The 100 Thieves start off their 2018 NA LCS Summer Playoff journey with a decisive 3-0 sweep against FlyQuest.
.@100Thieves make an epic comeback and sweep @FlyQuestSports to book their tickets to Oakland! #100WIN #NALCS pic.twitter.com/NbFduGKXcD
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) August 26, 2018
The 100 Thieves were coming into the playoff scene with a lack of momentum from the regular season. They would finish the second half of the split 5-5, with some key losses against top tier teams. They were playing pretty inconsistently through this NA LCS season, with their ADC, Cody Sun, playing at a very lackluster rate. Also, mid laner Ryu and new jungler AnDa were not playing as well as they could be. The two biggest factors to their success are veteran support Aphromoo and superstar top laner Ssumday. For example, Ssumday is being considered for Most Valuable Player honors, as he has been able to carry many of 100 Thieves’ games to victory. Additionally, Aphromoo’s macro and decision making were invaluable throughout the season, and his ability to lead his squad is what has gotten them this far.
As for FlyQuest, they haven’t had much success lately. They would end the NA LCS season with a loss to Cloud9, and wouldn’t even win a single tiebreaker game. Also, through the second half of the split, they would falter against many top-tier teams. In fact, it seems like they were the weakest team in the playoff race by a wide margin. Their mid laner Keane has not been playing too great the whole season. Also, their bottom lane of WildTurtle and JayJ have been very on and off throughout the summer. It would be a pretty tall task for FlyQuest to take down 100 Thieves, who had even beat them in the tiebreaker matches.
Slow and Steady
FlyQuest would actually take a small lead early in game one, thanks to Santorin’s early aggression with Nocturne. His ability to dive towers with his team, as well as stymie 100 Thieves’ own attacks were very effective. However, 100 Thieves would outplay FlyQuest in the later stages of the game. FlyQuest’s lack of a true shotcaller would show in the messiness of their mid to late game. On the other hand, Aphromoo would help the Thieves take fight after fight away from their opponents. With superior macro and two late game scaling champs in Ryze and Tristana, the 100 Thieves would take game one in 32 minutes.
In game two, the two teams would choose the exact same compositions. However, this time the game would produce completely different results. Instead of Santorin finding success in the early game, he wouldn’t find any success at all. The 100 Thieves would instead utilize some great team movement and outplay FlyQuest once again. When the mid-game would roll by, the 100 Thieves would hit their power spikes and completely run over FlyQuest in 33 minutes.
Game three was a much closer affair, with FlyQuest taking a huge lead going into the late game. FlyQuest’s top laner Flame would find great success with Camille, split pushing into the 100 Thieves’ base. However, when the late game would hit, 100 Thieves would make another comeback. They would find catch after catch until the lead FlyQuest found slowly chipped down to nothing. With the lead back in their favor, they would eventually outplay FlyQuest and take the series win.
What’s Next
100 Thieves are now up against Team Liquid in the NA LCS playoff semifinals. It will be a tall task for the Thieves, as TL has been the best team in the region for a reason. They are also the only team they have not beat this summer. They will have to rely on Ssumday’s stellar play and Aphromoo’s brilliant shotcalling to lead them to one of the biggest upsets this year.
What do you think of 100 Thieves’ victory over FlyQuest? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below! If you want more NA LCS Playoff coverage, check us out here!
Published: Aug 26, 2018 11:15 pm