Phoenix1 take third place in the 2017 North American LCS Spring Split Playoffs coming out on top of FlyQuest in Saturday’s Third Place match. This win gives Phoenix1 50 Championship Points which will help towards Worlds qualification come the end of the year, while FlyQuest receive only 30 Championship Points.
Game one was a show of force for Phoenix1 and made it seem like the series could be over quickly, as they took an early lead and carefully turned it into game winning advantages.
However, FlyQuest proved that the series wouldn’t be that easy with a strong display in Game two that centered around Moon taking early control and focusing midlane to help give Hai a healthy lead over Ryu. FlyQuest snowballed this lead and managed to take the game.
The third game in the series went about like the second with the addition of a few ambitious picks from Phoenix1 including a Talon for Ryu and Ziggs for Arrow. Neither of these worked out at all and put them in a huge early game hole that FlyQuest turned into a win with some Varus picks.
Game four was a return to form for Phoenix1 as they pull out a few new tricks including Twitch for Arrow and Elise for Inori. Inori’s early game focus on the champion got P1 out to a huge early lead, which lead to FlyQuest getting overwhelmed, frequently getting caught out and struggling to put together a strong defense.
Finally, in Game five Phoenix1 got some of their best comfort champions including Kled for Zig and Leblanc for Ryu. This created a strong early game for the team, however, FlyQuest refuse to go down easily. They fight back once in the midgame before P1 gain the lead again, and manage to barely save their base with an ace in the late game with just one Nexus tower remaining. However, P1 took a Baron and forced a teamfight inside the FlyQuest base after catching Lemonnation. This leads to a back and forth fight that P1 wins allowing them to close the game and take third place.
7:36 pm ET — FlyQuest are doing their best to keep themselves alive despite an 11k gold deficit, leading to the highest energy of the night from the very pro-FlyQuest crowd.
7:26 pm ET -- FlyQuest turn a fight in their own jungle and come out ahead with a 3-2 trade pulling back a bit of their gold deficit.
7:25 pm ET — Phoenix1 are putting priority on midlane picking two fights there in a row both resulting in favorable trades and, ultimately, a 6k gold lead by 30 minutes.
7:15 pm ET — 20 minutes in and kills are at 6-2 in favor of P1. Alongside their 4-3 lead in towers, P1 has accumulated a 3k lead in gold and a 2-0 lead in drakes.
7:07 pm ET — Kled does Kled things turning a 2 v 1 tower dive top from FlyQuest into a double kill. This allows P1’s bottom lane to push with Inori and take their second tower.
7:05 pm ET — First tower goes to P1 increasing their lead to a 2k at 10 minutes.
6:57 pm ET — An strange level 1 fight in the FlyQuest jungle nets P1 first blood and an extra red buff.
6:48 pm ET — Pick and Ban Game 5
There are a lot of things to watch going into this game, but the big one will be Arrow. If he can do well on the Ashe and create solid teamfights for P1 then their damage is going to be overwhelming. On the FlyQuest side, Kassadin will have to have a solid early game in order to have enough damage to make his early game impactful.
P1: Kled, Elise, Leblanc, Ezreal, Lulu
Bans: Malzahar, Talon, Viktor, Shen, Nautilus
Fly: Gragas, Kha’Zix, Kassadin, Caitlyn, Karma
Bans: Rengar, Graves, Ivern, Kennen, Gangplank
6:33 pm ET — A lot of kills just happened toplane, but what really mattered was the Zig was on the Nexus towers, helping P1 take down FlyQuest and even the series.
6:29 pm ET — FlyQuest starting to look a little desperate as they begin to get caught out more and more frequently. If the second and third games were the FlyQuest that beat CLG, then this is the one that was swept by TSM.
6:26 pm ET — P1 are spreading all the way out across the map beating FlyQuest on every front and in every role. Up to an almost 10k gold lead at 25 minutes.
6:21 pm ET — P1 take a huge fight toplane and get four kills bringing their 20 minute lead to 14-2.
6:13 pm ET — For the first time since game 1 P1 are taking over the early game thanks to some phenomenal and aggressive ganks from Inori as well as two fantastic skirmishes botlane including one that gave them an ace and first tower.
6:00 pm ET — Pick and Ban Game 4
The comps have a bit of a mirror this time with both teams having protect the AD Carry comps with some extra damage mid.
Fly: Nautilus, Kha’Zix, Ekko, Kog’Maw, Lulu
P1: Shen, Elise, Syndra, Twitch, Karma
5:39 pm ET — Despite that brief setback, FlyQuest are able to pick up Baron and a fifth(!) Drake then walk into the P1 base, win a teamfight and finish the game.
5:35 pm ET — Balls shows why FlyQuest have prioritized Nautilus as he turns a team fight and leads to a near ace taking FlyQuest into the P1 base. P1 respawns and manages to ace FlyQuest with only a few hundred health left on the Nexus, narrowly preventing a loss.
5:28 pm ET — This isn’t exactly game related but there is now a bird flying around the Pacific Coliseum.
Back to the game, FlyQuest took Baron and has started to siege the P1 base.
5:25 pm ET — Inori’s struggles continue as he Smites the Drake early allowing it to be stolen by Moon. This gives FlyQuest 2 Mountain and 1 Infernal Drake.
5:22 pm ET — Hai looked caught out but a good shockwave and a few missed abilities — particularly from Inori — helps him get out and FlyQuest grab a turret.
5:19 pm ET — FlyQuest start to take control of the game as they get First Tower thanks to Moon’s strong jungle presence.
