The Finals of the 2019 edition of League of Legends Rift Rivals was last night, and after a first day dominated by Europe the second saw glimpses of North American redemption. Sadly, under the Los Angeles sun it was once again the old continent that prevailed over its long-time opponent.
Fnatic for the win
Unlike at MSI, the heroes of the evening were Fnatic, not G2 Esports. The former European champions seem stronger than ever this early split, and they made sure to prove it again on American soil. Against a Cloud9 deprived of their ADC, Zachary "Sneaky" Scuderi, the team in orange and black masterfully countered a Gragas/Morgana botlane by relying on the Karma/Soraka combo mastered by Martin "Rekkles" Larsson and Zdravets "Hylissang" Iliev Galabov. Not even Robert "Blaber" Huang on Nidalee, brought in as jungler for the occasion, could change anything — Europe secured the first map.
One thing we have learned since the inception of Rift Rivals is that Origen do not mess around. They had one mission — to destroy America and then go back to eating broccoli. No strange or exotic picks, no unnecessarily risky plays for the show. They quickly dominated the laning phase, eventually crushing a Team SoloMid side who could find no answer to the impeccable macro of the current EU runners-up. 30 minutes, GG, and two match points for Europe. Next!
DIS-ASSEMBLE
Then the real tragedy began. I mean, tragedy is a very big word. Let's just say choke. Perhaps the Europeans were dreaming of a classic 3-0 stomp. Since they had already enjoyed this scenario several times, they could have then the rest of the night to play Teamfight Tactics. However, G2 "The Artists" Esports thought otherwise. Looking down from above their MSI and EU titles and famous for being "the best team Europe has ever known", they then proceeded to choke against our Avengers.
Equipped with a devastating Gragas/Yasuo combo, Team "The Avengers" Liquid had only one objective when they entered the Rift: destroy Rasmus "Caps" Winther, aka the major threat. Our Avengers went into the match hoping they were able to take one game for NA. At least one. And boy, did they.
Veteran jungler Jake "Xmithie" Puchero made sure to put his midlaner in the best possible win condition, meaning Nicolaj "Jensen" Jensen only had to snowball. Sprinkle that with a vision score of just over 80 for Jo "CoreJJ" Yong-in, and you got a big win.
2-1. NA on the comeback trail!
That was when Fnatic returned to the stage. Standing tall and bringing an end to the party, Rekkles and his gang worked hard to make their mechanics shine. An unstoppable Gabriël "Bwipo" Rau on Aatrox and a Veigar for Tim "Nemesis" Lipovšek were chosen to counter Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg's Azir. Sadly, their strategy worked perfectly, and Team SoloMid gave it away.
3-2. The dream is dead.
The Rift Rivals 2019 ended with a final win for EU, forcing us to concede a small EU>NA. However, defeat wasn't as bad as it may have seemed. Among the darkness, deep down within the huge lake of frustration, a light shone.
Among all the NA teams, there was one who did not actually lose. Sure, they conceded one game to Fnatic, but they won all their other matches — ending the tournament with a 3-1 record. You know who they are, just because they have the best freaking ADC in the world: Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng.
Yeah, you heard right. One team rose — one team assembled.
Team Liquid.
You may not have won Rift Rivals, but you did win the hearts of NA — and you will dominate Worlds. NA trusts you, for you're carrying our hopes and dreams.
LET'S GO LIQUID!
The third iteration of Rift Rivals 2019 has kicked off on June, 27. This year, NA was crushed by the EU region. Sadly, Americans can't deny that this year again EU > NA.
