Nexus Reapers and Zerance Bloom provide intense series at Equal Esports Cup
The second day of the Equal Esports Cup Playoffs saw the full amount of games, as teams fought for their survival in the tournament.
The match between Nexus Reapers and Zerance Bloom proved to be an explosive match, which resulted in a pure blood bath on both sides.
Game 1: Zerance Bloom scales to new heights
In what turned out to be the best match of the tournament so far, Nexus Reapers took on Zerance Bloom in an intense best-of-three.
In game one, Zerance Bloom opted for scaling after picking Seraphine/Senna in the bot lane, with support Lorie on the Senna.
Meanwhile, Agnė "Karina" Ivaškevičiūtė and Alena "TIFA" Maurer on Nexus Reapers managed to secure comfort picks for themselves.
Despite this, Zerance Bloom took the lead and capitalised on a teamfight around the Rift Herald, after a fishy hook by Elianne "Dunne" Haas.
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Zerance Bloom’s lead would continue to grow as they were able to punish any mistakes that Nexus Reapers made.
Not to go down without a fight, the Nexus Reapers took every opportunity to pick off Zerance Bloom wherever they could.
For better or worse.
This paid off for Nexus Reapers in the end as they managed to equalise the gold difference after taking the Baron and the following team fight.
After securing two towers and their third Dragon with the Baron buff, Nexus Reapers were truly back in the game with almost a 2k gold lead.
The game would go back and forth as the teams traded kills and towers.
However, Nexus Reapers still managed to maintain their gold advantage despite losing multiple team fights.
Ultimately, Zerance Bloom’s scaling and team fight prowess were enough to take Game 1.
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Game 2: Nexus Reapers pick up confidence
The second game was quicker than the first, with Nexus Reapers going for an easy pick team comp.
However, Zerance Bloom yet again took the early lead.
Grouping together quickly to overwhelm Nexus Reapers.
Despite this, Nexus Reapers pulled themselves back into the game after a crucial fight to secure their third Dragon of the game.
Meanwhile, Nexus Reapers’ top laner, Lily "GWolfieG" Kraft, quietly grew a lead for herself until she became an unstoppable force.
Causing many problems for Zerance Bloom, who couldn’t match her.
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From this, they were able to take command of the game, slowly growing their gold lead.
Eventually taking the second game after a pick on Mimi "Owpi" Effraimidi.
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Game 3: An unbelievable end
The third and final game saw both teams fight fiercely for their survival.
Nexus Reapers came out with a bold team comp, as Karina placed hope in the high-risk but high-reward pick of Kindred.
Hoping that GWolfieG’s Mundo and Tifa could create the space needed for them to thrive.
Meanwhile, Zerance Bloom opted for a pick and delete comp, which can punish Nexus Reapers for every little mistake.
The initial early action came in the mid lane as each jungler took turns to gank and secure a kill for their team.
However, Zerance Bloom was able to subjugate Karina and slow down their ability to scale.
Both sides were nonstop as each looked for picks onto the enemy team.
At the end of it all, it was Zerance Bloom who found the early lead and secured the Feats of Strength.
The game looked to be firmly in Zerance Bloom’s control, who looked to take the game.
However, they got a little too greedy, which allowed Nexus Reapers to punish.
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Despite the won fight, Nexus Reapers were still behind in gold after the dust settled.
Unable to win team fights, Nexus Reapers switched strategies to split the map and take objectives where they could.
This allowed them to secure towers and Dragons while Zerance Bloom took the Baron.
Unfortunately for Nexus Reapers, this wasn’t enough as Zerance Bloom had a strong grip on the game.
Maintaining their gold lead thanks to winning every skirmish they took.
In spite of this, Dunne pulled off some much-needed heroics after stealing Baron for her team.
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With their newly found sense of hope, Nexus Reapers marched into Zerance Bloom’s base to try and end the game while they could.
However, it looked as if Zerance Bloom would win the game after taking the Elder Dragon in a 50/50 flip.
In a last-ditch effort to defend their base against an Elder Dragon empowered Zerance Bloom, Nexus Reapers dived in to defend their nexus.
Against all odds, Nexus Reapers held on and quickly piled into Zerance Bloom’s base to win the final game and the series.
Equal Esports Cup on twitch.tv/EUniverse_TV
With this hard-fought victory, Nexus Reapers proceed into the second round of the lower bracket.
They’ll face the winner of Vitality Rising Bees and Galions Pearl for a chance to secure a place in LoL Game Changers Rising.
The Equal Esports Cup returns in two weeks time on Saturday, 9th August.
