League of Legends 2014 All-Star wrap-up, day three

The biggest League of Legends tournament before Worlds kicked off this week in Paris, France, and lots of Asian teams are on the scene. Unfortunately, the time difference makes it a little inconvenient to watch some of these games, especially the later ones, in Asia. So in case you missed any of the action, here’s a round-up of all the action from the third day!

Pick 10 challenge (Team Ice vs. Team Fire)

Cool prevents Team Fire from backing to save their nexus turrets.

Another decisive victory for Team Ice has put them in the overall lead in the All-Star challenges, but before the game no one would have expected the reasons why: Team Ice’s Cool and Froggen. Cool, who wasn’t actually selected for All-Star and is only playing because Caomei had to return home, played a jungle Lee Sin (not his normal position) and dominated the early game, getting successful early ganks top, bot, and mid, helping get Team Ice out to an early lead. Froggen, who was saddled with the fan favorite Froggen pick into Bjergsen’s Zed, wasn’t expected to do well, but he managed not to feed in the early game and became an absolute beast late.

Ice held a kill and gold lead for virtually the entire game, with their only weakness seeming to be Doublelift, who got off to a slow start in the bot lane and died a few times. The final push came courtesy of Team Ice’s super minions, who pushed down both of Fire’s nexus towers while Team Ice distracted Fire with a baron attempt and Cool dove deep to prevent any of them from dealing with the super minions until it was too late. Once the nexus towers were down, Ice slayed the baron and made one last push for the win.

GiA MVP: Cool. Froggen played well too, but Cool went 10-2-16 on a champion he doesn’t play in a position he doesn’t play for a team he wasn’t originally chosen to be a part of. Moreover, his early ganks helped ensure everyone else’s success (including Froggen’s) in the late game.

Cloud 9 vs. OMG

Game 1

OMG takes game one with some help from the baron buff.

OMG seemed to have done a bit more scouting before this game, smartly banning Elise away from Meteos and Morgana away from Lemonnation, while securing Thresh for Allen. The game got off to a very slow start, with first blood not coming until the 11th minute when a successful gank of top lane netted C9 a kill on GoGoing and a turret.

The game swung on a C9 mistake around the 25 minute mark, when Balls got caught out and killed, freeing OMG up to secure a risky baron. That enabled them to push deeper into C9 territory, and by the time the baron respawned, OMG’s vision in the area was far superior. Cloud 9 couldn’t afford to allow an uncontested baron, but forced to foray into an un-warded area, they were picked apart by OMG, who then took baron, dragon, and—a few minutes later—the game.

GiA MVP: OMG.Allen. He may have died a few times, but he had the highest kill participation on his team and his hooks were crucial in getting the picks that turned teamfights in OMG’s favor.

Game 2