Sentinels found their answer after a game. Beaten in a long, even opener, SEN took the next two maps comfortably to close out a 2–1 series win over Dignitas in Week 1 of the LCS.

The first game belonged to DIG, and it was arguably the closest of the three. Kills finished level at 20 apiece and Sentinels secured four dragons to Dignitas' one, but DIG claimed both barons and walked away with the win after 36:35. Palafox's Orianna was at the centre of it, finishing 8/1/11 with a hand in 95% of his team's kills, while FBI's Caitlyn put out 42,779 damage, the highest total of any player in the series.

HamBak takes over

Whatever DIG did right in that opener, they couldn't find it again. Game 2 was the shortest of the set at 26:32 and the most one-sided: Sentinels won the kill count 17–4 and took nine towers to two. FBI, so productive the game before, ended it 0/3/0 on Lucian without a single kill participation.

The common thread across the series was HamBak. The Sentinels jungler went 8/2/9 on Naafiri, 11/1/3 on Qiyana and 8/2/12 on Vi, adding up to 27 kills against five deaths over three games. That is the kind of line that makes an opposing jungle matchup look lopsided, and eXyu, who died 17 times across the series, seemingly spent much of it on the wrong end.

In the decider, Rahel joined in. His Zeri finished 14/2/7 with 31,180 damage as Sentinels ran up a 31–13 kill lead and ten towers to Dignitas' two in 29:44. Impact and huhi did quieter work on Shen and Leona, with huhi collecting 21 assists.

Questions for DIG

For Dignitas, the takeaway is mixed. The opener showed what Palafox and FBI can produce when the game gives them time, but the next two maps were decided by wide margins, with Sentinels claiming 19 towers to DIG's four across them. Picking up the same level from game to game looks like the job ahead for DIG, while SEN will hope the HamBak on show here is the one they get week after week.