This article is part of our LoL Recap series.
Misfits vs. Fnatic
In the second match of Week 3 in the European League of Legends Championship Series in Berlin, Misfits took on Group A foes Fnatic. They finished Thursday with a relatively clean 2-0 series sweep.
In a back-and-forth Game 1, Misfits mid laner Tristan "PowerOfEvil" Schrage put together a great performance on Corki, picking up first blood during a top lane roam. While Fnatic held a gold lead throughout the midgame thanks to mid laner Rasmus "Caps" Winther's split-pushing on Zed, Misfits came back with a series of picks from jungler Lee "KaKAO" Byung-kwon, who dominated the map as Ivern en route to a 0/1/11 KDA (kills/deaths/assists), finishing with a 92 percent kill participation. To make matters worse for Fnatic, PowerOfEvil came online with massive poke damage in the late game, finishing with a 7/1/2 KDA along with a damage share of 32.5 percent. With Fnatic reeling, Misfits dominated the late game, coming back from a midgame gold deficit to sweep through Fnatic's base.
Misfits looked confident heading into Game 2, picking up a couple of kills early to begin what would become a massive gold lead. KaKAO had another monster performance on Ivern, getting Misfits ahead in the early game while keeping his carries alive with Triggerseeds and Redemption, finishing with a flawless 2/0/18 KDA for 91 percent kill participation. Misfits rotated around the map as a cohesive unit in the mid game and jumped out to a 2,600 gold lead. They controlled the game with a series of Baron baits, picking up several kills before finally securing the Baron along with a 9,100 gold lead. In commanding fashion, Misfits broke through Fnatic's defenses with a 2-for-0 teamfight and took Game 2 to secure the 2-0 series sweep.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
UoL vs. Fnatic
Week 3, Day 1 of the European League of Legends Championship Series kicked off Thursday with a matchup between Splyce and Unicorns of Love. In a hard-fought series that went a full three games, Unicorns of Love left the Berlin studios with a 2-1 series win.
Unicorns of Love started strong in Game 1 with a surprise reworked Warwick pick from jungler Andrei "Xerxe" Dragomir, catching Splyce jungler Jonas "Trashy" Andersen's Kha'Zix in the river for first blood. Splyce bounced back, punishing UoL's early Baron call and winning an extended 5-for-2 teamfight.
Splyce's superior teamfighting comp shined later in the game, taking a 5-for-0 clean ace as mid laner Chres "Sencux" Laursen's Corki dealt massive damage. While UoL support Zdravets "Hylissang" Galabov's Lulu did steal Baron, Splyce took Game 1 in methodical fashion on the back of Sencux's perfect 3/0/20 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) for 88.5 percent kill participation.
Xerxe had another hot start in Game 2 on jungle Ivern, counter-ganking mid to pick up a double kill for first blood. UoL snowballed their early game through great rotations and Fabian "Exileh" Schubert's oppressive mid lane control, taking all of Splyce's outer turrets before 17 minutes.
Unicorns of Love tightly controlled the game, playing around their gold lead and Baron to pick up several free kills before eventually securing Baron kills around 22 and 34 minutes, respectively. Xerxe was the catalyst for UoL's success, finishing with a 4/1/14 KDA for 95 percent kill participation as the Unicorns of Love stampeded their way to a Game 2 win.
Despite some early miscues in the laning phase, Unicorns of Love took control of the game, courtesy of top laner Kiss "Vizicsacsi" Tamas' solid play on Shen. Vizicsacsi had great uses of Stand United, escaping a gank while giving UoL a Baron kill. With UoL firing on all cylinders, and Splyce desperately far behind, UoL had the run of the map, securing a second Baron before completing the 2-1 series win with a 3-for-1 teamfight win in Splyce's base, closing out Game 3.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
H2K vs. Vitality
On Day 2 of Week 3 in the European League Championship Series, a struggling Team Vitality earned a glimmer of hope after defeating H2K in Game 1. H2K refocused in the final two games however to lock up the Friday 2-1 series win in Berlin.
The first game started in H2K's favor after the team earned a 3-0 kill advantage and a 1,000 gold lead before the 11-minute mark. The game then shifted heavily in Vitality's favor due to its focus on objectives, namely the towers. When Vitality did find themselves in a teamfight, it certainly handled its business, most notably securing an ace near the 26-minute mark. That led to a Baron kill which, coupled with its destruction of all 11 towers, allowed Vitality to take the fairly easy 34-minute win.
Whereas the first game saw the game fluctuate a bit between the two teams, the second was all H2K from the very start. Vitality's support Ha "hachani" Seung-chan on LuLu in Game 2, was caught out and picked off by the Kha'Zix of H2K jungler Marcin "Jankos" Jankowski just under three minutes into the game for first blood. That first blood gave H2K a gold lead that it continued to snowball all game long. Outside of a 4-for-2 teamfight near 19 minutes, Vitality showed very little signs of life in the 29-minute loss.
The final game was the most competitive of the series, with neither team seeing its gold lead reach 2,000 until 26 minutes into the game when H2K secured Baron and began to push for the victory in earnest. Initially, H2K started off the contest on the wrong foot when Jankos' Ivern was taken out by the Syndra of Vitality mid laner Erlend "Nukeduck" Våtevik Holm. The series-deciding match would go back and forth for some time until the aforementioned Baron play pushed H2K ahead for good. While Vitality prolonged the game for another 18 minutes, the end result was almost never truly in doubt. Jankos' Ivern was the runaway MVP with a 7/2/15 KDA (kills/deaths/assists).
