Dignitas walked away with a solid 2-1 win over Phoenix1 after a back-and-forth series Saturday in Los Angeles during Week 3 Day 2 of the North American League of Legends Championship Series.
With Phoenix1 opting to use their newest roster addition, jungler Michael "MikeYeung" Yeung, all eyes were on the rookie during Game 1 as he entered the rift as Kha'Zix, and it paid off in the early game, as MikeYeung picked up a series of early kills for his team. After finding itself at an early deficit as a result, Dignitas had to battle back with the help of the invisibility of Benjamin "LOD" deMunck's Twitch. Once teamfights broke out, Dignitas started to gain the upper hand on the back of Lae-Young "Keane" Jang's Viktor, who managed to both wave-clear and dominate fights in the late game. After Dignitas found the first Baron of the game and cracked the enemy base 31 minutes in, it was in full control. Shortly after, LOD and Kim "Ssumday" Chan-ho were able to back door the enemy base while Phoenix1 attempted to take a Baron, allowing Dignitas to take the 37-minute win.
After the loss, Phoenix1 didn't let up, storming into Game 2 to bounce back in the series. After Derek "Zig" Shao's Kled fell, giving first blood to Lee "Shrimp" Byeong-hoon's Kha'zix, it quickly became the Ryu "Ryu" Sang-wook show. Using Taliyah perfectly, he turned the tides of unfavorable skirmishes to build a large lead for his team. After bouncing back, he found himself a Penta Kill just shy of 20 minutes to take full control of the game for Phoenix1. The team never slowed down after, continually taking favorable exchanges and choking out Dignitas. After forcing a fight at Baron just 22 minutes into the game, Phoenix1 had enough of a lead to push into the enemy base, closing things out in 25 minutes to tie up the series.
Dignitas shook off the loss quickly and moved into Game 3 with blood in its eyes. After picking up first blood thanks to a gank by Terry "Big" Chuong's Rakan and Shrimp's Kha'zix, the team began to push its advantage. Much like the previous game, things went back and forth early, but Keane's Cassiopea proved to be enough to deter Phoenix1 from taking any fights. Once Dignitas took an early Baron, it was all but over for Phoenix1. It tried to gain some footing in the late game, but Dignitas simply kept pushing and came up with both a second Baron and Elder Dragon to solidify the lead. With the buffs, Dignitas had no trouble closing things out just shy of 44-minutes to secure the series victory.
Dignitas will look to continue climbing the standings Sunday as it takes on Echo Fox 6 p.m. ET, while Phoenix1 will attempt to pick up their first victory of the split Sunday against Counter Logic Gaming at 3 p.m. ET.