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When 100 Thieves defeated Clutch Gaming in the NA LCS final, the Clutch base was destroyed and all its players were dead. It seemed like Clutch had lost a terrible teamfight, and they had—somewhat. With multiple inhibitors destroyed, Clutch couldn’t find an Orianna Shockwave on 100 Thieves ADC Cody Sun. But with Cody Sun still alive, 100 Thieves easily broke Clutch’s Nexus.
Fans always remember the impactful plays that determine the outcome of games, such as clutch Shockwaves, Ornn ultimates, and ADC performances. However, it’s equally important to consider how 100 Thieves ended up in a situation where they had inhibitors down and super minions in every lane.
Related: Aphromoo will face Doublelift in the NA LCS finals after 100 Thieves win a grueling 5-game series against Clutch Gaming
If we look back before the teamfights and objectives like Baron and Elder Drake, we can see the macro strategy that forms the foundation of everything. We can see how 100 Thieves’ focus on pushing side lanes allowed them to siege, while Clutch Gaming’s basic macro errors ultimately led to their demise.
Let’s examine three key plays that sealed Clutch Gaming’s fate in their fifth and final game against 100 Thieves.
Those pesky side lanes
Throughout most of the split, Clutch Gaming prioritized the mid lane. This made sense with a star mid laner like Fabian “Febiven” Diepstraten. Having mid lane priority allowed them to easily defeat weaker teams.
The problem arose when they faced stronger teams and continued to focus solely on the mid lane, neglecting the side lanes in the process. North America isn’t known for its exceptional macro play, and most teams struggle with controlling side lanes. Clutch Gaming’s failure to excel in this area prevented them from reaching the top tier of playoff contenders.
Their issues persisted in their upset win over TSM last week and reappeared in multiple games against 100 Thieves. Clutch often grouped around the mid lane, sacrificing farm while enemy waves pushed in the side lanes.
In one instance, Febiven used a Shockwave to secure a dragon after a while. While the objective was important, the cost was high. Both side lanes were pushing, giving 100 Thieves tower pressure, vision, and map control while Clutch lost out on gold and experience from minions.
The ADC of Clutch Gaming, Apollo Price, suffered the most from the lack of side lane control. He fell behind in CS compared to Cody Sun. Although it wasn’t detrimental in a game that lasted over an hour, Cody Sun’s extra income allowed him to buy supportive items without sacrificing damage.
These were minor advantages, but they had a significant impact in a close series. What’s frustrating about Clutch Gaming is that they can be seen thinking ahead and setting up the map for the objectives they want to control. They are capable of executing slow pushes and splitting the map, but they don’t do it enough.
The classic sixth-man wave
One of the fundamental late-game macro strategies revolves around controlling side lanes with minions. Building up large waves in the side lane can force enemy champions to react and clear the wave, giving your team an advantage elsewhere on the map.
In 2013, caster and coach Christopher “MonteCristo” Mykles came up with a strategy known as the sixth-man wave. It involves freezing or stalling enemy minions deep in their own territory and then setting up a slow push that becomes stronger with each wave spawn, creating the illusion of a sixth champion pushing on the map’s edges. This strategy is now a staple in League macro that all good teams should be aware of.
Clutch Gaming’s weakness lies in how they respond to such waves—they usually don’t. However, they do know how to set one up, as demonstrated by jungler Nam “LirA” Tae-yoo in this example:
Initially, it may not seem significant. Olaf simply clears the wave, leaving behind two allied minions, one of which is empowered by Banner of Command. But after a few minutes, those two minions turned into a massive wave:
This huge minion wave allowed Clutch Gaming to group around the mid lane and contest for Baron without losing pressure in the bot lane. Apollo consistently cleared 100 Thieves’ pushing top lane with Ezreal’s ultimate, preventing 100 Thieves from setting up a similar wave. Eventually, Clutch Gaming’s minions destroyed an inhibitor uncontested. When Febiven stole the Baron a few moments later, it could have ended the game.
However, Clutch Gaming’s team composition and macro issues once again came back to haunt them.
Baron is only useful if you use it
After the unexpected Baron steal, Clutch Gaming wasted nearly a minute recalling and returning to the map with Baron buff. During this time, 100 Thieves’ mid laner Yoo “Ryu” Sang-ook pushed out the top lane, and they had their own super minions in the mid lane. This posed a challenging siege for Clutch Gaming.
The siege became even more difficult due to Clutch Gaming’s team composition, particularly Ezreal playing against Caitlyn. Despite having Baron, they had to approach the macro game with caution. The one thing they couldn’t do was engage in a 5v5 fight against 100 Thieves. When grouped, 100 Thieves could protect Caitlyn with tanks and allow her to clear waves. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what Clutch Gaming did—group up.
The only way Clutch Gaming could break into the enemy base was by ushering multiple minion waves empowered by Baron. Although 100 Thieves had super minions in the mid lane, it wasn’t impossible. Instead of coordinating the bot lane super minions and mid lane push to hit the base simultaneously, Clutch Gaming kept shifting their attention between the two.
To be fair, setting up the siege was challenging at that point. But Clutch Gaming still had opportunities. Apollo could have used Ezreal’s ultimate on the top wave sooner to help Febiven push faster. The team could have split 4-1 to simultaneously clear mid and top lanes while allowing the slow-pushing bot lane super minions to create pressure. None of these strategies were foolproof, and 100 Thieves had ways to respond. However, the Baron siege ended when Febiven failed to land a crucial Shockwave that would have forced back the 100 Thieves defense.
Clutch Gaming never came close to breaking into the enemy base. Unable to bring any minions with them, they had to abandon the siege without securing any inhibitor turrets. As the game progressed, Clutch Gaming couldn’t keep up with the power of Cody Sun’s Caitlyn. That’s why he stood triumphantly at Clutch Gaming’s Nexus.
In League, the most common way to secure objectives is by winning fights, and 100 Thieves won enough fights to advance to the final. However, they also secured more objectives without engaging in fights, which is the true reason why they’ll face Liquid in the NA LCS Spring Split championship next Sunday.
100 Thieves, Clutch Gaming, NA LCS, macro strategy, inhibitors, sieging, side lanes, sixth-man wave, Baron, Cody Sun, Caitlyn, teamfight, objectives.