Team Composition Game 1
- Blue Side
EG Tony Top Karma
EG Contractz Udyr
EG Jojopyun Ryze
EG Shoryu Xayah
EG Mystiques Rakan
- Red Side
GGA Tally Gnar
GGA RoseThorn Hecarim
GGA Yunbee Orianna
GGA Prismal Ezreal
GGA Chime Rell
Team Composition Game 2
- Blue Side
GGA Tally Gragas
GGA RoseThorn Lillia
GGA Yunbee Lucian
GGA Prismal Aphelios
GGA Chime Thresh
- Red Side
EGA Tony Top Renekton
EGA Contractz Taliyah
EGA Jojopyun Sett
EGA Shoryu Kai’sa
EGA Mystiques Nautilus
Team Composition Game 3
- Blue Side
EGA Tony Top Karma
EGA Contractz Udyr
EGA Jojopyun Syndra
EGA Shoryu Jhin
EGA Mystiques Alistar
- Red Side
GGA Tally Gnar
GGA RoseThorn Hecarim
GGA Yunbee Twisted Fate
GGA Prismal Kai’sa
GGA Chime Rell
Team Composition Game 4
- Blue Side
GGA Tally Lulu
GGA RoseThorn Olaf
GGA Yunbee Orianna
GGA Prismal Xayah
GGA Chime Rell
- Red Side
EGA Tony Top Gnar
EGA Contractz Udyr
EGA Jojopyun Syndra
EGA Shoryu Kai’sa
EGA Mystiques Nautilus
Team Composition Game 5
- Blue Side
EGA Tony Top Lulu
EGA Contractz Hecarim
EGA Jojopyun Sylas
EGA Shoryu Xayah
EGA Mystiques Rakan
- Red Side
GGA Tally Gnar
GGA RoseThorn Udyr
GGA Yunbee Viktor
GGA Prismal Kai’sa
GGA Chime Alistar
Game one was an explosive statement from Evil Geniuses Academy -- you could feel their desire to sweep a 3-0 emanating from the entire team. No one wanted the win more than EGA Shoryu, who ended this game with a perfect score. The only point during this game that EGA ceded ground to Golden Guardians Academy was when GGA got first blood. This game felt reminiscent of their best of three with Evil Geniuses Prodigies in that the opposing team, Golden Guardians Academy, did everything they could, but weren’t able to outpace EGA’s superior rotations and objective priority. Evil Geniuses Academy demonstrated how aggressively capable they are of pivoting strategies at the last minute as a result of excellent team communication. Seemingly roaming as a sort of Power Rangers Megazord, they were able to sweep nearly every objective before GGA could get their heads on straight. One small spot of light for GGA came when Prismal and RoseThorn were able to snipe the Baron with a little elbow grease. Hope was quickly snuffed out when EGA Jojopyun on Ryze was able to Realm Warp and nab GGA Tally on Big Gnar on the retreat. Since they were already in GGA’s base after chasing Tally, EGA felt this was a good time to end the game.
Evil Geniuses Academy was able to aggressively suss out every single summoner spell from Golden Guardians Academy before 5 minutes -- which gave EGA Contractz on Taliyah and Tony Top on Renekton a playground of effective ganks, teleports, and chaos. At 10 minutes, EGA had 5 kills to GGA’s 0, a 5k gold lead, as well as an Ocean Drake and a Rift Herald. Evil Geniuses Academy snowballed this game even harder in the mid and late game, with incredible coordination between all 5 members on display. Golden Guardians Academy attempted to find footholds for recovery by roaming in packs, but often ended up simply wasting time and resources trying to find those game-turning picks. By the time this game ended, Golden Guardians Academy had 2 kills to Evil Geniuses Academy’s 24. With a whopping 18k gold lead, it felt like Evil Geniuses Academy had already won the whole tournament.
One of the casters, Cubby, made a tweet between games two and three -- “Honestly a great idea for GGA to give EGA 2 quick games to study their habits and tendencies. I don't see how they lose the next 3 games now. EGA has been downloaded. How they ward level 1. How they lane for the first 5 minutes. How they do their hair in the morning. EZ comeback.”
