League of Legends Worlds 2015 scores: Flash Wolves upsets KOO Tigers to win Group A, Tigers also advance

After an exciting first week, the 2015 League of Legends World Championship moves into its second week to sort out which teams make it out of the group stage.

Heading into the day, the group saw a two-way tie for first-place between Counter Logic Gaming and KOO Tigers at 2-1 and a two-way tie for third between Flash Wolves and paIN Gaming at 1-2. From there, everything went wild.

CLG entered the day in good position to advance, but lost convincingly to both KOO Tigers and Flash Wolves in its first two games of the day. When Flash Wolves pulled off an upset of KOO later in the day, it was all over for the North American side.

Flash Wolves advances to the quarterfinal stage in London as the No. 1 seed from Group A, while KOO is No. 2 from the group. paIN beat CLG in the final game to secure third place.

Full scores, stats and recaps below.

KOO Tigers 27-8, 23:49

Bans: Ashe, Kennen, Kalista; Mordekaiser, Gangplank, Lulu

This was the game of GorillA’s Tahm Kench. He was able to devour Doublelift and aphromoo early, setting up a pair of early kills for Smeb (and a five-minute Phage for his Darius).

A few minutes later, Pobelter’s first Primordial Burst of the game took out Kuro instantly, but GorillA devoured aphromoo again to take him out.

CLG committed to the bottom lane to try and take out GorilllA and PraY, and Xmithie was able to at least do the former. The problem? GorillA took so long to killl CLG was forced into a bad turret aggro situation, losing the fight hard 4-1.

GorillA’s strong (and bold) play continued 14 minutes in, taking an Abyssal Voyage (with PraY in his belly) directly into the middle of CLG’s team. CLG was able to take out PraY, but KOO followed up on the play and aced the opposing team, taking a 13-4 lead with five kills on Smeb. After another team fight went heavily in KOO’s favor, giving the Korean side a 10K gold lead 17 minutes in.

The only game that had a wider gold difference at 20 minutes was Edward Gaming’s destruction of Bangkok Titans. GorillA’s Tahm Kench was everywhere, dominating the game with KOO’s unconventional poke composition and helping ensure the easy win.

Flash Wolves 15-14, 52:08

Bans: Twisted Fate, Azir, Kalista; Nidalee, Gangplank

SwordArt died twice in the first six minutes, but only one counted for paIN Gaming. After getting executed under a turret attempting a dive, SirT was able to pick him off in the jungle for First Blood. Flash Wolves were able to tie it up soon after when Karsa took out Mylon just before Mega Gnar activated.

A pair of team fights in the Wolves favor gave them a 5-2 lead. paIN Gaming had taken the first two Dragons, but Flash Wolves was able to position itself for its first one 24 minutes in. paIN tried to engage with Mylon’s Mega Gnar, but Karsa hit a perfect Dragon’s Rage to send him over the wall and keep the Wolves safe.

brTT picked off Maple a few minutes later to keep the game close, and a huge team fight in paIN’s favor tied the game and allowed for a 31-minute Baron. Flash Wolves was able to win the next Dragon fight 2-1 after some more excellent play from Karsa and Maple (whose Wind Walls were crucial throughout the game).

paIN was able to take out Karsa in a mid lane team fight, but hesitated to follow-up with a duo Baron/inhibitor play. That hesitation allowed Karsa to respawn, giving Wolves the opportunity to take Baron. It looked like Flash Wolves was going to be able to finish the game, marching into the paIN base, taking out two players and both Nexus turrets. But paIN was able to take out everyone but SwordArt in front of the Nexus, saving the game.

Steak teleported into paIN’s base in an attempt to backdoor the Nexus, but the Brazilian squad was able to take him out to save the game once again. The excitement didn’t last long for paIN, however -- a Dragon fight went firmly Flash Wolves’s way, giving NL a quadra kill and the Wolves the game.

KOO 16-5, 24:46

Bans: Twisted Fate, Gnar, Lulu ; Ashe, Gangplank, Yasuo

Smeb baited Mylon into the brush top while Hojin snuck into the area, allowing a successful Cocoon to land and giving Smeb his second First Blood of the day on Darius. Smeb started the game 3/0/0 as KOO took a 6-1 lead, continuing his strong play in the tournament.

paIN was able to turn things around slightly during an inner turret siege by KOO, taking out GorillA and Kuro. Smeb picked up two more kills, helping set up a 21-minute Baron for KOO and a 4-0 team fight. KOO was able to turn that into

Flash Wolves 22-9, 37:05

Bans: Azir, Elise, Lulu; Gangplank, Mordekaiser, Darius

The two teams battled evenly in the laning phase, but poor positioning from Doublelift and a missed flash allowed Karsa to get First Blood 17 minutes in. CLG responded with a 2-0 team fight in the mid lane, getting kills onto Pobelter and aphromoo. The Wolves won a 2-1 team fight soon after to even it up, and a 5-3 Wolves fight soon after gave the Taiwanese squad the lead.

Flash Wolves was able to successfully position CLG out of the Baron pit 27 minutes in, securing the objective. Wolves pushed into CLG’s base as a result, but a perfect Dragon’s Rage from Lee Sin sent Steak into a tower and allowed CLG to take him down. That did not prove to be enough, as Flash Wolves took a 5-0 team fight and two inhibitors, leading to another Baron, an NL Pentakill and the win.

SwordArt was able to consistently land Morgana’s bindings onto CLG’s carries, allowing Wolves’s own carries to follow up with kills. But the star of the show was NL, who started the tournament on the bench and ended up with a Pentakill and double-double to keep the Wolves in contention for the knockout stages.

Flash Wolves 24-9, 37:14

Bans: Nidalee, Morgana, Malphite; Ashe, Mordekaiser, Gangplank

After a successful first two games on Darius earlier in the day, Smeb chased Steak into his jungle hoping for First Blood, but was caught by Karsa and NL for Flash Wolves’ First Blood.

After the game continued to plod along, KOO picked up its first kill 15 minutes in when GorillA took Steak’s health nearly all the way down with Slicing Maelstrom before PraY was able to finish him off. A poor decision for PraY to use Kalista’s ultimate to send GorillA into the middle of the Wolves’ team resulted in both of KOO’s bot laners being picked off.

Wolves were able to pick off two more KOO Tigers after KOO took Dragon, giving the underdogs a 3K gold lead at 24 minutes. Wolves were able to force KOO into a bad position near Baron, acing the Tigers 5-1 and taking the objective at 26 minutes. The Wolves were able to snowball from there, taking a 15-5 advantage, but a 4-3 fight near Baron for KOO gave the Tigers hope.

That was about it, though -- Flash Wolves aced KOO in its base, earning first place in the group and ending the day’s action.

paIN Gaming 21-12, 33:36

Bans: Veigar, Braum, Lulu; Mordekaiser, Malphite, Darius

As expected from a consolation game, we saw some fun picks and explosive play. paIN Gaming held the advantage early, thanks to strong play from its bottom lane, but Doublelift’s Vayne started to get fed as well.

A 3-0 team fight for paIN helped give the Brazilian side a significant lead, and CLG was aced soon after. paIN took Baron 30 minutes in, breaking open the CLG base with a middle inhibitor. After a triple kill for Mylon, paIN took down the CLG Nexus to secure third place.