Having seen some very strong and one-sided games from both teams leading up to the grand final, expectations were high for this series, and both teams certainly delivered! Let’s take a look.

Grand final: yoe Flash Wolves vs. Taipei Assassins

Both teams had very similar records coming into the grand final. They both won their group in the League of Legends Master Series (LMS) qualifier and neither of them dropped a game in round one of the actual season - except when they faced each other and TPA got the upper hand.

GAME ONE

BANS

• Taipei Assassins: Zed, Azir, Irelia
• yoe Flash Wolves: Rek’Sai, Lissandra, Gnar

PICKS

• Taipei Assassins: Jarvan IV, Janna, Sivir, Ezreal, Lulu
• yoe Flash Wolves: Kassadin, Morgana, Lee Sin, Tristana, LeBlanc

Game one went back and forth, with first blood being picked up by TPA Winds after a casual stroll into bottom lane. yFW responded by securing the first dragon and picking up some kills as well. It was a sneaky, uncontested Baron by TPA that got them ahead, with them picking up an extra two turrets because of it. A second Baron for TPA resulted in a mid inhibitor for yFW, but the buff and gold advantage helped TPA to eventually close out the first game.

GAME TWO

BANS

• yoe Flash Wolves: Lissandra, Kassadin, Gnar
• Taipei Assassins: Zed, Azir, Irelia

PICKS

• yoe Flash Wolves: Rek’Sai, Corki, Morgana, Dr. Mundo, Xerath
• Taipei Assassins: LeBlanc, Sivir, Lulu, Jarvan IV, Annie

Game two also started off in favor of TPA, with an early dragon and a surprising first blood for Lupin. However, deadly Morgana binding resulted in a double kill for NL’s Corki and a mid tower for yFW. Minutes later, we saw the exact same fight come out of TPA when a flash/Tibbers resulted in a double kill for Sivir. The Annie/Sivir combo proved to be unstoppable for TPA when they lined up their ultimates beautifully and caught yFW completely off guard, getting them the first inhibitor of the game. Minutes later, another teamfight secured TPA the 2-0 advantage in the series.

GAME THREE

BANS

• Taipei Assassins: Zed, Azir, Irelia
• yoe Flash Wolves: Janna, Sivir, Ezreal

PICKS

• Taipei Assassins: Lissandra, Corki, Kassadin, Jarvan IV, Annie
• yoe Flash Wolves: Gnar, Rek’Sai, Morgana, Caitlyn, Jayce

yFw had no choice but to turn things around, and they did so with the picks and bans, taking Jayce as a response to TPA’s Kassadin. yFW seemed to be confident in their ability to beat TPA, and even went as far as organizing a four-man dive in bot lane at level two, resulting in crucial two kills for NL’s Caitlyn. This morale boost helped yFW a lot, they then picking up two dragons and managing to kill three members of TPA during the third by using Jayce’s Shock Blast to poke and Mega Gnar to engage, resulting in a Baron as well as a mid inhibitor for the team. Later in the game, when yet another dragon fight took place, Mega Gnar simply melted TPA, with nothing left for yFW to do but pick up their first victory of the day.

GAME FOUR

BANS

• yoe Flash Wolves: Janna, Sivir, Ezreal
• Taipei Assassins: Zed, Azir, Irelia

PICKS

• yoe Flash Wolves: Gnar, Corki, Morgana, Jarvan IV, Kassadin
• Taipei Assassins: Lissandra, Rek’Sai, Lulu, Tristana, Nami

Another Sivir ban came from yFW in game four, with them not wanting to give Lupin any chance to carry his team like he did in the first two games. The ban worked out perfectly, with the early game pretty much consisting of yFW’s Corki flying ahead of the others, picking up kills left and right. The same went for Kassadin, who managed to split push down an inhibitor while TPA forced a catastrophic teamfight in bot lane. A final Baron fight resulted in a 9/2/5 Corki, leaving TPA with no chance of coming back - 2-2.

GAME FIVE

BANS

• yoe Flash Wolves: Sivir, Janna, Ezreal
• Taipei Assassins: Zed, Azir, Morgana

PICKS

• yoe Flash Wolves: Gnar, Rek’Sai, Kassadin, Caitlyn, Nami
• Taipei Assassins: Lissandra, Corki, LeBlanc, Jarvan IV, Annie

In game five, TPA finally banned SwordArT’s Morgana, while yFW stuck with the Sivir ban that helped them win the last two games. However, TPA yet again didn’t seem to have an answer for Kassadin, so he remained unchallenged. The game started out very even, with both teams having picked up a dragon by the 20 minute mark. yFW managed to make great use of their Kassadin pick, and the continued split push by Maple and ADC NL proved to be too much to handle for TPA. yFW kept pushing and eventually aced TPA, resulting in a Baron and the enemy Nexus soon after. With that, yFW won the series after coming back from a 0-2 deficit!

This means that we’ll be seeing yoe Flash Wolves at the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship in Katowice in March!

If you missed out on any of today’s action, head over to our YouTube channel for all the grand final VODs.

Thank you very much for watching! We hope you enjoyed the event as much as we did - see you in Katowice?