This article is part of our LoL Recap series.
G2 vs. H2K
In the marquee matchup of Week 4, Day 1 of the European League of Legends Championship Series, G2 progeny bested H2K Gaming on Thursday in a hard-fought 2-1 series to leave Berlin, Germany, as one of the two remaining undefeated teams in Europe.
G2 took a closely-contested Game 1 with clean and patient gameplay. Despite an even kill count through the mid game, G2 took small objective advantages while biding their time to allow top laner Ki "Expect" Dae-Han's Camille to become a split-pushing menace. Expect was able to pick off H2K top laner Andrei "Odoamne" Pascu's Shen in the late game, opening the bottom side of H2K's base and giving G2 an 8,000 gold lead. With Expect split pushing well, he took a clean 5-0 teamfight around 43 minutes to close out Game 1.
H2K dominated Game 2 to even the series, falling just one death short of a perfect game. H2K's bottom lane snowballed hard with AD Carry Shin "Nuclear" Jung-hyun going off with eight kills through the first 25 minutes of the game. H2K dominated a teamfight in the 22nd minute with Nuclear picking up a double kill. That lead to an H2K Baron kill alongside a 7,000 gold lead. Odoamne withstood a slow early game on Rumble to pick up a triple kill in the 30th minute, allowing H2K to win Game 2 to force a series-deciding final game.
G2 survived an early game deficit to scale up and become a late-game powerhouse in Game 3. While H2K dominated most of the game with a 13-5 kill advantage and a 5,000 gold lead as late as 37 minutes, G2 turned the tables after a 1-for-1 teamfight in the 38th minute. Taking the Elder Dragon and winning a 3-for-1 teamfight after H2K secured Baron, G2 cut the gold deficit and took control on the back of jungler Kim "Trick" Gang-Yun's Kha'Zix, who finished the game with a 5/1/7 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) for 80 percent kill participation. Surging past a floundering H2K, G2 secured Game 3 with a 5-for-1 teamfight win on the back of AD Carry Jesper "Zven" Svenningsen's triple kill to take the series 2-1.
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UoL vs. Giants
Week 4, Day 1 of the European League of Legends Championship Series started with a dominating, one-sided victory as Unicorns of Love crushed Giants Gaming with a 2-0 series sweep in Berlin on Thursday.
UoL started with a considerable lead in Game 1 with AD Carry Samuel "Samux" Fernandez's Jhin picking off Giants mid laner Na "Night" Gun-woo's Ryze early for first blood. This set the tone for UoL's domination as they went on to win take a 3-for-1 teamfight in fifth minute and a 3-for-0 later to open up a 6,000 gold lead. Unicorns never relented, securing a Baron kill in the 22nd minute and cracking Giants' base open in the 23rd minute with a 3-for-0 teamfight win. With an insurmountable 14,000 gold lead, UoL dominated a subpar Giants side with a 24-7 kill advantage in a quick Game 1 victory.
Game 2 was just as ugly for Giants, with UoL picking up nine kills in the first nine minutes of the game. Dominating Giants across every lane and in the jungle, the Unicorns held a 7,000 gold lead at 15 minutes, the largest gold lead at 15 minutes this year in the EU LCS Spring Split . UoL picked up three kills at 23 minutes to secure a Baron kill to further snowball their gold lead. With UoL in full control of the game, mid laner Tristan "Exileh" Schubert's Corki picked up a triple kill en route to his combined 23/4/7 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) to close out a one-sided series sweep for UoL.
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Vitality vs. Fnatic
The final match of Week 4, Day 2 of the European League of Legends Championship Series, Fnatic and Team Vitality completed a very close series. In the end, Fnatic picked up the 2-1 win on Friday in Berlin, Germany.
Fnatic got going early in Game 1 when mid laner Rasmus "Caps" Winther's Varus took down the Kha'Zix of jungler Charly "Djoko" Guillard at the nine-minute mark. From then on, Fnatic put out massive pressure in every single lane while securing objectives and picking off members of Vitality to amass a ridiculous 10,600 gold lead at 20 minutes. This lead translated into a 30-minute win for Fnatic; Vitality failed to take a single objective.
Vitality came out with a renewed energy in Game 2 to tie up the series. AD carry Pierre "Steeelback" Medjaldi's Jhin took down Fnatic's support, Jesse "Jesiz" Le, at the five-minute mark to give Vitality a gold lead. This grew when mid laner Lee "GBM" Chang-suk's LeBlanc shut down Caps' Camille in the mid lane, picking up back-to-back solo kills. While Fnatic stayed in the game through objective play, Vitality eventually broke the game open with back-to-back aces around the 38-minute mark, leading to a 39-minute win. Djoko's Kha'Zix was MVP of those final teamfights, securing six kills between the two fights to help force a third game.
The decisive Game 3 started off with Vitality securely in the driver's seat. GBM's Xerath got the killing going early with a first blood on mid laner Caps' Malzahar about seven minutes in, followed by Erlend "Nukeduck" Våtevik Holm's Zyra continuing the Vitality snowball with a double kill in the bottom lane. Fnatic found the perfect opportunity to wrestle back control of the game after a 2-for-0 fight in the mid lane around 22 minutes led to a Baron and three kills, putting Fnatic in the driver's seat for good. While it took two more Barons and 18 additional minutes of play, Fnatic managed to close out the 40-minute game to take a 2-1 series victory.
