Team EnVyUs took down Phoenix1 on Sunday in a hardfought three game series during Day 3, Week 1 of the North American League of Legends Championship Series Summer Split in Los Angeles.
In Game 1 both teams drafted fairly mirrored team compositions, but Team EnVyUs (1-1, 3-3 match record) put together the better early game. Team EnVy's jungler Nam "LirA" Tae-yoo's Nidalee made a successful gank in the bottom lane that secured first blood and a kill for AD carry Apollo "Apollo" Price's Ashe. Phoenix1 (0-2, 2-4 match record) could not get ahead in any lanes heading into the mid game and tried forcing fights that did more harm than good. EnVy turned around nearly all of the engages to win teamfights and take down objectives. Phoenix1's last hope was jungler Rami "Inori" Charagh who tried his best to steal Baron from EnVy at the 38-minute mark but failed and died in the attempt. Once Team EnVy had a Baron buff it reset and easily pushed to a 1-0 lead in the series.
Phoenix1 drafted a protect AD carry composition in Game 2 that got punished early. AD carry Noh "Arrow" Dong-hyeon's Twitch got caught face-checking a bush at level one and was forced back to base, losing out on minion waves early. Team EnVy kept exploiting the early weakness in the bottom lane by rotating there often, securing kills and objectives. However Phoenix1 weathered the first half of Game 2 and started to turn things around once Arrow got a few key items. After the 23-minute mark, Phoenix1's teamfight dominance started to come alive. Arrow's Twitch doled out Sewer Skewers for everyone on his way to racking up the most damage done to champions in Game 2. Phoenix1 easily ripped through EnVy's base and tied the series up after scoring an ace.
In Game 3, Phoenix1 drafted another protect AD carry composition with Arrow on Kog'Maw. The early game wasn't disastrous for Phoenix1 like Game 2, but it still went in favor of Team EnVy as LirA's Lee Sin made pivotal ganks that resulted in kills and turrets. EnVy's lead allowed it to successfully keep 1-3-1 split push pressure on throughout the mid game as Phoenix1 sunk further into its gold deficit. Phoenix1 struggled to find the right engages to break the split push as EnVy rotated between pushings lanes and Baron. The dance between objectives slowly bled Phoenix1 of turrets, forcing it to make a desperate group push in the mid lane. The call to push cost Phoenix1 the series as it gave Seraph's Jayce an opening to teleport into base and knock down the Nexus for Team EnVy's first series win of the summer.
Phoenix1 will face off against Cloud9 on Friday at 4 pm ET, with Team EnVy following that match with its own against Immortals at approximately 7 pm ET.