, but Phoenix1 ended up pressuring the top lane early as jungler William "Meteos" Hartman's Elise, support William "Stunt" Chen's Nautilus, and Ryu's Talon roamed there often. The early P1 roams allowed Team Liquid to make plays on the opposite side of the map to keep the gold fairly even heading into the late game. Phoenix1's 1-3-1 split push kept getting broken up, but Liquid wasn't able to take any objectives after. Both teams fought for control around Baron 33 minutes in when Ryu found a flank onto Liquid's back line, shredding them for a 3-for-0 P1 teamfight that led to a Baron kill. Liquid watched its turrets quickly fall to the Baron empowered 1-3-1 split push, and were slowly picked off trying to defend its base as Phoenix1 finished off the series.
Phoenix1 squares off with Immortals to open Sunday's action at 3 p.m. ET, while Team Liquid steps onto the Rift against Team SoloMid next Saturday at 3 p.m. ET.