A funny joke, a small prayer -- casters want a dynamic, interesting game even more than viewers do -- and Cubby’s wish would be granted.
Game three felt difficult to invest in initially. With two incredibly dominant games from Evil Geniuses Academy, many assumed this would be a victory lap for the #LIVEEVIL crew. Golden Guardians Academy did manage to find a very effective early game first blood, but it would take time for viewers to understand exactly where Golden Guardians’ mental truly was. Little did any of us know that this game would be an incredible turning point for the ailing Golden Guardians Academy.
Golden Guardians Academy’s jungler RoseThorn on Hecarim seemed to have a laser focus on the map’s flow and his place in it. Tracking Evil Geniuses Academy’s jungler Contractz on Udyr came naturally to GGA RoseThorn as well, nabbing an early kill on Contractz around 4 minutes. These excellent early ganks helped Golden Guardians Academy maintain lane priority and pick up the first drake of the game -- Ocean Drake -- and a Rift Herald in swift succession. However, this wasn’t a reverse sweep-level stomp. Evil Geniuses Academy remained aggressively competitive for the duration of the game, successfully collecting shut down gold but unsuccessfully focusing high-value mid game objectives like Rift Herald. Unfortunately for Evil Geniuses Academy, Golden Guardians Academy stepped up to the challenge of punishing every misstep and every unsecured objective. Win early, win the game rang true here for Golden Guardians Academy, shaking up the standings and sending us to a game four.
Game four did not start harmoniously as Evil Geniuses Academy attempted to contest an early dragon and lost four members. With GGA’s RoseThorn on Olaf constantly forcing EGA’s Contractz on Udyr to answer his every move, Golden Guardians Academy’s bot was free to dominate and control the dragon pit as they pleased. Golden Guardians Academy nabbed two more dragons with the eagle-eyed bot lane consisting of Shoryu and Prismal (Rell and Xayah) constantly maintaining lane priority and control of the dragon pit. EGA attempted to catch up with a mid game Baron, but it turned out to be a fatal mistake as Golden Guardians effortlessly zoned them from the objective and took it for themselves. At this point in the game, it looked a little sketchy to end it, but Golden Guardians was able to siege EGA’s base and push through, using the Baron EGA themselves had initiated to end it.
By some miracle, we made it to game five -- and what a game five it was. Evil Geniuses Academy had a strong initial showing, but were unable to control GGA’s Yunbee on a teleport-ready Viktor who kept the odds even despite Evil Geniuses’ best effort. Several key engagements later and Golden Guardians Academy found themselves with two dragons and a tower at 15 minutes, leaving both teams tied with 4 kills. This would seemingly put GGA significantly ahead of Evil Geniuses Academy, but EGA kept up in gold by strategically farming key shutdowns. At a certain point during the mid game, almost immediately after the lane phase’s end, GGA began to show off some superior rotations toward drakes that began to slowly but surely put EGA behind. Golden Guardians Academy sealed the deal at 24 minutes in what seemed like a fairly harmless siege in mid that quickly spiraled out of control for Evil Geniuses Academy. EGA standing in a nice little package underneath their tower allowed GGA’s Yunbee on Viktor to absolutely light every member up with his entire kit. This allowed Golden Guardians Academy to swing and grab Hand of Baron uncontested.
Evil Geniuses Academy did not learn their lesson from the skirmish moments earlier as they attempted to contest the soul point and, once again, got absolutely decimated by an untouched GGA Yunbee on Viktor. The game ended when Evil Geniuses Academy thought they had a pick on GGA’s Chime on Alistar. It wasn’t so -- the entire GGA team was there to punish the opposing team, with GGA Chime adding insult to injury and using a Zhonya’s Hourglass to live through the whole messy engagement. With a 10k gold lead, EGA finished this game with 8 kills to Golden Guardians 26.
Congratulations to Golden Guardians Academy on a hard-earned crown as the champions of the Giant Slayer Spring Gauntlet!