Sentinels have the series. SEN beat LYON 2–1 in Week 4 of the LCS on August 16, winning two games that each ran past 40 minutes either side of a much quicker LYON reply.

Towers over kills

The opener explains a lot about the whole series. LYON finished Game 1 with more kills, 23 to 21, and more dragons, four to three, yet it didn't matter. SEN took 11 towers to LYON's five and all three Barons in a 43:57 game. Rahel was the standout on Ezreal, going 6/0/9 and finishing with 23,882 gold, the most of anyone in that game. On the other side, Saint put up 58,532 damage on Syndra, a big number that ultimately came in a losing effort.

The decider followed a similar pattern. Gold was almost level, with SEN at 78,539 and LYON at 78,048, but Sentinels again finished with 11 towers to four and both Barons, plus four dragons to two. DARKWINGS led the way on Hwei with an 8/2/6 line and 48,147 damage, while huhi was involved in 89% of his team's kills on Bard. In both of their wins, SEN turned modest margins into a clear edge on the map.

Not quite enough from LYON

LYON did show what they can do. Game 2 lasted just 30:11, and they took it 11 kills to six, with eight towers and the game's lone Baron. Berserker was arguably their most reliable player across the three games. He died just five times over nearly two hours of play and posted a 6/1/8 line on Cassiopeia in the opener.

The problem was turning that into objectives when games went long. Across the two Sentinels wins, SEN claimed all five Barons and outtook LYON 22 towers to nine. LYON were competitive in the fights, and seemingly kept pace in gold too, but the map told a different story.

For LYON, the lesson from Week 4 is a familiar one in a long series: kills and dragons only go so far without the structures to match. SEN, meanwhile, leave with a win built on exactly that, and with Rahel and DARKWINGS each producing a game-defining line along the way.