This article is part of our LoL Recap series.
Splyce vs. Fnatic
In the final match of Week 5, Day 1 of the European League of Legends Championship Series on Thursday in Berlin, Germany, Splyce shrugged off an early loss to Fnatic to take a 2-1 series win.
Fnatic began the series firing on all cylinders as mid laner Rasmus "Caps" Winther's Ryze picked up first blood at four minutes. Quickly picking up more kills in combination with jungler Mads "Broxah" Brock-Pedersen's Lee Sin, Caps put up a 8/2/7 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) and 83 percent kill participation rate, including a triple kill in a 5-for-0 ace at the 16-minute mark. It was game over for Splyce in just over 26 minutes.
Broxah continued his early game aggression in Game 2 as well. The jungler picked up first blood on Splyce top laner Martin "Wunder" Hansen's Gangplank at four minutes. While Fnatic held an early advantage in kills, Splyce's rotations and objective control kept them even in gold throughout the mid game, allowing Wunder to scale into the mid-late game.
Wunder picked up a triple kill in a 4-for-0 fight at the 22-minute mark as Splyce stopped Fnatic from taking an early Baron. His Gangplank started dealing massive damage in the late game, and Wunder finished with a whopping 38,000 damage dealt to enemy champions. This one took longer, a little more than 43 minutes, and that boded well for Splyce, which showed superb objective control in the win.
With tensions running high in Game 3, Fnatic struck first for the third straight game as Broxah's Lee Sin picked up first blood at the 13-minute mark. Fnatic couldn't capitalize on the early kill, however, and Splyce took control with a 4-for-1 teamfight around 25 minutes. Splyce snowballed their gold lead through AD Carry Kasper "Kobbe" Kobberup's Jhin, who landed crucial Deadly Flourishes and Curtain Call shots to lock Fnatic up en route to his 8/1/9 KDA and 94 percent kill participation.
Fnatic drew out the game with good engages from Paul "sOAZ" Boyer's top lane Kled, but Splyce's objective control, including two Barons and a late Elder Dragon grab, smothered Fnatic in the late game. Splyce closed out Game 3 with a final 4-for-0 teamfight in Fnatic's base at 45 minutes to take home the 2-1 series win.
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G2 vs. UoL
In a battle between the last two undefeated teams in Europe, G2 came away with a sweep against the Unicorns of Love during Week 5, Day 1 action in the European League of Legends Championship Series from Berlin, Germany, on Thursday.
G2 won a clean Game 1 to take control of the series, not falling for Unicorns' chaotic gameplay. G2 won a series of small early skirmishes, eventually leading to a 2-for-0 teamfight in the 31st minute that secured a Baron kill for G2. Effective use of the Baron buff by G2 resulted in an 11,000 gold lead and firm control of the game. G2 mid laner Luka "Perkz" Perkovic dominated Game 1 with a 9/1/7 KDA as Orianna, showing no mercy as G2 took a teamfight in the 38th minute 4-for-1 while securing the second Baron of the game and using the buff to take down the Unicorns' Nexus.
Game 2 was a back-and-forth affair between the two teams. Both sides traded blow-for-blow throughout the first 35 minutes, trading objectives, kills and teamfight wins. In the 36th minute, UoL jungler Andrei "Xerxe" Dragomir stole a Baron kill on Ivern, allowing UoL to take the ensuing teamfight 4-for-0. As they pushed to end the game, however, G2 respawned in time to clean up a 4-for-0 teamfight of their own to even the game back up. With the teams deadlocked, UoL went for a risky backdoor of G2's Nexus, coming within one auto attack from ending the game, but G2 were just able to stop the game from ending and in the process cleanly aced UoL on the back of AD Carry Jesper "Zven" Svenningsen's Varus picking up a quadra kill. The ace and lengthy death timers allowed G2 to march down the mid lane and finish the game to take a climactic Game 2 win.
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H2K vs. Giants Gaming
H2k-Gaming dominated Giants Gaming in teamfights to take a 2-0 series win during Week 5, Day 2 of the European League of Legends Championship Series in Berlin.
H2k took a back-and-forth Game 1 on the back of strong late-game teamfighting. H2k jumped out to a lead early, capitalizing on a number of well-thought-out plays to build a gold lead. That lead only expanded further after winning a 3-for-0 teamfight around the 31st minute, subsequently securing a Baron kill and an 8,000-gold lead.
