Clutch Gaming has been underestimated at every turn. Jatt famously said that even if Clutch managed to win the split, he would still doubt their quality as a team. A European star in the mid lane, three players from a defunct team, and the worst toplaner in NA – that was Clutch’s legacy. But Clutch Gaming broke a five year winning streak by TSM, and they forced the number one team in the NA LCS into a five game showdown with the final game going 74 minutes long. Clutch may not have won, but they gave 100 Thieves the biggest challenge of their careers.

100 Thieves Game 1 strategy was simple, so simple that Clutch mirrored it almost exactly. It was a dual tank combo in top and jungle, a control mage in the middle, an ADC with some poke, and a support with shields and CC. Both teams built this comp exactly, but the Thieves did one thing different; they took Morgana.

This might seem like a small deal, but it was only weeks ago that Sneaky and Meteos both told Phreak about how well-known Hakuho’s Morgana plays are. In fact, the two remarked about how nearly unstoppable he was on Morgana and his undervalued quality as a support.

The Thieves picked Morgana as a steal. They wanted to deny the pick from Hakuho, but what they didn’t expect was how masterfully Hakuho and Apollo could play against the pick. Possibly because of his own mastery of the champion, Hakuho had Aphromoo on the ropes the entirety of the laning phase. It was almost embarrassing how easily the sixth place bot lane manhandled Aphromoo, but it goes to show how well he understood both the strengths and weaknesses of the champion. In Game 5, Hakuho finally managed to get his hands on Morgana, and it was one of the reasons why the Thieves nearly lost in the semifinals.

However, after 74 minutes of gameplay, one thing was abundantly clear. All of Clutch was unified in their determination to win. They made some small mistakes – sure – but they fought with the kind of heart that Fnatic showed at Worlds, a kind of incredible determination and resolve that was hard to shake.

Even after the Thieves setup a beautiful flank on Clutch, it was Ryu that panicked, flashing away before his taunt completely finished. Clutch stuck through what should have been a slaughter. Febiven, with a fearlessness we saw mirrored against TSM, kited and bounced around the fight, killing and shielding and ultimately swinging the battle in Clutch’s favor. This would go on for another 25 minutes, with eight more kills being swapped between the teams.

At the end of the day, the Thieves realized that in a team fight, there was too much up to chance and too much to risk. They baited Clutch to the front of their base while showing outstanding wave control and using the minions to pummel down the turrets. It was only once the final Nexus turret fell, once the Thieves had slowly closed the jaws of their strategy and Clutch was pincered by minions on one side and the Thieves on the other, that Clutch stumbled. It was in this final moment that the Thieves immediately pounced on Hakuho and secured, once and for all, the victory.