----------------------------------------------------------------------
G2 vs. Giatns Gaming
G2 Esports continued its romp through Group A of the European League of Legends Championship Series with a 2-0 sweep of Giants Gaming on Day 2 of Week 3 in Berlin.
G2 showed everyone why it is considered one of the top teams in the EU LCS with a convincing Game 1 victory. The team took control of the game from the start, with top laner Ki "Expect" Dae-han picking up the first blood on Shen by taking down Giants top laner Olof "Flaxxish" Medin's Maokai at the 11-minute mark. G2 didn't fully break the game open until the 24-minute mark, at which point it shut Giants down in a 4-for-0 teamfight that netted it the first Baron. By the time the game was all said and done, the defending EU LCS champions had knocked down all 11 towers, all three inhibitors, three dragons, two Barons and 12 kills while not giving up a single kill or objective, earning the honor of recording the first perfect game in the 2017 season.
Giants Gaming, seemingly embarrassed by its Game 1 performance, put up quite the fight in Game 2. It picked up the first tower at nine minutes and first blood at 11 minutes, when support Morgan "Hustlin" Granberg's Malzahar took down G2 mid laner Luka "Perkz" Perkoviã on Ryze. Despite this, G2 still farmed its way to a gold lead shortly after the first blood. G2 finally got its first kill of the game when Expect's Shen took down Hustlin at the 22-minute game, which allowed it to wrestle back control of the game. Things began to look a bit shaky for G2 after it lost four members in the immediate aftermath of a Baron kill at 32 minutes, but G2 weathered the storm and continued to chip away at Giants before getting a second Baron at 40 minutes that it used to lock up the 2-0 series win.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Splyce vs. Origen
Week 3, Day 3 of the European League of Legends Championship Series kicked off on Saturday with a clash between teams that needed a win to stay afloat in a tough Group B. Splyce looked to recover from a slow start, while Origen sought their first individual game win of the season. But Splyce ultimately left the Berlin, Germany, studios with a clean 2-0 series win.
Origen tried to be proactive in the early game of Game 1, but jungler Kim "Wisdom" Tae-Wan's disaster with Rek'Sai at 10 minutes gave top laner Martin "Wunder" Hansen's Shen first blood. Splyce were firing on all cylinders, controlling the map via Wunder's splitpushing coupled with the massive poke damage from mid laner Chres "Sencux" Laursen's Corki. Origen forced fights throughout to try to stay even with Splyce, but a 3-for-0 teamfight win for Splyce at 19 minutes all but secured the win for the mostly Danish side. With Sencux popping off, earning a 5/0/6 KDA (kills/deaths/assists), and Splyce ahead by nearly 10,000 gold at 23 minutes, Splyce cruised to an easy Game 1 win in just over 25 minutes.
Origen had a stronger start to Game 2, with Wisdom's Elise picking up first blood in the top lane before five minutes. Once Splyce pushed back with kills of its own, however, Origen were flustered, looking for ways to get ahead, but simply getting methodically picked off by Splyce. Splyce controlled the tempo of the game all throughout, taking big teamfight wins and finding picks from AD carry Kasper "Kobbe" Kobberup's Jhin, who finished with a 7/1/17 KDA for 89 percent kill participation. With Wunder's Shen being far too tanky for Origen to poke down and Splyce securing a 40-minute Elder Dragon, it easily took a 4-for-0 teamfight around 41 minutes and swept through Origen's base to complete a 2-0 series sweep.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Fnatic vs. ROCCAT
In the final match of Week 3, Day 3 of the European League of Legends Championship Series, Fnatic faced ROCCAT in Berlin, Germany. In a tumultuous series that swung wildly back and forth, Fnatic took the series 2-1 to close out Saturday's action.
Fnatic got off to a hot start in Game 1, picking up first blood at around four minutes in a roam from mid laner Rasmus "Caps" Winther's surprising Camille pick. Caps continued to roam around the map, picking up kills well into the mid game while jungler Maurice "Amazing" Stuckenschneider's Ivern locked ROCCAT down with his full kit. With strong map presence, Fnatic was in complete control of the game, taking an early Baron kill at 21 minutes. Caps was unstoppable despite a difficult lane matchup, finishing with a perfect 8/0/5 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) as Fnatic cruised to a commanding win in just over 25 minutes.
ROCCAT got back on track with an early first blood by mid laner Felix "Betsy" Edling's Ryze with the help of jungler Nubar "Maxlore" Sarafian's Kha'Zix. Fnatic's poor draft gave ROCCAT complete control of the early game as Betsy snowballed with several early kills while AD Carry Petter "Hjärnan" Freyschuss dealt massive poke damage on Varus. While Fnatic found a couple of picks in the mid game, ROCCAT methodically dominated the objective game with two Infernal Drakes, two Ocean Drakes, two Barons and an Elder Dragon to close out the game in just under 45 minutes.
In a series-deciding Game 3, ROCCAT took control early with Maxlore's Kha'Zix picking up first blood on AD Carry Martin "Rekkles" Larsson's Jhin at around six minutes. Rekkles recovered well, however, locking down ROCCAT members with Deadly Flourishes and Curtain Calls while top laner Paul "sOAZ" Boyer's Gnar jumped on ROCCAT's backline. After a 4-for-1 team fight around 21 minutes swung the game in Fnatic's favor, the team quickly capitalized, securing a Baron before marching into ROCCAT's base. Snowballing out of control, Fnatic closed out Game 3 in just over 28 minutes to secure the 2-1 series win.
