Sunday at Insomnia 48 brings the final of the League of Legends tournament with teams Animate eSports and ‘Eh Ehhhhhhh’ competing for the grand prize of £1500 or being left with the runner up prize of £625.

Coming in to the match the strong favourites ‘Eh Ehhhhhhh’ won all of their games leading to the final, knocking Animate eSports in to the loser bracket earlier on in the day. With this advantage they enter the finals with a one map advantage in a best of three.

Casting the match were @dignitasStress, @Pulsed and @spuddington, bringing a wealth of knowledge to the table.

Lineups for the teams are as follows:

First Game:

Animate pick a strong push and disengage lineup with the following champions; Varus, Thresh, Elise, Vi and Twisted Fate. Countering this, Eh Ehhhhhhh chose a team fight oriented lineup with; Jarvan, Zyra, Caitlyn, Renekton and Orianna.

The first action of the game came from Animate eSports invading the lower tri-bush and catching Zyra out of position, first blood to Animate e-sports definitely gave them the confidence to push this game to a two game final.

Eh Ehhhhhhh spent a lot of the early game pushing Animate eSports back to their towers, keeping up the map control without much contest. A counter gank from Jarvan in top lane and a Twisted Fate ultimate gank in the bottom lane took this game to a 4-2 lead for Eh Ehhhhhhh at the 10 minute mark.

Eh Ehhhhhhh kept up the pressure and managed to take down all three outer towers of Animate e-sports, whilst Animate eSports concentrated on picking up the occasional kill. With a 4k gold lead for Eh Ehhhhhhh they looked for team fights where they could, Nitrix on Renekton was the player to watch keeping Animate eSports at bay. 25 minutes in, Eh Ehhhhhhh managed to take a good advantage and turn it in to both a dragon kill and 4 kills on Animate eSports. No more than 5 minutes later Animate eSports turn the tables and steal Baron Nashor from Eh Ehhhhhhh giving them the boost they desperately needed to stay in the game.

Eh Ehhhhhhh were still in a good position objective wise in the game, 34 minutes in they were 5 towers up to 2 and 7k ahead in gold. As a team, they made a push behind the creep waves to take down the last inner tower in top lane and give them the map control they wanted to close out the game.

At 40 minutes both teams were dancing around the centre of the map looking to pressure objectives as they spawn. Nitrix on Renekton made an ambitious initiation deep in to the team of Animate eSports, which Animate eSports managed to turn around and ace Eh Ehhhhhhh allowing them to not only push through the towers in the middle lane but take down the inhibitor also.

Not 3 minutes later Eh Ehhhhhhh are pushing through the middle to counteract the supercreeps coming toward their base when Animate eSports again catch them out of position. A second ace by Animate eSports allowed them to push to the nexus towers and win the map for a 1-1 result so far.

Second game:

Animate this game aimed for a safer line up than before, with the confidence they received from winning the first finals map, they aimed for a more conservative team to have a better shot at taking the title.

Animate eSports pick; Varus, Lulu, Vi, Irelia, Twisted Fate versus the Eh Ehhhhhhh team of; Jarvan, Thresh, Ezreal, Jayce, Kassadin.

Eh Ehhhhhhh had appeared to be going for the early to mid game assassination lineup where they would aim to establish dominance and prevent Animate e-sports from gaining a foothold.

To start the game, Animate invaded again to secure first blood to their jungler Vi. This allowed them to switch top and bottom lanes secure in the knowledge that Irelia can handle any lane thrown at her. This proved more than successful, with Irelia escaping Eh Ehhhhhhh’s various attempts to keep her in check, leaving her at tiny fractions of health and staying ahead of her competition, Jarvan.

A series of ganks at the top lane, involving AD Carries and Supports for both teams, brought Animate eSports to a 4-3 lead in kills. The pressure then let them take down the middle turret, a key objective in the early-game plan.

In an attempt to regain control of the games momentum, Eh Ehhhhhhh made a show of attempting the dragon objective in order to bait out Twisted Fate’s ultimate, successfully catching him in a trap.

Mere minutes later, Animate eSports pulled off the same strategy and caught Eh Ehhhhhhh in an off-balance team fight, where they managed to ace the team, taking the dragon and pushing themselves to a 36k to 29k gold advantage and 9-7 kill lead.

Next Animate eSports again put pressure on the dragon objective, forcing Eh Ehhhhhhh to initiate a fight in an attempt to stay in the game. Animate eSports won the fight with an ace and the majority of their team still standing, allowing them to push through the middle and take down the inhibitor. Using the pressure of the supercreeps, Animate eSports methodically take down a second inhibitor to grant them map superiority.

Finally Animate eSports feigned an attempt on the Baron Nashor objective forcing Eh Ehhhhhhh to respond. Animate eSports switched to the top lane and the remaining inhibitor, steadily pushing until taking the nexus and the game, finishing with 22 kills to 13 in favour of Animate eSports.

Impressive teamwork from both teams in an amazingly close final here at i48 and hopefully we’ll see more of these teams at future Multiplay events and also online in the RIOT League of Legends series. A very well done to Animate eSports coming through as the underdogs to take the title and the prize money.

Ben Mills