Team Infused extended their unbeaten run in the ESL UK Premiership League of Legends semi-final against underdogs Exertus Esports today.
Casters: Sona, Munchables and Excoundrel
Stream: ESL LoL Twitch stream
Pre-match talk:
Infused’s support player Arphan said he believes his team will win this match 2-0, while Exertus’ Brandon has revealed Exertus is going to try a few new things.
Analyst and player Brixton says Exertus’ best chances will come through their support player Wizz. Experienced UK player Impaler says the pick/ban process is going to be a big factor into the outcome of this weekend’s matches.
Game one
Line-ups:
Team Infused – blue side (Captain Alphari top – Fiora, Maxlore jungle – Dr Mundo, Charlietea mid – Ekko, POILK ADC – Jinx, Arphan support – Tahm Kench)
Exertus Esports – red side (Exertus Brandon top – Olaf, Exertus Dan jungle – Zac, DxAlchemist mid – Veigar, Sir Scott ADC – Tristana, Exertus Wizz support – Thresh)
Report:
Exertus started off by invading Infused’s bot jungle, delaying Infused’s early game slightly – but not for long.
Exertus teamed up to take the first top turret, while Infused took the first tower bot.
First blood went to Maxlore after five minutes with an early gank top, taking down Brandon.
Exertus struggled to defend their second top tower moments later, as both teams engaged in a teamfight. Infused hacked away most of the tower’s health but Exertus survived.
Charlietea picked up the second kill of the game mid, as Infused attacked the mid tower, but Sir Scott retaliated to make it 2-1. Dxalchemist also took down Charlietea soon after as Veigar. 2-2.
Exertus were clearly targeting Infused’s deadly mid-laner, as three of them ganked him a minute later to make it 3-2 to Exertus. They also took down Infused’s mid tower.
Infused huffed and puffed to bring down the mid tower around the 15 minute mark, but to no avail. However, some superb play saw Charlietea take down Dxalchemist in the bot lane and escape from an approaching Exertus player.
Sir Scott killed POILK mid soon after to keep Exertus in the lead at 4-3.
Infused went on to take the lead with a superb team fight mid, picking off four Exertus players. Meanwhile, Alphari pushed the bottom lane right up to the inhibitor turret.
Just after 20 minutes, Infused took the baron (and held a 9k gold lead), before pushing top. But Exertus weren’t ready to admit defeat, taking out three of Infused. Charlietea was split-pushing in the bot lane, leaving his team to fall into Exertus’ hands top.
Brandon engaged into a 1v1 with Alphari top, and while he got close, Alphari took him down.
Then, Infused took the bottom inhibitor and the Nexus turrets – and the game.
Game two
Line-ups:
Team Infused – blue side (Captain Alphari top – Hecarim, Maxlore jungle – Kindred, Charlietea mid – Ekko, POILK ADC – Tristana, Arphan support – Tahm Kench)
Exertus Esports – red side (Exertus Brandon top – Malphite, Exertus Dan jungle – Zac, DxAlchemist mid – Xerath, Sir Scott ADC – Jinx, Exertus Wizz support – Morgana)
Report:
Exertus started off with early pressure on Infused’s mid-laner Charlietea once again, who had to flash to avoid an early attack.
At the eight-minute mark a teamfight kicked off in Exertus’ top jungle, but somehow, no one died. Infused led with a 1k gold advantage at this point, with two towers taken down to Exertus’ one.
We finally got our first blood at the 13-minute mark, as Dan picked off POILK mid.
Exertus then picked up another two kills bottom, with Arphan trying to gobble up Alphari to safety but to no avail. It was 3-0 to Exertus at this stage, though Infused held a 2k gold lead and had taken down five towers to Exertus’ two.
Infused turned things around at the 23-minute mark, picking up three kills in Exertus’ top jungle.
The holding champions had an 8k gold advantage at this point, with Maxlore’s 130CS almost double that of Dan’s (68). Charlietea also had 228CS to DXalchemist’s 185.
Infused then won a teamfight mid to go 8-3 up, before taking the inhibitor and one Nexus turret.
Like a lot of Infused games, Alphari led the charge (literally, as Hecarim), going 5/1/2.
Another teamfight saw Infused go to 11-3, before taking the game and putting themselves into the final, where they will play FM or Choke.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
