RNG vs T1

After staging a heroic comeback to claw back from a huge deficit, T1 secured several late game objectives to get ahead. In a tense fight around the enemy Nexus, they narrowly dispatched their enemies to take game 2; let's break down how they did it.

The Play

State of the Game

At 40 minutes into the game, the minor gold difference is completely irrelevant, and the winner will be decided by who can clutch out a fight. By winning a huge team fight around the Elder Drake, T1 claimed the Baron and are using its buff to push into RNG's base. They also found a pick on Xiaohu's Sylas, and are using their numbers advantage to close out the game.

Both teams have fantastic late game power with carries in all lanes. Gumayusi's Xayah and GALA's Kai'Sa have a lot of peel from their ultimates, and from Keria's Renata Glasc and Ming's Nautilus.

Late Game Carries

T1 start off the play slowly, buffing up 2 minion waves with their Baron buff and using it to push into RNG's base. RNG split up with Kai'Sa (GALA) and Nautilus (Ming) on the top side while Sejuani (Wei) and Fiora (Breathe) are near bot. T1 spot this opportunity and look to blow up the huge threat of Kai'Sa, grouping as 4 and moving forward.

Viego (Oner) flashes forward with his stun, critically forcing Kai'Sa to flash away. Though it doesn't hit the Kai'Sa, it does land on Nautilus who also misses his hook. This gives T1 the opportunity to shred through the squishy support.

As Renata Glasc (Keria) uses the Hostile Takeover to zone the Kai'Sa away, Fiora (Breathe) tries to engage. However, this is thwarted by an expertly timed Renata Q:

Understanding Your Role

Though T1's comp has a lot of damage, they are very squishy and lack a front line. With a late game Xayah, Akali and Jayce besides him, Viego realises he is not the carry in this fight so acts as the front line for his team.

He moves forward to create space for his carries to damage the towers, and buys a ton of time between the Renata W and his GA:

The fight then becomes split; Kai'sa, Nautilus and Xayah (Gumayusi) exchange blows on the top side, while Sejuani and Fiora look to 2v1 the Jayce (Zeus). Kai'Sa chunks Xayah's healthbar after Nautilus lands a hook, but Xayah strikes back and takes down the squishy Nautilus.

A beautiful combo by Akali (Faker) secures an insta kill on the Kai'Sa, but RNG reply with a big kill onto the Jayce, proccing Fiora's ultimate healing. With so many low health bars on T1's side, Fiora looks to clean up the fight and focuses the Xayah first:

Although the Fiora gets very close, a clutch W from Renata saves Xayah and buys her enough time to finish off the Fiora and stop Bailout's damage.

This extended skrimish has allowed Sylas (Xiaohu) to respawn and at full health, he may be able to clean up the fight. Critically, Xayah lifesteals off the minions using her Bloodthirster, giving Sylas no chance of 1v3ing.

Summary

This was an incredibly close fight that was ultimately decided by tiny outplays. In such a tense moment, Gumayusi came through and had the composure to realise he could lifesteal off the minions. Without this extra health, he could have died to Xiaohu's Sylas.

Keria also came up clutch with some huge Bailouts and brilliant roots onto RNG's carries, allowing Gumayusi to stay deathless and pop off. If Keria hadn't made these crucial saves, RNG would have taken down T1's carries and could have closed out the game.

Off the back of this huge comeback, T1 used the momentum to sweep the series 3-0 and advance to the semi-finals.