Our game against Mammoth was a vital one as a victory would bring us level with them in the race for a Gauntlet slot. Our draft of Ryze, Rek’Sai, Corki, Ezreal and Braum would be ready to fight anytime as Mammoth themselves drafted up Kennen for Topoon, Jarvan IV for Babip, Lissandra for Triple as well as Kalista and Alistar for k1ng and Destiny.
The game started off with a bang as Raid picked up the first blood onto k1ng after Gravitas invaded the Mammoth red buff, but he teleported back in to get his revenge onto Raid’s Ezreal. Raid responded in kind with his own Teleport for a kill onto Destiny and the teams disengaged with 3 kills before the two minute mark. The next objective on the list was a Cloud Drake, which went our way not long after the early bloodshed.
Mammoth equalised the kill count at the 8 minutes mark as Babip swooped in to back up Triple’s engage on Praelus’ Rek’Sai and take the kill for himself. We put ourselves back in front when Praelus teamed up with our bot lane to take down Topoon in the top lane. The game calmed down until the 15 minute mark when a two-pronged attack from Mammoth yielded kills onto Praelus, Decoy and Pabu as well as two turrets in the top lane thanks to the Rift Herald.
Now 2k gold down, we searched for the an opportunity to bring it back and we found it when Triple overextended in the midlane, Pabu brought the rest of the team in to finish taking down Triple, k1ng and Destiny, but Babip and Topoon heroically attempted to salvage the fight. Their unsuccessful attempted completely reversed our gold deficit and the ace gave us the opportunity to pick up an Infernal Drake and press our advantage.
A second Infernal Drake went our way at the 24 minute mark after a couple kills were the only thing that interspersed a period of inactivity in the game. Now 4k gold up with towers equalised and an 11-6 kill advantage, the game was firmly in our control.
The 30 minute mark ticked by and again it was only a third Infernal Drake and a couple of towers that produced excitement. Mammoth started the Baron not long after but abandoned it to pursue Praelus. Our jungler did fall, but Mammoth decided not to go for the Baron even with Smite advantage. We pounced on the abandoned purple worm and reset with the buff to destroy three members of the Mammoth lineup in one fell swoop and finished off k1ng and Destiny seconds later for the second ace of the game.
The Baron buff lent its power to shattering the Mammoth base, but there wasn’t enough time to fully destroy it. Comfortable with the now 10k gold lead, we reset and prepared for one more assault on the base. A supposed pick onto Pabu gave Mammoth the opportunity they thought they wanted but they overcommitted and we wiped them to go 9-8 and go a game clear from Order in the race for the Gauntlet.
Praelus gives his thoughts after the game
We caught up with @PraelusOCE and got his thoughts on yesterday's game and the upcoming clash vs @LegacyOCE!#GRVWIN #GravitasGlory pic.twitter.com/IUi0Zwd48E
— Gravitas (@GravitasOCE) March 16, 2019
The second game against Legacy was an opportunity to put even more distance as we looked for a spot in the playoffs, and we drafted a stellar teamfight composition with a dash of assassination potential with Kennen, Rek’Sai, LeBlanc, Kalista and Braum. Legacy’s response was Renekton for Papryze, Jarvan IV for Guts, Syndra for Chazz in the midlane and a Kai’Sa and Galio for Praedyth and Crayzee.
In echoes of yesterday, Praelus found himself First Blood after he joined Pabu in taking down Papryze for an early chunk of gold for our man in the jungle. Legacy struck back with a kill onto Praelus and Braum narrowly got away as Decoy leapt to Raid’s Kalista over the wall. By the 10 minute mark the gold was tied, but Haeri went too deep for a kill onto Chazz and was blown up the Unleashed Power to give Legacy their third kill of the game.
A Mountain Drake had also gone Legacy’s way and a pick onto Praelus and Raid meant that our gold deficit had crept up and we were now down 2k. We avenged that teamfight defeat, at least in part, with a kill onto Papryze but the sacrifice was our midlane and botlane outer turrets. We struck back a second time at the 16th minute mark with kills onto Papryze, guts and Crayzee and the Infernal Drake to boot as our gold deficit evaporated,
Again it was a unfortunate echo of yesterday as the Rift Herald went to work on our toplane turrets and by 21 minutes the gold lead had again increased to 2k in Legacy’s favour due to another fight yielding kills on Pabu and Haeri. Legacy bagged themselves their own Infernal Drake.
Only two turrets and two thousand gold down, a fight around the Baron would be our best opportunity to salvage a victory from a game that was looking downhill. It started well, as LeBlanc blew up Chazz’s Syndra but in the end Haeri was the only one that would survive the ensuing fight as Legacy laid waste to both our roster and the Baron. With a huge advantage, Legacy began to lay siege to our base.
When it came time for the do-or-die fight, we had to be ready. A small reprieve was granted by Legacy as they reset following the expiration of the Baron buff, but wasted no time in scooping up the Cloud Drake en route to demolishing the rest of our towers. Out of nowhere a teamfight erupted between our red buff and raptors, and what looked like a good fight for us was quickly turned as Praedyth’s Kai’Sa ripped us to shreds and the Legatrees took the victory, making the final week of the split that much more important.
Brandon “Juves” Defina and Raid had a quick chat after the game
