In the entirety of the NA LCS, no Finals have delivered as hard as the 2017 summer Finals have. Upsets, sweeps, reverse sweeps, grunge matches – it was chaos in the best and truest way. Not only that, but we didn’t stick our foot entirely in our mouth with our predictions.

The two biggest surprises in these Finals were CLG and Bjergsen. It wasn’t that CLG’s win over DIG was so surprising, it was how decisively they beat them. It was a 3 – 0 series with CLG performing at the absolute height of their skill. Aphromoo asserted himself once again as one of the best supports in the entire league, consistently roaming, saving, and engaging, and all of CLG followed suit. It was magic to watch.

The shock from Bjergsen came only from the fact that he took a backseat to let his teammates step up to the plate. That doesn’t mean there weren’t several moments of champions being deleted off the map by his Orianna or Syndra, just that the Bot and Top lanes shared far more of the glory and overall success of TSM closing out their series against IMT in a 3 – 1 victory.

CLG’s crushing of DIG started from the very beginning, almost before minions had moved to lane. It seemed as if DIG was hoping to exploit Omargod’s rookie status (called it!); however, someone should have told them that NV had tried the same thing before finals – and it didn’t work. Omargod makes rookie mistakes, but he is no stranger to jungle pressure, and this time around, CLG aggressively defended their new jungler. At every turn that DIG tried to attack Omargod, CLG counter-attacked.

This led to a first blood from Omargod in Game 1, a failed invade in Game 2 that led to two kills for CLG, and in Game 3 – right when it mattered the most – DIG’s jungler Shrimp tried once more to extend into CLG’s jungle only to be collapsed upon and crushed. Perhaps DIG thought CLG simply wouldn’t be prepared for the same strategy three games in a row, but this gave CLG an advantage in all three games, an advantage that they brutally hammered home.

Not a single member of CLG failed to perform this series, but it was Aphromoo that showed the most impressive turnaround from last we saw him. Despite being one of the best supports in the NA LCS, just weeks ago, Aphromoo was being outperformed by NV’s Hakuho and IMT’s Olleh.

The finals saw a return to form for Aphromoo, roaming constantly in these three games, showing up to engages, ganks, and fights in the jungle, in the mid lane, and even in the top lane. His roaming protected first turret gold, secured two kills in the jungle, prevented two deaths in mid lane, and served as a constantly harassing, engaging, monstrous presence.

We’ve said it before, and we will say it again, but this season is the support meta, and after performances like this, we understand why.

There were so many amazing moments that it was hard to choose just one. It wasn’t even the team fights that were always the most interesting. The roams and saves were outstanding from CLG, and each game had little moments that showed how completely on top of their game CLG was (and how off some of DIG were, like Shrimp)

But if we had to choose one moment, it would be this Aphromoo initiated and Huhi ended teamfight. At this point, CLG had left DIG flabbergasted at how to handle them, and plays like this were the icing on the cake. Huhi pincers DIG, evaporates Adrian, then manages to hold off two – then three – DIG members while his team cleans up. He even kites, dodges, and waits for his mana to come back to make his escape. World class play here.

We mentioned it in their last match, and we mentioned it here, but TSM’s success was in smooth, coordinated gameplay. They operated as a singular unit of destruction. With the exception of a few missteps from Svenskeren, TSM operated coolly and rationally under pressure.

Conversely, IMT fell apart in Game 1. Olleh in particular took a few games to warm to his role, but by the time IMT had started to hit their stride, they let the pressure get to them and overreached time and again, which TSM immediately collapsed upon in Game 4, turning a 7 – 0 game in IMT’s favor into an 8 – 20 game in TSM’s favor.

Team cohesion isn’t just about collapsing; it is as much about knowing when not to pull the trigger, and it was here that TSM showed their veteran status.

It wasn’t all bad from IMT though. In particular, at least one member of IMT knew exactly what weakness DIG had found in their match against TSM – CCing them – and exploited it expertly, and that was Flame on Jarvan.

Flame’s Jarvan weaved in and out of fights, knocking up numerous members, flashing out, then ulting back in when the opportunity presented itself. It was the only game that IMT managed to win, but it was in no small part to Flame. His Jarvan play has been mentioned before, but seeing it in action made it hard to believe that anyone could be better at the champ, and it was a stark reminder that even against the best team in the NA LCS, one player could make a difference.

A true final match should be a back and forth, a struggle between the best of the best instead of an all-out smash, and that was what we got in Game 4. IMT, reinvigorated after their recent loss, jumped into Game 4 with a fury. They turned TSM’s own strategies against them – collapsing Bot lane with all five members in a perfect mimic of what TSM did to them in Game 3 only IMT managed it cleaner and with more kills.

It was looking to be a complete wash for TSM, but IMT’s own overeagerness to close out the game, and TSM’s decisiveness proved to be one of the greatest turn-arounds in LCS history.

Though the ball had started rolling in TSM’s favor at the time of the clip, this was when it had gotten up to a breakneck speed, and where IMT had once been strong and unified, they were now completely scattered against the expert movements of TSM, even though TSM was at a dramatic deficit.

Congratulations, TSM. You earned this win.