ROBMCFREEWIN narrowly edge out QUT Tigers in University Esports League LoL Final

After weeks of competition, the League of Legends Grand Final between OCS team QUT Tigers and team ROBMCFREEWIN, partially made up of current OCS players in Katsurii, Kpop and Beats, was set to be a great Best of 3 and took place just a few weekends ago in Sydney.

Both teams drafted strong team fight initiation compositions, with QUT securing Sion and Malzahar (which can also double as strong pick potential) while ROB’s form of initiation came in the form of Gragas in the top lane and Varus for Katsurii at ADC.

It didn’t take long for the ball to get rolling, as QUT’s jungler Flick was caught out near the Baron pit and Gragas was more than happy to take down the Kindred with some help from Oikawa Tooru’s Evelynn. With that small advantage, ROB eagerly took the opportunity for an early Infernal Drake as their lead crept above 1k gold.

QUT found the fight they wanted, but some stellar outplay under the top outer turret only meant that Gragas fell as both Tekker’s Sion and Flick were picked off, and the game went from bad to worse for QUT. On the other side of the map, the pressure had forced Feint’s Tristana and SanaKyul’s Lulu deep under their turret as the Varus accrued a 30CS lead by 10 minutes.

A lane swap proved a masterful decision for ROB as they dove the turret, lining up QUT’s bot lane for a perfect Last Caress to give Evelynn a Double Kill. They got a little too greedy however, as even though they had blinking health bars they went for the Rift Herald and were soundly punished. The freshly-respawned bot lane for QUT linked up with their top laner and jungler for three quick kills and the Rift Herald.

The sudden release of pressure allowed QUT to take both the mid lane turret and the next Infernal Drake, before losing their mid laner as ROB collapsed on them during their retreat, also running down Feint seconds later. The game erupted shortly after, as kills flew back and forth and the kill count crept up in favour of QUT, who now had the 1k gold lead 22 minutes into the game.

The river of blood dried up shortly after and for almost 8 minutes no one died and both teams simply rotated around the map looking to take down turrets. The gold lead swayed between the teams, but it was ROB who clutched a teamfight around Baron to leave only Unspecialize alive and take a Baron buff for themselves.

ROB finally had all the aces and simply charged into the now open QUT base, wasting no time in destroying the Nexus and going 1-0 up in the series.

Game 2’s draft made both teams look a lot more focused on individual play, as Fiora, Nidalee and Kassadin were all picked up for ROB whilst QUT drafted Graves and Talon. Both teams also made sure they had late-game ADCs in Varus again for Katsurii and Kai’Sa for Feint as well as strong supports in Braum and Alistar.

Flick fancied himself an early kill and moved top to take it, claiming the life of Thien’s Fiora to give QUT an early lead. They followed up again not long after as he returned to kill Fiora one more time. As ROB snuck themselves an Infernal Drake at 6 minutes, Unspecialize on Talon leapt over the Drake’s corpse to take down Kpop.

However, Thien struck back with a clean outplay onto Tekker’s Gragas to shut down the deficit he had, as ROB also equalised the Infernal count. By 15 minutes, QUT had a 1k gold lead but no towers had fallen even as they made a move for the Rift Herald. In the bot lane, what looked to be a 2v2 exploded as everyone made moves towards them, allowing QUT to take a 3 for 2 trade.

Massive Teamfight – UEL Grand Final – QUT Tigers vs ROBMCFREEWIN

It wasn’t over though, as Beats’ Kassadin returned to his bot lane turret, sacrificing his life for a Triple Kill in a fantastic 1v3 and a won fight for ROB. On the other side of the map, Nidalee had dropped the Herald to take the first turret of the game.

Another initiation from SanaKyul’s Alistar resulted in another bloody teamfight, but QUT came out on top as Feint’s Kai’Sa picked up his own Triple Kill to equal that of her in-game father, Kassadin. The game went passive once more, but ROB created advantages through taking turrets to grow their gold lead to 1.5k at 22 minutes.

The next major fight was around Baron after QUT secured a second Infernal at 27 minutes, as Kai’Sa took it down for QUT but was traded for an bot lane inhibitor. Finally able to get towers, QUT shoved in all their lanes as they slowly waited for an opportunity.

And they found it, as ROB overextended and were caught out, and the entire roster of ROBMCFREEWIN was not long for this world as QUT laid waste to them and their base to equalise the series and set it up for a fantastic final game.

In the final game, both teams left nothing on the Rift. QUT took a bit of everything, drafting Urgot, Nunu, Kassadin, Vayne and Lulu, while ROB went for Kennen, Sejuani, Zilean, Kai’Sa and Nami for their very own CC-fest.

ROB claimed First Blood as Kennen teleported into the bot lane and locked down three members of QUT with a pixel-perfect of Slicing Maelstrom to kill Feint. Flick returned to the scene of the crime looking for revenge and found it, giving SanaKyul a kill onto Kpop’s Nami.

Another perfect engage from ROB turned over a kill to Katsurii’s Kai’Sa and the Mountain Drake followed seconds later as ROB built their lead. The kills stopped coming until around 15 minutes,when Sejuani dropped Lulu with Kennen taking down Feint seconds later. With turrets equalised after the bot turret was taken, ROB were 2k up.

The teams clashed again at 21 minutes as Lulu got caught out, and Kennen was traded back after he tried to take a greedy recall and was punished. ROB happily took the opportunity for a Baron and began pressuring QUT even more.

With the taste of blood on their lips, ROB started preparing for the end. By 27 minutes, they had a 6k gold lead and were leading kills 12-2. The base was the next victim as inhibitor turrets and inhibitors fell left right and centre.

However, their patience was rewarded as they found the fight they wanted in the base and killed the entire QUT roster as Katsurii took a Quadra Kill to end the game and take the title.

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