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Misfits vs. Splyce
In the first match of Week 4, Day 2 in the European League Championship Series, Misfits continued its surprising run to start the Spring Split with a series sweep over Splyce on Friday in Berlin, Germany.
Splyce struck first in Game 1 when Misfits support Lee "IgNar" Song-geun's Malzahar was taken down by Splyce AD Carry Kasper "Kobbe" Kobberup's Jhin just under three minutes in. After Splyce's bottom lane roamed up to top lane to help pick up the first tower gold, both teams farmed and traded towers for a while until Misfits took control with a Baron kill at the 26-minute mark. Splyce mid laner Chres "Sencux" Laursen got a triple kill on Corki in the 3-for-3 teamfight around the Baron pit, but Misfits used the buff on the other two members to amass a sizeable gold lead. Misfits jungler Lee "KaKAO" Byung-kwon sealed the game with a decisive Baron steal on Lee Sin at the 35-minute mark, giving Misfits the fuel needed to push into Splyce's base and secure the 37-minute win.
Splyce made the first mistake in Game 2 by letting Camille get through the pick-ban phase, which gave Misfits top laner Barney "Alphari" Morris the highly contested champion. This translated into a first blood for mid laner Tristan "PowerOfEvil" Schrage when he roamed up top with his Orianna in a gank on Splyce top laner Martin "Wunder" Hansen, which in turn set the tone for what ended up being a breezy Misfits win. Misfits took a messy 5-for-3 extended teamfight at the 13-minute mark that gave it a gold lead that would persist throughout the rest of the game. Misfits continued to grow its lead from there, forcing Splyce into a desperate fight at the 28-minute mark that backfired terribly. Crushing the teamfight 4-for-0, Misfits used their momentum to pick up the Baron kill that ultimately secured the game and the series in 34 minutes.
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H2K vs. ROCCAT
In the first match of Week 4, Day 3 in the European League of Legends Championship Series, H2K Gaming bounced back from its tough loss against G2 on Thursday by throttling Team ROCCAT on Saturday in Berlin, Germany.
H2K started off the series a bit rocky in terms of teamfights, getting the first blood a few minutes in, but losing two in return. Despite the slight edge for ROCCAT, H2K squeezed back in to start slowly amassing a gold lead by knocking down towers. By 20 minutes, it had a 3-to-1 lead in towers and a 2,500 gold lead. H2K would snowball that lead out of control with a 3-for-0 teamfight that gave way to a 22-minute Baron. Using big waves of Baron-buffed minions, H2K pushed all the way into ROCCAT's base looking for the win. ROCCAT mid laner Felix "Betsy" Edling punished the greedy push of H2K with his Ryze to the tune of a quadra kill that only served to delay the inevitable. H2K picked itself up after the trouncing to finish the halted push for a 33-minute win.
Despite having some extreme ebbs and flows, the second game of the series saw H2K in the driver's seat from start to finish. Mid laner Fabian "Febiven" Diepstraten used his Jayce to pick up a double kill just five minutes in. H2K continued to grow its lead through strong control over towers before ROCCAT attempted to get back into the game. The major teamfights went back and forth between the teams for the last 20 minutes of the game. H2K secured a 5-for-2 ace at the 28-minute mark to take down the first Baron. Another big 4-for-1 fight in favor of H2K broke open the base of ROCCAT, which nearly allowed H2K to put the game away. ROCCAT just would not give up, taking a Baron at the 38-minute mark to give it a fleeting chance at the win. However, ROCCAT's poor decision to go for the third Baron at the 46-minute mark led to its decimation, allowing H2K to push for the 47-minute win.
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G2 vs. Origen
G2 Esports earned its sixth straight series win after sweeping Origen on Saturday in Berlin, Germany in the final match of Week 4, Day 3 of the European League of Legends Championship Series.
G2 got things rolling in Game 1 by taking the first tower in the top lane at the seven-minute mark. It was then time for G2 jungler Kim "Trick" Gang-yun to take over the game with Kha'Zix. He started off with two kills in 11 minutes and never let up as the game went on, earning an impressive 10/0/2 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) in the game. With little resistance from Origen, G2's many teamfight victories culminated in a 4-for-0 brawl at the 22-minute mark to secure the Baron, and later an ace at the 24-minute mark to lock up the easy win. Owning leads of 20-0 in kills, 8-1 in towers, 2-0 in dragons and 1-0 in Barons, G2 was just one fallen tower short of a perfect game in the 25-minute victory.
Origen jungler Kim "Wisdom" Tae-wan on Kha'zix got his team off to a much better start in Game 1 with a first blood on Trick's Elise, but then G2 bounced back with two quick kills to grab the gold lead it never relinquished. Origen tried to initiate a teamfight at the 11-minute mark to make its way back into the game, but G2 wrestled back control of the fight to pick up the ace, which gave G2 a 2,500 gold lead. G2 kept pushing for the 33-minute win, and mid laner Luka "PerkZ" Perkoviã dominated the competition with his Jayce. He dealt a game-high 29,700 damage to champions while amassing a deathless 9/0/6 KDA.
