The hometown crowd roared with joy as its favorites advanced to the semifinals.
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paiN vs ISG
The first match was between paiN Gaming and Isurus Gaming Argentina. Even before the match, IGS was fighting an uphill battle, as the crowd was clearly rooting for paiN, being the hometown heroes. On drafts, ISG had a very Yasuo-centric comp, relying on Shyvana and Zac for the knockup and Sivir/Leona for the strong engage. PaiN responded with an AoE comp with Amumu, Annie, and Gragas, Trundle as the tank basher, and Lucian with the cleanup.
While ISG had a good comp, it relied so much on proper positioning and engaging, something that the team wasn't able to show this game. While it was a fairly even match early on, paiN had the superior teamfighting skill. Also, the problem of a Yasuo lineup is that he will always dive in, and most of the time in the match, he does so alone. Trundle and Amumu became too tough a wall for ISG to crack, and one bad teamfight after another for the Latin American team cost them Game 1.
The second game was a little more interesting, especially in the drafts. Maokai and Volibear are junglers barely seen in competitive play these days, so it's nice to see them in the Rift once more. The entire game can be summed up as ISG throwing the game when they had it. An amazing early game got them the lead, but terrible teamfights got paiN back on track, particularly the bot lane, where we saw Minerva land godlike hooks and brTT decimate the enemy team with his axes.
Lyon vs SWE
The second match was another Brazil vs Latin America duel, as Mexico's Lyon Gaming took on Seven Wars e-sports. Again, the crowd was on the home court side, and the Brazilians' intensity really shook up the IEM Sao Paulo stage.
In the first game, SWE had a late game teamcomp that won the early game. Strong ganks in the bot and mid lane by Krow got the ball rolling immediately for his team. While both Lyon and SWE had great AoE comps, the latter scaled much better, and the early wins helped them get to that power spike even faster.
The second game was a complete reversal of the previous one, as Lyon wrecked SWE here. Zantins picking Rumble against a Dr. Mundo was not the best of decisions, as the Madman of Zauns scaling and tankiness would prove to be better than the Yordle's AoE sustain damage. Uri on Ziggs was on fire, and Thyak's Olaf simply ran through SWE, cracking open the enemy team.
With the semifinals on the line, the third and last game was an absolute brawl. Both teams had powerful late game comps with each role almost identical in purpose, the main difference being the top lane (Yasuo the carry vs Renekton the tank). While it was an interesting back and forth match, Zantins got fed to the point where he could chunk down Renekton, Lyon's wall. While both had not-so-great teamfighting skills, in terms of positioning and targeting, it was SWE who managed to get the better of situation and turn it into a win.
