It was a solid 3-1 victory by the regular season champions over Immortals. Their match against Cloud9 on Sunday is set to be one of the most exciting and important games all year.
We had another big playoff game in the LCS. TSM and Immortals were set to play. For the loser, their season was over. For the winner, they'd face Cloud9 on Sunday, in a match to decide NA's third and final Worlds representative. How did things work out?
Game 1: TSM snowball into 32-minute win
It was a slow early game to kick things off. We wouldn't have any kills until 13 minutes in, with TSM building a gold lead through farm.
By the 15-minute mark, TSM had a slight lead over the map. But they'd keep the pressure on Immortals. Heo "Huni" Seung-hoon's Gnar kept Immortals needing to defend their sidelanes, and David "Insanity" Challe's Ryze was hard-pressed to counter. TSM took fights they knew they could win and followed up on it. Eventually, IMT started falling apart, and were getting picked off all over the rift. Calm and collected, TSM closed it out at 32 minutes.
Game 2: Back-and-forth match sees the favourites come out on top
After attempting plays all over the map in the early game, Immortals finally capitalized in the mid lane at 6 minutes. The rest of the early game would be similarly action-packed. Great plays were made on both sides of the rift, and at 15 minutes, gold was even and kills were 6-5 Immortals.
While Immortals road a small lead into the mid game, a fight win put TSM right back in it. They'd win another at 23 minutes, and clearly were the better of the two sides in 5v5s. A few picks game Immortals a brief respite, but another fight win saw TSM firmly establish which team was better.
Immortals still showed resiliency, though, picking off two around Baron to take the objective at 31 minutes. TSM were able to shut IMT's push down, though. Ultimately, TSM would push back and take the win in 37 minutes.
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Game 3: Immortals snowball early picks into their first win over TSM all year
Immortals were on blue side for Game 3, their first time all series. Again, they'd find a good early game, this time courtesy of a scrappy fight in the top side. They'd then convert that into multiple dives, finding multiple kills. While IMT had had good early games all series, it seemed like this one might be going even better.
As the mid-game neared, Immortals continued to keep up the pressure. Andrei "Xerxe" Dragomir's Xin Zhao in particular was getting very fed. While TSM tried to match them, Immortals still managed to keep finding picks.
Ultimately, IMT would build to a 10k gold lead. It was insurmountable, and they closed it out faster than any of TSM's wins over them.
Game 4: TSM close things out in dominant fashion
Action in Game 4 started before the first minute, when Insanity was caught out in the mid lane.
A disastrous Rift Herald fight meant TSM were winning the early game hard. Lawrence "Lost" Hui's Tristana in particular was getting far ahead. By 16 minutes, they'd amassed a 5k gold lead. There wouldn't actually be much more fighting throughout the match, simply because Immortals couldn't match them. At 25 minutes, the match was over. TSM took the game and series win.
What's next for each team?
For Immortals, their season is over. They had some promising moments, especially for the low budget that this roster cost. Homegrown talent like Mohamed "Revenge" Kaddoura showed great progression this year. But ultimately, they fall out 5th-6th in Summer.
For TSM, there's one last, important game. On Sunday, they'll take on Cloud9. For the loser, their season is over. For the winner, it's off to China as a participant in the 2021 World Championship.
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