Unicorns of Love upsets Clutch Gaming to start LoL Worlds 2019
Unicorns of Love opened the 2019 League of Legends World Championship with a major upset over Clutch Gaming.
The play-in stage kicked off on October 2 with an opening match between Unicorns of Love from the LCL and Clutch Gaming from the LCS. Clutch came into the match as the favorite but Unicorns of Love had another thing in mind.
Unicorns of Love wins with an unexpected pick
In picks and bans, Unicorns of Love surprised with Heimerdinger in the bottom lane. Clutch went for a standard composition, with the small twist of putting jungler Nam “Lira” Tae-yoo on Ekko.
The fight for first blood would set the tone for the rest of the match. Lira and Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon teamed up to get Vladislav “BOSS” Fomin under the turret. The play was unnecessarily aggressive and Unicorns of Love was able to punish both players.
Huni would continue to make costly, over-aggressive plays. Around the rift herald, the top laner went over a wall to chase out the enemy jungler. Huni found himself surrounded by enemies and gave up a kill, forcing Clutch to give up the objective.
Unicorns of Love kept punishing every play from Clutch. The North American team then looked towards securing a dragon. Unicorns of Love erased Clutch inside the pit, took the dragon, and the baron on their way out.
After that baron play, Unicorns of Love had total control of the game and never gave it back. The superior vision control allowed Unicorns of Love to move between lanes and apply as much pressure as possible.
Clutch still tried to go for flanks and find picks, but couldn’t find anything that could swing the game. Sun “Cody Sun” Li-Yu managed to keep Clutch alive and drag out the game.
Unicorns of Love seemed hesitant to push for the win, and were planning to wait a bit longer to secure a third baron. That changed when when they caught Tanner “Damonte” Damonte out of position. That kill was enough for them to go for the win and there was nothing that Clutch could do about it.
Read Also
League of Legends
LEC 2026 Summer split preview, schedule, predictions, and more
Hannan Mundia
The 2026 LEC Summer split will be the deciding split to determine which teams can make it to the World Championship, and this preview aims to highlight everything you need to know about it. It isn’t a stretch to say that the LCK and LCP are the only two competitive League of Legends regions actually pulling their weight currently. The LEC did show potential at the start of the year, ...
League of Legends
How is League of Legends Classic different from the modern version?
Hannan Mundia
League Classic brings the classic League of Legends gameplay and design from when the game first came out, but how is it different from the modern version? The modern League of Legends mode is arguably in its best state in terms of popularity, with a study even reporting that playing LoL can improve brain function. Over a decade of gameplay and multiple marketing tactics by Riot Games have bumped up ...
League of Legends
Best Champions for every role in League of Legends Classic mode
Hannan Mundia
League Classic sees the return of League of Legends Season 3, but which champions were deemed the best during that time? League of Legends has gone through a lot of changes since it first came out. While the map and item-related changes naturally impacted the game's state, so did the many champion nerfs, buffs, and reworks. Multiple champions played completely differently in Season 3 than they do now. Since League ...
Valorant
OBS Game Capture isn’t working on Valorant and League of Legends? Here’s why and how to fix it
Khizar Mundia
Several reports suggest that OBS Game Capture is broken, with Valorant and League of Legends streamers only being able to broadcast a black screen. OBS has responded to the issue, confirming that it exists and also provided a way to fix it. Valorant and League of Legends are two of Riot Games’ most popular titles, and they are being streamed on streaming platforms by creators regularly. On July 21, 2026, ...
League of Legends
Dplus sweeps Karmine Corp to win the 2026 LoL EWC grand final
Hannan Mundia
The League of Legends Esports World Cup 2026 grand final just concluded, where Dplus absolutely swept Karmine Corp to win it all. The League of Legends Esports World Cup may only have been taking place since 2024, but it has already become a key international event for fans and professional players. With a large prize pool and consecutive matches with little delay, fans have a blast seeing their favorite teams ...
Esports Betting
Dplus vs Karmine Corp: Best betting odds, picks for Esports World Cup 2026 grand final
Hannan Mundia
The League of Legends Esports World Cup 2026 grand final matchup has been determined, but which team will come out on top between Dplus and Karmine Corp? While there were multiple favorites going into the LoL EWC 2026, few assumed that Dplus and Karmine Corp would make it to the grand final. Both teams have showcased exceptional growth, but only one team can win the top prize. While Dplus is ...
League of Legends
League of Legends EWC 2026 group stage recap: G2 crash out as T1, Gen.G and HLE advance
Hannan Mundia
The League of Legends EWC group stage just concluded, and here’s a complete summary of everything that transpired in the two extremely eventful days. The League of Legends Esports World Cup is already making waves for all of the right reasons. While it isn’t nearly as long as the game’s esports fans are usually used to seeing, it’s still packed with awesome matches in which the best teams play each ...