5:11 pm ET — A botched gank top from P1 results in an unnecessary trade and Balls pulling out an unlikely kill. 9 mi utes in and FlyQuest are enjoying solid 1.5k gold lead.
5:03 pm ET — Pick and Ban Game 3
Hey, look. It’s Ziggs bottom lane. That’s interesting. P1’s damage is going to be incredibly overwhelming. If they get a chance to siege they will be in a great place. For FlyQuest the game is going to rely on catching people of out position before team fights and holding off the initial damage so Ezreal can make an impact.
Fly: Nautilus, Kha’Zix, Orianna, Ezreal, Malzahar
Bans: Leblanc, Kennen, Graves, Syndra, Ahri
P1: Jarvan IV, Gragas, Talon, Ziggs, Lulu
Bans: Shen, Rengar, Ivern, Karma, Zyra
4:42 pm ET — Right on time, Kog’Maw pentakill to end Game 2 for FlyQuest.
4:40 pm ET — The FlyQuest cheers continue as they move into the P1 base at 30 minutes and grab two inhibitors.
I think it’s safe to say red side is going to have to start banning Kog’Maw in this series. Even if he doesn’t end up with high kills in the game, his siege is pretty tough to deal with.
4:31 pm ET — FlyQuest is playing super safe, only committing to light sieges to help build on their gold lead. These sieges lead to a mid tower around 23 minutes and a 4k gold lead.
4:22 pm ET — I’m having Season 6 flashbacks as P1’s bottom lane moves top in a hope to get the first tower, but FlyQuest’s bottom lane takes their tower first. FlyQuest continues their push and takes an inhibitor tower while P1 just manages a Tier 1.
4: 13 pm ET — Huge cheers in the arena for FlyQuest winning the fan vote!
4:10 pm ET — Pick and Ban Game 2
P1 have a solid pick comp but it should be able to teamfight well with the Lulu Wild Growth. FlyQuest will look for solid distractions while shields keep Kog’Maw’s consistent damage safe.
Fly: Nautilus, Ivern, Talon, Kog’Maw, Karm
Bans: Leblanc, Kennen, Graves, Varus, Ezreal
P1: Rumble, Kha’Zix, Syndra, Jhin, Lulu
Bans: Shen, Rengar, Ashe, Orianna, Fizz
3:49 pm ET — A beautiful Equalizer and some bold positioning by Arrow lead P1 into the FlyQuest base where they make short work of the first inhibitor and move onto the Nexus, taking game 1
3:47 pm ET — P1 turns a FlyQuest engage mid into a favorable trade of 2-1 helping lead them to the games first baron a few minutes later at 29 minutes.
3:41 pm ET — Both teams are continuing to play safe and slow as at 24 minutes with P1 up 3-2 in turrets and 5-2 in kills, but only a 2k gold lead.
3:29 pm ET — P1 take the first tower at 11:30 with a 4-1 kill lead, though FlyQuest got the first drake (infernal).
3:27 pm ET — A comedy of errors from FlyQuest turns a smart invade into a 3 for 0 trade in favor of P1.
3:25 pm ET — 7 minutes in and the biggest cheer in the arena comes from two wards being cleared back to back. Despite a couple small skirmishes in mid and bottom, no kills yet.
3:17 pm ET — Pick and Ban Game 1
FlyQuest are going to hope to overwhelm with their damage early in team fights with Nautilus soaking up P1’s initial abilities. P1 on the other hand are going to hope they sustained damage will let Arrow take advantage of Kog’Maw’s high damage.
FLY: Nautilus, Graves, Syndra, Varus, Zyra
Bans: Leblanc, Kennen, Kha’Zix, Lucian, Talon
P1: Rumble, Ivern, Jayce, Kog’Maw, Lulu
Bans: Shen, Rengar, Camille, Malzhara, Orianna
3:00 pm ET — The TSM chants start early in the Pacific Coliseum!
The final week of the 2017 NA LCS Spring Split Playoffs kicks off with Phoenix1 vs FlyQuest in the Third Place Match. The two teams were consistently in the top of the LCS table but will come into the game from very different places.
The Third Place match will play an important role in the path to Worlds for both teams involved with the winner of receiving 50 Championship Points while the loser will receive 30 Championship Points.
For all the information about the possible matchups as well as the schedule, bracket and results from all of the NA LCS Playoffs check out our post here.
For Phoenix1, the season started well, before taking a brief dip in the middle and ending the season strong. In playoffs they have had two very different series with the first as a quick 3-0 win against Team Dignitas while their series last weekend was an equally quick 3-0 loss to NA finalist Cloud9. Against FlyQuest the key for Phoenix1 will revolve around the effectiveness of their late game decision making and how well they can capitalize on a lead early.
FlyQuest, on the other hand, haven’t had an easy match in the playoffs so far. Their first series against Counter Logic Gaming was won in a reverse sweep in some long and drawn out games. In the semifinals against Team SoloMid they were swept in a clean 3-0 putting up little challenge for North America’s number one seed. If they are going to come out on top against Phoenix1 they are going to need to rely on a creative Pick and Ban phase and a better early game than they in their first two series.
The best-of-five series will start at 3 p.m. ET.
Phoenix1
- Derek “Zig” Shao
- Rami “Inori” Charagh or William “Meteos” Hartman
- Yoo “Ryu” Sang Wook
- Noh “Arrow” Dong-hyeon
- Jordan “Shady” Robinson
FlyQuest
- Top: An “Balls” Lee
- Jungle: Galen “Moon” Holgate
- Mid: Hai Lam
- ADC: Johnny “Altec” Ru
- Support: Daerek “LemonNation” Hart
