Golden Guardians are waiting for the CLG vs. EG game to see who their next opponent is.
In a weird twist of fate, Doublelift and Bjergsen found themselves having to get through the organization that almost eliminated them in the 2022 Summer, preventing their championship run on TSM before it even started. Not to mention their current jungler Closer was the star player of that Golden Guardians roster, who then moved on to 100T to win a championship.
While most 100 Thieves games are mostly focused on the bot lane thanks to the carry potential of Doublelift, in this matchup the eyes were on the junglers. Both River and Closer are massive performers in their teams’ wins, and they have a big say on how the games were going to play out. During their 0-3 defeat to FlyQuest, we saw Fly ban Viego and Lee Sin, forcing Closer into champions he wasn’t that comfortable on. Coming into the 100T vs GG, this was a big blueprint for Golden Guardians to follow.
100 Thieves vs Golden Guardians Game 1
It seems like 100 Thieves weren’t dissuaded by the FlyQuest defeat as they immediately went back to the Jinx/Thresh, with Bjergsen also pulling out another Game 1 Zilean.
Teams started out with similar plans, both junglers ganking at level three. But while River found the first blood in the top lane, 100 Thieves gank didn’t result in any kill. In a position very reminiscent of the FlyQuest series, 100 Thieves decided to contest the first drake and took a bad fight. They gave over the objective on top of four kills, two of them to Stixxay’s Zeri. 100 Thieves kept themselves in the game by moving Doublelift around the map and getting gold on him by destroying turrets.
Not having success diving enemy backline in teamfights, Golden Guardians went for a Baron sneak. Their turn was not good as they couldn’t get to the 100 Thieves carries once again, so the Thieves got gifted a Baron, Soul point and a 5k gold lead. We didn’t have to wait for the next drake once Golden Guardians got caught in the top lane and gave over two kills. Even in a 3v5, 100 Thieves were strong enough to brute force their way into the base and just end the game.
The Thieves might be stealing this one away 👀 #LCS pic.twitter.com/cgee0tdx1n
— LCS (@LCSOfficial) March 25, 2023
- Teams: 100T 1 – 0 GG
- Time: 33:12
- Kills: 18 – 7
- Turrets: 9 – 3
- Gold: 63.1k – 53.7k
- Dragons: 3 – 2
- Barons: 1 – 0
100 Thieves vs Golden Guardians Game 2
Golden Guardians change their drafting approach for the top lane by putting Licorice on a carry top laner like Gwen, while Doublelift got his fifth Jinx game in a row.
Great bot lane dive from River to get two kills for his team to start out the game. Golden Guardians find an early gold lead thanks to these kills, but 100 Thieves stuck to moving their ADC around the map to funnel him gold strategy. The plan was going well until decided to look for a pick in a bush and got counterganked by River. The lost 3v3 led to the first turret kill by GG and a nearly 5k gold lead. Now massively ahead, GG took vision control around the enemy jungle and started the Baron. When 100 Thieves came to contest they just turned and aced them in a choke point, securing the objective afterward. 100 Thieves tried to look for picks to get back into the game but Golden Guardians were so far ahead that they managed to lock 100T in their base and slowly end the game.
CLEAN dive from @GoldenGuardians #LCS pic.twitter.com/iJTRNcSbWP
— LCS (@LCSOfficial) March 25, 2023
- Teams: GG 1 – 1 100T
- Time: 29:18
- Kills: 17 – 6
- Turrets: 11 – 1
- Gold: 63.3k – 47.9k
- Dragons: 2 – 2
- Barons: 2 – 0
100 Thieves vs Golden Guardians Game 3
Golden Guardians bot lane took away the Jinx/Thresh duo so we finally got a different draft with a Blitzcrank answer from Busio.
The Blitzcrank pick worked out great for the Thieves during the early game. They found multiple skirmishes utilizing their pick power which led to early objective control and four kills on Doublelift. Using their early lead Closer and Busio just went around the map getting kills on overextended Golden Guardians members. 100 Thieves snowballed so well, they were up nearly 10k gold at 20 minutes along with the Soul point. Golden Guardians tried to make a couple of plays but it was for nothing as the game was essentially over for some time and we were only waiting for 100T to close it out.
Pure aggression from @100T_Esports #LCS pic.twitter.com/FoGD8eZlGS
— LCS (@LCSOfficial) March 25, 2023
- Teams: 100T 2 – 1 GG
- Time: 26:35
- Kills: 20 – 5
- Turrets: 9 – 2
- Gold: 56.8k – 43.8k
- Dragons: 4 – 0
- Barons: 1 – 0
100 Thieves vs Golden Guardians Game 4
With Golden Guardians back on the blue side River got his hands on Wukong, who was the power pick for the series. This game was also the first 100T game in this playoffs without a Jinx on the Rift.
100 Thieves’ early aggression from the last game carried over with a level two gank from Closer to get the first blood for Doublelift, but this time GG answered with their own top side dive. Golden Guardians also established a decent gold and objective lead thanks to their pushing lanes even while they were behind in kills. During mid game 100 Thieves struggled to find picks and they were always one step behind GG. The gold lead was slowly getting bigger for Golden Guardians until River found a massive engage near the Baron pit. With the Baron on their side, it only took one more fight for GG to ace 100T and take the series to Silver Scrapes.
Gori’s Galio goes OFF @lol_GGGori #LCS pic.twitter.com/X6W7wbIIgY
— LCS (@LCSOfficial) March 26, 2023
- Teams: GG 2 – 2 100T
- Time: 25:25
- Kills: 12 – 5
- Turrets: 7 – 1
- Gold: 50.8k – 38.4k
- Dragons: 3 – 0
- Barons: 1 – 0
100 Thieves vs Golden Guardians Game 5
It is win or go home and 100T had the blue side advantage which won all four games till this point. Backs against the wall they went back to the tried and true Jinx/Thresh combo with this time huhi answering with the Blitzcrank.
Blitzcrank had the same start for Golden Guardians as it did for 100T as they gave up the first blood to Doublelift in a 2v2. GG also took two back-to-back fights in the enemy jungle while they were at a man disadvantage. Both fights went sideways and the gold lead suddenly exploded for 100 Thieves. GG slowed the bleeding during mid game with Licorice in the side lane and even took a Baron when 100T made a play for their top laner. They had to trade Infernal Soul for it but at least they took the gold lead. The decision proved to be the right one as they found a massive fight during their siege and aced 100 Thieves. As Licorice already took the mid lane inhibitor, they just walked into the enemy base and ended the 100T’s Spring season.
STIXXAY LIVES AND GOLDEN GUARDIANS WIN!!!#LCS | #GGWIN pic.twitter.com/HcPy8dDHYt
— LCS (@LCSOfficial) March 26, 2023
- Teams: 100T 2 – 3 GG
- Time: 30:37
- Kills: 15 – 11
- Turrets: 1 – 9
- Gold: 53.1k – 59.4k
- Dragons: 4 – 0
- Barons: 0 – 1
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