North America LCS Week Four Recap MRN v. TSM
A prior win over a top team, CLG, gave MRN an upward momentum that they brought to bear against their self-proclaimed rivals, TSM. New fan favorites clashed with the old in an epic battle that yielded many surprises.
MRN opted for a mixture of classic anti-TSM bans with LeBlanc and Singed and eliminated Malphite for the sake of their desired "poke, poke, all-in" team comp. TSM banned extremely strong and annoying champs, some of which MRN were particularly known for. However, ClakeyD's mighty Jarvan IV slipped through the ban phase.
Team MRN
Bans: 
LeBlanc, 
Singed, 
Malphite
Picks:
ClakeyD - Jungle: 
Jarvan IV
AtomicN - Support: 
Alistar
Heartbeattt - ADC: 
Tristana
ecco - Mid: 
Nidalee
MegaZero - Solo: 
Akali
Team SoloMid
Bans: 
Twisted Fate, 
Kayle, 
Renekton
Picks:
Xpecial - Support: 
Taric
Chaox - ADC: 
Miss Fortune
Dyrus - Solo: 
Rumble
TheOddOne - Jungle: 
Xin Zhao
Reginald - Mid: 
Xerath
Level One:
Three of TSM’s players started with wards in their inventories to ensure they would see Jarvan IV coming for any very early ganks. Both would-be top laners gave their Junglers strong leashes for their respective bottom side buffs before heading down to 1v1 in bot for the laning phase.
Early Advantage:
Everyone was on their best behavior when it came to warding, dealing with their lane opponents, and surviving tricky ganks. First blood was awarded to Dyrus in bot lane after TheOddOne gave up on camping top lane against master bodyguard Alistar. TSM gave up an early dragon due to TOO’s focus on the top lane, and they lost a mid turret as a result of counter-pressure in the bot lane. The dragon and turret added up to the first meaningful gold lead of the game with 1k gold in MRN's favor at the 17 minute mark.
Mid Game Moves:
Some heavy trading brought the score to 2-3 in TSM’s favor, but MRN kept their lead with a second uncontested dragon and favorable map control. MRN redoubled their warding efforts and lit up nearly every inch of the bottom half of the map. TSM assembled to start their first dragon attempt. A great combo from Jarvan began Chaox’s demise, but Dyrus quickly got a double kill which brought him to 5-1 and allowed his team to go three for two in the fight. MRN came out with the dragon after TSM was forced to regroup at their fountain thanks to Nidalee.
Big Plays:
Both teams invested in an oracle. MRN had blue side working in their favor as they cleared the Baron pit of all wards, but TSM could only clear the back side of the Baron pit after Dyrus mistakenly showed himself during a big wave clear at the inner bottom turret. MRN reacted immediately and pummeled down Baron’s health. MRN had the buff before Rumble even showed up. Dyrus squeezed out a good ult and a couple of great harpoons to finish off Akali, but he and Reginald’s Xerath could not disperse the four remaining MRN members from TSM’s middle inhibitor which gave MRN a sizeable 6k gold lead at 34 minutes.
Game Closeout:
TSM set up a formidable ambush in the bottom lane as MRN marched toward a second inhibitor. TSM were only able to target MRN’s tanks which left Heartbeattt’s Tristana free to mow down TSM for a quadra kill. Reginald was, once again, forced to retreat with most of his team dead. MRN shattered the second inhibitor, but Tristana paid for it with her life; Xerath chunked her down and showed that he still had some fight left in him. This gave TSM no breathing room as MRN ratcheted their lead to 10k gold. After Dyrus was caught out of position, MRN forced TSM into one last fight, taking five kills for free. TSM surrendered moments later and drew the game to a close just before the 40 minute mark.
- Written by Joel Edward Maliskas
- Edited by Marissa Moody Kuo
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