(courtesy of slaskiepozytywnie.pl)

Heading into the series Ever was certainly the more rested of the two teams. TSM had just ended a grueling three game set which was certainly not pretty. Yet nonetheless they were the victors and now had to dig deep to find the drive to win another series. Ever had only played two games on the day; their miraculous comeback against TSM and a fairly quick defeat in the Group A Winners Final. It would be interesting to see if the fatigue played any factor in this series.

Game 1

Team SoloMid grabbed an early lead in this one and never let it go. After being gifted an early double kill, TSM was in full control of this game. It was not exactly pretty as TSM forced multiple fights against ESC Ever’s team fighting centric comp. Many TSM fans probably felt a bit of anxiety towards the middle of this game when TSM continued to ignore their split pushing win condition. There were shades of their monumental throw from earlier in the day. Ever hung tight but eventually TSM’s lead was too much for even them to throw. TSM took advantage of a fed Fiora and Ever could do nothing about her split pushing. Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell became unstoppable on Fiora, pushing down turrets and an inhibitor as a helpless Nautilus stood by.

One of the keys to victory in this game was TSM’s draft. The Kog’maw pick was looking very vulnerable against Ever’s team fighting comp. Smartly, TSM used their last pick on Zilean, ensuring that when Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng inevitably gets caught out he will be given an extra lease on life. Soren “Bjergsen” Bjerg had been TSM’s most consistent and quality player on the day and this game was no exception. He was constantly landing double bombs and turning fights with timely ultimates.  This was a really smart draft from TSM and they eventually used it to close out the game.

Game 2

This was by far the best TSM has played so far at IEM. However, much of that was due to the ineptitude of Ever. They looked futile in this second game and played nowhere near the level they displayed while winning both IEM Cologne and the Kespa Cup. Han-gi “Key” Kim won the MVP at the Kespa Cup and was praised for his fantastic Bard play at both tournaments yet looked like a different player in this series. Specifically in Game 2 his Bard ults were being wildly tossed around the map, missing his opponents by at least ten Teemos in length.

(courtesy of MSL)

Credit has to be given to TSM, as their victory wasn’t only due to Ever’s missteps. They were constantly outrotating Ever throughout this second game, consistently two or three steps ahead of their opponent. Doublelift and Bjergsen were so oppressive this game as they poured out damage, demolishing the Ever back line. Doublelift went 3-1 on Ezreal on the day, his only loss coming in their first game which should have certainly been a win. The Ezreal and Leblanc combination looked deadly and teams will have to figure out to counter these picks.

TSM are now the second team into the semifinals and are set to face the number 1 seed from Group B on Sunday. Their upcoming series will undoubtedly be against a better team and TSM will have to clean up their game if they want any chance of reaching the finals.

(courtesy of MSL)