Originally posted at https://www.echofox.gg/news/echo-fox-retains-first-place-in-the-na-lcs-after-1-1-weekend
Heading into Week 6, Echo Fox looked to continue the momentum it held from previous weeks. Last week, the Foxes had two tough matches against 100 Thieves and Cloud9, and emerged victorious. Their victory against Cloud9 made them the undisputed top team in the LCS.
In Week 6, Echo Fox looked to cement their dominance in the LCS against Team SoloMid and Team Liquid.
Team SoloMid
Heading into Week 6, Team SoloMid was tied for 6th place alongside FlyQuest. Despite the team’s low ranking, Team SoloMid is never to be underestimated
During champion select, Echo Fox opted for unconventional picks with Fiora mid and Zilean support to throw off TSM. Echo Fox started out strong in the early game following the usual gameplan of setting the pace in all three lanes. Around the 9-minute mark, top lane was pushed and allowed Dardoch a window of opportunity to set up a gank. With help from Dardoch, Huni was able to obtain first blood of the game.
Around the 16-minute mark, Fenix was caught out after obtaining blue buff and was killed by MikeYeung. Dardoch and Huni tried to counter with a kill of their own against Hauntzer, but he escaped. With the top lane pushed in, Echo Fox took down the outer top turret for first turret of the game.
Echo Fox claimed map control thanks to the destroyed turret, but TSM pushed the top lane to counter the loss. Adrian, Altec, and Dardoch hid in the tri-bush at top lane to catch them off guard, but Bjergsen used his Galio ultimate to start the fight and the rest of TSM followed. TSM ended up scoring 4 kills in the top lane. Meanwhile, Huni pushed the bottom lane and destroyed the outer turret.
At the 26-minute mark, Huni was the strongest player on the side of Echo Fox with 3 kills, 2 deaths, and 284 CS. Echo Fox attempted to capture Baron but, was detected after an ult from Zven’ Ezreal.
TSM hastily moved in to stop Echo Fox from capturing Baron and started a team fight. TSM obtained 3 kills from that skirmish and caught Huni in the mid lane, but Huni escaped with his life and took two members of TSM down.
With only 3 members, TSM continued to engage Baron. Though Huni thought about stalling TSM he opted not to, ceding the objective to TSM.
With Baron buff and a significant gold lead on the side of TSM, they showed no fear engaging Echo Fox to close out the game in 37 minutes 12 seconds.
Team Liquid
Looking to bounce back from the loss to Team SoloMid, Echo Fox showed no mercy against Team Liquid.
After a slow early game, Doublelift was caught off-guard in the bot lane at the 14-minute mark. Adrian used Tahm Kench’s ult to get to Doublelift’s position, but he flashed to gromp on the red side. Adrian followed and Pobelter used the Galio ult to fully start the team fight.
Fortunately for the Fox, Olleh’s headbutt pushed Adrian out of Pobelter’s ult range. Due to this mistake, Fenix was able to join the fight and score a double kill.
The conclusion of the team fight gave map control to Echo Fox, letting the team take the outer bot turret and Mountain Drake.
Team Liquid looked for another team fight at the 17-minute mark. Adrian played a significant role in the fight as he fully stacked his passive on Impact before eating him and serving him into the middle of the pack of Foxes. Fenix got the resulting kill and pushed forward to kill Doublelift.
Around the 20-minute mark, Echo Fox was nearly in full control of the game. Dardoch caught Xmithie in the open and killed him easily before leading his team to take down Baron.
Though Team Liquid tried to catch Echo Fox off guard after the Baron, a Kalista ult gave Echo Fox the opening to start another fight.
The fight ended in an Ace for Echo Fox and the team pushed down the mid lane. Echo Fox finished the game in 22 minutes 45 seconds, the fastest game in the Spring Split.
Although the team went 1-1 this week, Echo Fox stayed atop of the standings with a record of 10-2.
Next week, Echo Fox faces Clutch Gaming (7-5) and Counter Logic Gaming (3-9). Stay tuned as they continue their reign of dominance in the LCS.
