Before the games even started, everyone was in for a treat. Both being their respective region's victors and M5 maintaining their throne, both teams were estimated to go about even.
Game 1 starts out explosively, with Taipei Assassins forcing heavy aggresion on M5's blue. They forced Diamondprox to flash after a close call to death and successfully take his blue.
Moscow 5 vs Taipei Assassins Game 1 M5 bans | TPA bans |       M5 picks | TPA picks |  Bot Top Mid Bot Jungle Top Bot Jungle Bot Mid |
Later, we see an unorthodox though methodical lane swap with Alex getting denied by Kog'Maw and Taric initially pressuring him mid. Meanwhile bottom was Genja on Vayne versus TPA's Toyz on Karthus.
As the game takes off from the eventful start, Kog'Maw baits out an intensive dive that would end up picking up Karthus.
Later on in the game, M5 seeks out TPA at dragon and after a well executed collapse performed by Moscow 5, Yorick picks up a triple kill, netting him massive strength for the rest of the game.
Due to this lead, M5 was able to just snowball the game in their favor, pressuring aggressively, taking a kill and burning the first tower after 20 minutes.
Instead of stalling, M5 wastes no time and baits the baron fight, rushing into TPA's jungle when they engage with Vayne and Evelynn tearing everyone up.
With M5 so far ahead, Eve could engage. Vayne couldn't even be touched and they just obliterated them, taking the Nexus and ending game 1.
Game 2's outlook would not have been expected to the viewers that watched Game 1. TPA learned their lessons from the first game and re assimilated themselves, seeking out the weaknesses in M5. The game looked grim starting off for M5 as GosuPepper on Zyra getting caught out at level 1 resulting in Vayne picking up a kill before the real game had even begun.
Moscow 5 vs Taipei Assassins Game 2 TPA bans | M5 bans | TPA picks | M5 picks | Mid Jungle Bot Bot Top Top Bot Mid Jungle Bot |
Alex Ich tried to dominate the lane as Zilean, but relentlessly was pressured by the TPA's jungler, resulting in 2 early deaths in lane. Through this early hyper-aggression that caught M5 off guard, they consistently kept the lead. M5 did not give up the fight, however, and persisted to go on getting dragon and use their item advantage from farming.
Unfortunately, it just wasn't enough as Alex gets picked off yet again, and Taipei Assassins absolutely melts baron. M5 tries to fend off the advantage by using mass revive with GA's, but it doesn't hold through as Stanley on Nidalee split pushes with blue while his team gets baron, resulting in a crushing defeat for M5.
Game 3 launches off with nerves awry and a ton on the line. GosuPepper almost gets caught again by Anivia's Q but proceeds to flash to safety. Both teams proceed to trade red buffs favoring aggressive jungling. Ezreal puts heavy pressure on Kog'Maw putting him quite far behind, and each team's jungler practically lives in the opposing jungler's territory.
Moscow 5 vs Taipei Assassins Game 3 M5 bans | TPA bans | M5 picks | TPA picks | Bot Mid Bot Jungle Top Bot Jungle Mid Bot Top |
Throughout the laning phase, lots of ganks are commited by both teams though are narrowly averted time and time again with the use of summoners. Stanley works his trademark magic bringing out his inner HotShotGG and split pushing methodically and successfully, bullying Damien and taking his tower with ease.
A fight erupts at dragon, which surely felt it was going to M5, but at the last second, a shocking use of Anivia's abilities picks up dragon for TPA, snowballing them ahead and allowing them to control M5's buffs all throughout the game.
At this point, TPA knows what they want and focus all their will on objectives, baiting M5 to a baron fight, taking dragon, catching M5 again and then fulfilling their desire to take out Nashor. For a brief moment, it appears as though M5 has a ray of hope as they pick off the enemy Mundo at the bottom lane as well as taking a few out top. TPA proves to be too powerful for their adversary and successfully dethrones M5 as "the best team" by handling them 4v5 while Nidalee pushes top to a victory, crushing M5 in League of Legend's largest upset to date!
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To proceed to part 2 of the semi-finals coverage, click the link below.
Links
Gosugamers - CLG.eu Vs. AZF