Immortals (10-3, 21-12 match record) came out on top in a hard-fought series against FlyQuest (4-9, 12-20) on Saturday during Week 7, Day 2 of the North American League of Legends Championship Series.
The biggest surprise of the match was how close this contest really was, as the series not only went to a third game --- also notable considering the abysmal record of FlyQuest thus far this split -- but that FlyQuest nearly took it, which would have been a huge upset. Instead, the Los Angeles arena was treated to an epic comeback win from Immortals, who reverse swept the series after dropping Game 1.
IMT never would have managed to pull that off, however, without the efforts of mid laner, Eugene "Pobelter" Park, who proved that his recent standout performances have been anything but a fluke. Pobelter took Corki into both of Immortals' victorious games, and in both he was nearly untouched thanks to his outstanding positioning and map sense. With freedom to operate, Pobelter put out the most damage in the series by far, as FlyQuest simply didn't draft champions that would allow them to shut off his continuous damage output. Furthermore, Pobelter managed to snowball each lead that jungler Jake "Xmithie" Puchero handed him each game, a change of pace for the mid laner who was previously criticized for his passivity. He ended the series with a combined KDA of 14/3/16 (kills/deaths/assists), which was the best in the series by a very wide margin.
It would be disingenuous to say that Immortals won the series due to its own merits, however, as its success came not so much from Immortals' plays, but from FlyQuest's errors. FlyQuest simply didn't seem to know how to win a game, which is a troubling change from a team that has, historically, been best known for its decisiveness. FQ's struggles were especially glaring in Game 3, where its inability to pull the trigger resulted in them losing the game despite a 5,000-gold lead at the 20-minute mark.
It's a testament to how far this team has fallen that they managed to pick up leads that most teams would consider insurmountable, yet lost anyways. Considering that Game 2 also demonstrated that FlyQuest's early game is somewhat suspect -- in particular the bottom lane, which practically lost the game by itself -- it's hard to see exactly how FlyQuest could turn its season around. FQ only managed to pick up Game 1 thanks to a disastrous over-extension at Baron by Immortals, who walked close enough to top laner An "Balls" Le's Camille that he barely even needed to try to wipe out IMT's back line. That single horrific misplay cost the Immortals the game, as FlyQuest chased down and killed every single one of them before breaking the Nexus. Still, FlyQuest only managed to pull off the win thanks to Immortals' blatant disrespect.
FlyQuest will try to climb out of its slump at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday against Team EnVyUS, while Immortals take on Counter Logic Gaming in a match that may well decide who will earn a first round bye for playoffs on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET.