Week 3, Day 1 of the North American League of Legends Championship Series kicked off in Los Angeles on Friday with a struggling Immortals taking on a surging Phoenix1. While it was by no means clean, Phoenix1 soared over Immortals to take home a 2-0 series sweep.
Immortals had a strong start in Game 1 as jungler Joshua "Dardoch" Hartnett picked up several early kills on Lee Sin. While Dardoch and top laner Lee "Flame" Ho-Jong's Jayce were performing well, they couldn't capitalize on their leads in a meaningful way before Phoenix1 came back on the back of mid laner Yoo "Ryu" Sang-ook, who was a monster on Cassiopeia. Dealing massive damage throughout the game, Ryu landed a couple of Petrifying Gazes in the late game to put P1 ahead, leading to two Barons and two Elder Dragons. In a back-and-forth game where both teams looked scared to act, Ryu carried P1 through the ups and downs, dealing nearly 27,000 damage to enemy champions while posting a 8/2/6 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) as Phoenix1 won the longest game of the season in 54:47.
While Immortals picked up first blood around seven minutes to start Game 2, Ryu's Corki kept Phoenix1 within striking distance by picking up a solo kill on Eugene "Pobelter" Park's Syndra, who struggled throughout the series. With a poor draft from Immortals, Phoenix1 was free to set up and siege IMT towers down with impunity thanks to the massive poke damage coming out from Ryu and No "Arrow" Dong-hyeon's Varus. Phoenix1 was methodical in its approach, taking almost every objective on the map in the mid to late game while starving Immortals of much needed resources and gold. With no means for Immortals to initiate a game-changing teamfight, Phoenix1 took its time in a 42-minute win to complete the 2-0 series sweep.
