What a great eight weeks of UK League of Legends it has been. With just four teams left to battle it out this week for two spots at i59 next Friday, it was all on the line for those involved.
Could Distrikt be stopped, Could MnM seek revenge or could exceL and UK Legends spring a trap and shake up these UK Masters playoff games? David Hollingsworth provides a recap…
Day One
Distrikt v UK Legends
It was a shame this game was played off-stream, because it was truly one of the weirdest games of UK Masters action so far. Thankfully, we at Esports news UK got a chance to see the replay of the game, so below is a brief summary of the action.
Distrikt going for the Teemo jungle into UK Legends’ equally odd Lee Sin jungle (a weird move as Teemo can’t blind he who is already blind)! Teemo went off and secured a level 3 penta after UK Legends tried to five-man the drake, little did they know that young Teemo had placed a mine-field of bombs in their wake.
Game two saw UK Legends take the Teemo top and preceded to feed Distrikt’s Nasus with over 400 Q stacks inside the first 15 minutes of play. UK Legends decided to just surrender at 20 and be done with it as they moved onto the lower bracket game against the loser of MnM and exceL.
The above is a lie, Distrikt did indeed win the series 2-0 but I have no idea what happened, I presume they destroyed the UK Legends’ Nexus first.
MnM v exceL
The first streamed game of the day kicked off between MnM and exceL.
exceL took a slight hit early on in the series – mid-laner Lukezy missed the match to scrim with Challenger Series qualifier hopefuls k1ck. He was replaced for the first day of games by Deathripi.
A back and forth early game led soon turned, as MnM started to turn the cogs and pushed the advantage. They sniped a few kills in the mid lane, snowballing into a baron kill, quickly followed by a bottom lane push after a slight mistake from the exceL lineup.
Game two was a slightly different game to the first. The opening 20 minutes saw 27 kills across both teams, with exceL taking the small advantage from the early game.
The kills did not remain evenly split, with exceL building on the early lead to end the game with 26 kills to MnM’s 12, taking the series into a third and final game.
Game three was an almost complete reverse of game two from the exceL point of view. They lost out on a double kill right away to the MnM ADC, who started the ball rolling from the very off for MnM. The lead was carried into the midway stage, with MnM building on the early lead and eventually moving onto the winner’s bracket game versus Distrikt.
UK Legends v exceL
Game one of the loser bracket series started off perfectly for exceL, they built an early lead into the mid-game but UK Legends refused to be put to pasture too soon, and the fightback was on.
After 15 minutes of solo queue action from both teams, at the half-hour stage, exceL secured a big baron kill, utilising the Ivern shrubberies to deny UK Legends with baron vision. The play ended up deciding the game, as exceL went 1-0 up.
Flipping game one onto its head, UK Legends did what exceL did in game one: taking an early lead and letting it fall off during the mid-game.
Thankfully for UK Legends, the game ended the same way as the exceL game did. UK Legends reapplied the pressure to take game two.
We're going all the way to a game 3! https://t.co/Rt09Tec38O #UKMasters pic.twitter.com/tkAIxYhf98
— UK Masters (@UKMasters) November 29, 2016
We went into the midnight hours for game three of the series, with sleep-deprived casters covering the action. exceL and UK Legends weren’t suffering it seemed, as they went back and forth in the opening 20 minutes.
That remained the case until exceL pushed into the mid-lane with a snipe under the inhib tower, leading to exceL taking the series 2-1 and moving them onto the lower bracket final game in day two, versus the loser of Distrikt and MnM.
Day Two
Distrikt v MnM
It’s UK Masters final week rematch time, with the two top seeded sides facing off to see who will secure the first slot at i59 on December 9th.
Distrikt has had a fairly remarkable UK Masters season; anyone who watched them each week could tell they had the potential to go the distance. And based on this final week of matches, it looked like Distrikt believed their own hype.
Distrikt went into game one clearly looking to build on the series against MnM the previous week – a surprise Twisted Fate may have shown the research done by Distrikt in preparation for this series. It was a dominant game one for Distrikt, with both teams having their fair share of the game, but Distrikt never seemed in much doubt as they took the first game of the series.
Distrikt steal the Baron away from @MnMGamingUK as they look to end this series! https://t.co/Rt09Tec38O@AOC_Gaming #UKMasters pic.twitter.com/5R2ljIvwtE
— UK Masters (@UKMasters) November 29, 2016
Distrikt had no intention of dropping form, after securing game one of the series, it was an all too dominant game two from them. Distrikt earnt themselves a 10k gold lead inside 20 minutes, and to rub salt into the burning wound, Distrikt stole the baron, as they closed the curtain on the series and secured their spot at i59.
MnM v exceL
The final spot at i59 was on the line and it was a rematch of the first game of day one, but would the two-game defeat to Distrikt just moments before this series have an impact?
You could tell the series had a lot at stake for both teams, as we got a really cagey opening, with only a small gold lead in the favour of exceL separating the two sides.
exceL managed to build on that lead as the game stretched into its deciding moments. They caught MnM off guard to lead the series 1-0.
MnM really started cooking with fire in game two of the series as they blasted out of the gates like a man possessed, building up early dominance and ending the game with a sizable 15k gold lead at 25-minutes. This took the series to its final and most important game.
Game three was close – it was the type of final game where you lay it all on the line for that last ticket to LAN and the chance to become UK LoL champions.
Game three started really close in the opening exchanges, MnM started to pull ahead in the late teens, though, and exceL really struggled to close the gap.
Plays were made, kills were secured and it was MnM who came out on top, split pushing from top and mid, they stretched exceL and pinned one member outside the base. The rest followed shortly after, as MnM cleaned up the towers and secured passage to i59.
.@MnMGamingUK take game 2, and set up a rematch with Distrikt at #Insomnia59 in the Grand Finals!
We'll see you at Insomnia! pic.twitter.com/EDhDiXdsJd
— UK Masters (@UKMasters) November 29, 2016
They took game 3, the tweet had a slight error.
To the NEC we fly
It’s almost over. UK LoL fans, there’s only one more game to go in this thrilling UK Masters season. We will see Molotov’s and Marshmallows face off against Distrikt for the third time this season as MnM look to make it three times a charm to clinch victory in the UK Masters.
MnM have already won the ESL UK Premiership and i58, now can they secure the UK Masters title and take the bigger share of the £20,000 prize pool?
Well done to exceL and UK Legends, who round out third and fourth place respectively in the UK Masters, as we head to the NEC for Insomnia i59 to crown our champion.
Follow the Multiplay LoL Twitch stream for live coverage of the final
