This article is part of our LoL Recap series.
Fnatic vs. Misfits
Fnatic made short work of Misfits in a 3-0 sweep in the third/fourth place decider match for the European League of Legends Championship Series spring playoffs in Hamburg, Germany, on Saturday.
The first game of the series started off fairly even with neither team finding a sizable separation in the first 25 minutes. Fnatic took the first noticeable lead of the game when it won a 2-for-0 teamfight and quickly destroyed the Baron soon after. With its buff, Fnatic rotated to swiftly knock down tower after tower, eventually battling into the Misfits base. After back-to-back winning teamfights, Fnatic was able to easily go up in the series 1-0. Fnatic ADC Martin "Rekkles" Larsson played extremely well, posting a 8/0/5 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) on Kennen.
Game 2 kicked off with Fnatic finding an early 2-for-0 trade, quickly jumping out to a lead. Misfits countered, however, by earning a triple kill thanks to ADC Steven "Hans sama" Liv's Lucian (finishing with a 3/2/1 KDA). The lead didn't last long, though, as Fnatic mid laner Rasmus "Caps" Winther (7/1/6 KDA on LeBlanc) found a delayed triple kill. After trading towers with Misfits, Fnatic took down Baron and began its siege into the Misfits base. Two teamfights later, Fnatic went up 2-0 in the series.
Match point for Fnatic began with Fnatic feeding two early kills to Rekkles as Kennen (6/1/4 KDA) by feasting on Misfits support Lee "IgNar" Dong-geun as Nami (2/4/6 KDA). While Misfits was able to eventually find picks and trade kills with Fnatic to even the deficit, Fnatic knocked down towers without any answer from Misfits. The game blew open after Fnatic snuck a Baron at 22 minutes, which allowed it to win a 3-for-1 trade and break all three Misfits inhibitors. It took one more small teamfight for Fnatic to close out the series 3-0.
With the win, Fnatic secured a third-place finish along with 50 championship points and 30,000 Euros ($32,179), while Misfits finished in a respectable fourth place, with 30 championship points and 20,000 Euros ($21,453).
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G2 vs. Unicorns of Love
G2 Esports completed another chapter in its organization's legacy, taking down the Unicorns of Love 3-1 to claim its third championship title in the European League of Legends Championship Series Spring Finals in Hamburg, Germany.
Game 1 started off slowly, and quickly fell into a prolonged lull, with only three kills coming in before 25 minutes, each of which involved G2 jungler Kim "Trick" Gang-yun on Rumble. It was an ill-advised Baron attempt from Unicorns of Love that blew the game wide open for G2, as it picked up the Baron buff for itself as a result of a 2-for-0 teamfight. From there on in, while G2 never won a fight by more than one or two kills, it used those small gains to take objectives, smothering UoL to a methodical, 47-minute win.
Both teams traded kills evenly in the early stages of Game 2, but across-the-board CS (creep score) leads for the Unicorns gave them a 2,000-gold lead at the 20-minute mark. G2 bounced back, however, taking a 3-for-0 teamfight victory to secure the Baron buff, which it used to take an inhibitor in the bot lane. After that, G2 won every single engagement with its plethora of shields and heals, dominating the late game and taking Game 2 in under 31 minutes.
Game 3 began with an economic stalemate as kills for G2 and towers for Unicorns of Love left both teams' gold nearly dead even up until 27 minutes, when G2 finally found its first tower kill followed by a 3-for-1 fight at Baron. It was the Unicorns who took the subsequent fight 5-for-1, however, granting them a Baron kill. G2 did a solid job of defending against the buff, only to give up an inhibitor in a poor objective trade in the late game. This opening allowed UOL to take the game after winning the ensuing Baron fight, destroying the Nexus at the 39-minute mark.
The early stage of Game 4 was all about the mid lane, as G2's Luka "Perkz" Perkoviæ's LeBlanc acquired a huge CS lead and picked up a solo kill on the Talon of Fabian "Exileh" Schubert. UOL still felt confident enough to start a Baron attempt after getting a pick at 32 minutes, but G2 turned the play into a 5-for-1 teamfight win, taking an inhibitor and Baron kill as a result. This left G2 with little resistance as it barged into the base to take the Spring Split Championship at 37 minutes, completing the 3-1 series win.
This victory also secures G2 a spot at the Mid-Season Invitational, which kicks off with the Play-In stage on Friday, April 28 at 2p.m. ET.
