It was a wild weekend for Philippine League of Legends. Garena Philippines’ Pro Gaming Series (PGS) Spring 2015 concluded its playoffs this weekend. Four teams battled it out, for a total of 11 games in two days, to see who truly was the best of the best. Before we declare the champion however, let us first take a look at the journeys of the two teams who made it to the final showdown:

PGS 2015 Spring Season Playoffs [REPLAY] (c) Garena

The Unbeaten

Once qualified for Worlds, Mineski fell off for a few seasons when a slew of roster changes and poor performances led the team to struggle within the local league. After the Manila Eagles controversy, a more stable lineup was formed, with Yume, Tgee (now as a top laner) and Exo from the Worlds lineup in the squad along with jungler Kulit and support Noel.

This season was Mineski’s best, finishing the regular season not only unbeaten but with dominating wins. Entering the playoffs, they were up against Pacific eSports, a fellow contender in the Garena Premier League (GPL). For this series, substitute Ced came in as AD carry, temporarily moving Exo to the support role.

After 14 straight wins, it was disappointing that their first loss would not be from another team, but their own internet connection. After they were unable to reconnect for some time, they forfeited their match. It was interesting to note however that Pacific had a good early lead with Niidz on Katarina getting kills.

In game 2, it was Kulit and surprisingly, Exo on support, who stepped up for the team. Kulit’s Nidalee and Exo’s Annie were all over the map, setting up ganks left and right. Pacfic managed to hold on as they exploited Mineski’s overeagerness, but slowly the tides again turned against them. Things swiftly turned worse when after a successful fight, they decided to go for Baron Nashor. Mineski punished them hard for it, taking a fifth dragon just to ensure a complete victory.

Game 3 was a mirror of the previous match. Mineski’s superior teamwork and ability to translate kills into objectives improved over the course of the series. While Pacific were able to take early leads, they meant nothing if map/vision control wasn’t applied in conjunction.

Technically still “undefeated”, Mineski moved on to the grand finals.

Trial By Fire

Winning four consecutive championships, local juggernauts GameX-WarGods looked to cement their claim as the best team in 2015 by running home with a PGS title. After falling flat of qualifying for the second round of GPL, the team bounced back, finishing strong in the regular season.

However, due to unfortunate circumstances, Ken “Skill” Garcia wasn’t able to play in the playoffs, leaving WarGods scrambling for a replacement. They brought in Kier “Rivane” Goli for  his first professional stint. With only a few weeks of preparation under his belt, the PGS playoffs were going to be a tough debut for the WarGods’ new jungler.

Facing Imperium Pro Team, a former GPL contender, the first game showcased Rivane’s skills as more than just a solo queue warrior. His tendency to play a carry style of jungling showed as his Pantheon participated in the action all around the map. His synergy with solo laners Otchie and JLC was tight as well, considering the limited amount of practice time. Unfortunately, the game was overturned for WarGods around the 30-minute mark when poor late game decisions and an extremely tanky Cho’Gath from IPT H4T3 cost them the win.

The loss turned WarGods’ killswitch on, as games two and three became dominating performances for the team. After a terrible first game, vyy showed why he’s still one of the top ADCs in the Philippines. He stood tall in both games as he was virtually unkillable with his good positioning and kiting. Rivane impressed viewers with the versatility of his picks. Add the team’s fondness for risky dives and grouped roams and they were able to crush IPT two games in a row, landing them a ticket into the championship.

The Showdown

(Click to watch the series here)

Both JLC and Tgee were known as strong Irelia players. This series served as a testament as to why. Grabbing the Will of the Blades, Mineski simply crushed WarGods during the first game of the grand finals. Kulit on Sejuani effectively shut down rookie Rivane on Lee Sin and yum3 handily won his lane versus Otchie.

Game 2 was JLC’s turn. While his Irelia was not as monstrous as Tgee’s, he performed really well throughout the game. Similar to his lane opponent, he provided the necessary map pressure for rotations and a front line presence in teamfights. Rivane brought out his strong Wukong once more, and vyy once again provided the burst needed by the team. Their all-out style paid off this round, as they forced Mineski a 26-minute surrender, and their first true loss.

From game 3 forward, both teams have finally realized Irelia’s power on both sides of the matchup and promptly banned her. At this point, Mineski figured out Rivane’s jungling style as Kulit countered the freshman jungler at almost every opportunity. Winning out the early game, Mineski used their Ezreal mid lane team composition’s powerspike to propel themselves towards a larger lead and eventually the second win — snowballing via strong pokes and a solid frontline of Leona and Sion.

On the ropes, WarGods continued their tried-and-tested all-in lineups, this time with Stronger on support Fiddlesticks. Fiddlestick’s massive crowd control abilities, paired with a lane swap on vyy and JLC, were effective. Their bottom lane duo of Lissandra and Fiddlesticks eventually destroyed Mineski’s Jinx and Leona. The game also highlighted the pattern of jungler performance dictating the result of the game. Rivane worked wonders with his Lee Sin, whereas Kulit struggled as Rengar.

With the score tied, Mineski and WarGods entered a do-or-die showdown for the title.

WarGods started strong with a successful level 1 invade, giving a kill to Otchie. The mid laner then used that small advantage to finally win over his lane opponent, yum3, whom he had trouble laning against throughout the games. Vyy was at his best performance as his Corki blazed through Mineski, cutting down anyone in his path. Stronger’s Fiddlesticks and JLC’s Sion were vital in setting up the plays that allowed them to divebomb the enemy. After a 35-minute slugfest, GameX WarGods sealed the deal and added another title in their already profilic collection of championships.

(Credits to Garena eSports for the images)

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