New York, N.Y. - NYIT defeated Southern New Hampshire, 3-1, on Saturday afternoon to win the first-ever East Coast Conference League of Legends Championship.
The finals of the East Coast Conference League of Legends Championship started off with a bang as the two best teams in the ECC during the regular season faced off. NYIT with the first seed in the tournament had side choice for games 1,3 and 5 while SNHU had their choice for games 2 and 4. In the picks and bans for game one NYIT pulled out a Rengar pick that had not seen play this entire season. SNHU replied back with a Morgana support and Ahri Midlane. SNHU had a strong hold on the early game, however, thanks to good communication throughout the team, NYIT was able to slowly crawl back into the game. Notable play could be found from IamMrV’s Zoe who was able to put down massive damage onto the enemy mid laner as well as the enemy team as a whole. NYIT took game one, not in the cleanest fashion but a win nonetheless.
Now, with everyone warmed up this was SNHU’s chance to get on the board and into this series. NYIT chose the Rengar again but this time with Abatwo on Sivir, this was a strategic choice by NYIT to keep their ADC viable by the strong SNHU botlane. This time however, one of the strongest lanes came out from NYIT with MobaGameNoob on the Darius. Even against a ranged champion he was able to dominate in CS and in damage being a big threat in later team fights. NYIT didn’t have much time due to the Late Game Carries scaling up on SNHU’s side with Karthus and Kaisa. The biggest team fight of the game came from a Sivir Ult combined with a Rengar ult to nuke SNHU’s Kaisa and win the game. NYIT looked strong after game two and were at match point.
Game three starts in picks and bans as NYIT pulled out a surprising Kayle on IamMrV and a Jax on MobaGameNoob. This was SNHU’s last chance to take a win and they decided to pull out strong picks all over the map with, XinZhou, Xayah, and Rakan. Exceptional play could be found from bloodyTX in the early game pressuring NYIT’s midlane and making an advantage for their Lissandra. However, the best plays came out of the botlane from SNHU with Mistrust and Stillman pulling out insane plays vs. NYIT. Mistrust, being the most consistent player on his team, just needed an advantage and with that and strong support by his side, they were able to carry their game. SNHU played like a well-oiled machine and called NYIT’s bluff in a base race. They were able to take the game adding a point to the board. With this added momentum, they looked to bring this series to a fifth and deciding game.
In game four, NYIT just needed one more game to clinch the title however, SNHU wasn’t going to give it to them easily. Mistrust pulled off some really clutch plays on his Tristana, at one point he jumped directly into the NYIT team and still was able to get out. Stillman on the Lulu kept him and his entire team alive with great plays and clutch ults. Unfortunately for SNHU, MobaGameNoob was back on the Jax and he was providing a lot of pressure on the SNHU Urgot. He even managed to kill solo a few times as well as split pushing, he dared SNHU to commit more people. The last teamfight occurred at 43 minutes with IamMrV jumping directly into the team snaring three people and allowing the team to just lay down the damage. Abatwo was able to free fire from the backline proved to be too much for SNHU as NYIT closes out the game and the series.
Release provided by Elieser Duran, ECC Esports Coordinator.
