Rocked by the sudden temporary departure of starting jungler Rami "Inori" Charagh, a weakened Phoenix1 took on a slumping Team EnVyUs on Friday. P1 looked sloppy but secured the 2-0 sweep and left Los Angeles with a crucial win to close out Week 5, Day 1 of the North American League of Legends Championship Series.
EnVyUs had a strong start to Game 1 as jungler Nam "LirA" Tae-yoo's Elise picked up first blood and first tower gold around eight minutes. After back-and-forth trades in the early game, neither team held a definitive edge until NV caught Phoenix1 attempting to take Baron at 33 minutes and took a 3-for-1 teamfight. Snowballing after the fight, NV took a couple of towers while controlling the map, taking a Baron kill of their own at 42 minutes. Phoenix1 stayed within striking range, however, thanks to AD Carry No "Arrow" Dong-hyeon's incredible performance on Jhin, who dealt a total of 41,900 damage to enemy champions. Phoenix1 found an opening when substitute jungler William "Meteos" Hartman, who is replacing the aforementioned Inori for at least this week, stole Baron at 55 minutes, allowing P1 to take a 4-for-0 teamfight to end Game 1 in just under 57 minutes.
Meteos' Elise almost got away with counterjungling LirA's Rengar to begin Game 2, but some hesitation from Meteos cost his team two kills for first blood. Despite the early lead, however, NV couldn't increase their gold lead further, giving P1 a window to take control of the game with a free Baron kill at the 23-minute mark. Surging on the back of top laner Derek "zig" Shao's Gangplank, who finished with a game-high 20,200 damage dealt to enemy champions along with a 0/2/7 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) for 78 percent kill participation, Phoenix1 swept through EnVyUs' defenses and secured the 29-minute win to take home the 2-0 series sweep.