After breaking through the Giants base, H2k cleanly aced Giants in the 37th minute with mid laner Fabian "Febiven" Diepstraten's Leblanc picking up a triple kill, putting the game away. H2k top laner Andrei "Odoamne" Pascu was vital to his team's success, with an unkillable 2/0/15 kills/deaths/assists (KDA) performance on Maokai.
H2k dominated teamfights once again in Game 2, this time early on. H2k took a 3-for-1 teamfight in the fifth minute to set the tone, dominating Giants throughout the game. A 26th-minute 3-for-1 teamfight win led to H2k securing the Baron and a nearly insurmountable 10,000-gold lead.
By the 32nd minute it was clear H2k would be walking home with the series sweep, picking up two kills while clearing off all three inhibitors. A final ace near the 34-minute mark was all H2k would need to earn the Game 2 win. H2k jungler Marcin "Jankos" Jankowski was destructive on Graves in Game 2, finishing the game with a 9/3/9 KDA.
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Misfits vs. Vitality
Misfits' superior macro play was on full display during Week 5, Day 2 of the European League of Legends Championship Series as it finished Friday with a resounding sweep over Vitality in Berlin, Germany.
Misfits took a fairly clean Game 1 as first blood didn't come until the 29th minute. A molasses-slow early game allowed Misfits to secure three Dragons through the first 22 minutes, before making a play near the Baron pit that netted it three kills and the ever important buff. That only enhanced its gold lead, so much so that Misfits were able to comfortably acquire a second Baron buff near the 41st minute, subsequently taking an Elder Dragon. It won the ensuing teamfight 2-for-1 and used the buffs to push into the Vitality base to win a slow and steady Game 1.
Vitality gave away two power picks in Camille and Rengar during the pick and ban phase in Game 2, a move that didn't work out in its favor. Once again, the pace was a slow and steady approach from Misfits, choking out Vitality throughout Game 2. In the 26th minute Misfits finally opened the Vitality base and then fell back to secure the Baron. Using the buff to great effect, Misfits would push into the Vitality base, taking three inhibitors in the 32nd minute and winning the ensuing teamfight cleanly. Usually players get all the praise, but Misfits' coach Hussain "Daku" Moosvi deserves massive credit for his team's clean macro play throughout this series.
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Splyce vs. ROCCAT
Splyce earned its third victory in its last four series Saturday with a dominating 2-0 sweep over Team ROCCAT during Week 5, Day 3 of the European League of Legends Championship Series in Berlin, Germany.
The first game of the series started off extremely slow, with neither team picking up a kill for the first 10 minutes. At the 11-minute mark, though, a big teamfight broke out that was started by a first blood from ROCCAT AD carry Petter "Hjärnan" Freyschuss' Tristana. Splyce quickly turned the fight around into a 5-for-3 ace in its favor to take an early gold lead. Despite ROCCAT trying to keep things even in terms of gold by securing towers and dragons, Splyce started to dominate the teamfights as the game progressed. A 2-for-1 teamfight victory at the 30-minute mark allowed Splyce to take the Baron and use the buff to break into ROCCAT's base. One last 4-for-0 fight, led by a double kill from Splyce AD carry Kasper "Kobbe" Kobberup's Jhin, was the final piece Splyce needed to get the win.
Splyce picked right back up where it left off in Game 1 with a first blood from jungler Jonas "Trashy" Andersen's Kha'Zix about 10 minutes into Game 2. While Splyce picked up the first tower around 18 minutes in, ROCCAT kept even with a couple kills and towers of its own. As the game wore on, Splyce mid laner Chres "Sencux" Laursen started roaming all over the map with his Corki to pressure every lane to start picking up more kills and towers. This slowly but surely built Splyce's gold lead significantly until it truly ran away with things after a Baron secured at the 28-minute mark. The buff helped balloon the gold lead from 5,000 to a whopping 10,000 by the time it wore off. That was enough for Splyce to pick up more kills and wrap up the series sweep with the 36-minute Game 2 win.
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Fnatic vs. Origen
In the final match of Week 5, Day 3 in the European League of Legends Championship Series, Fnatic thoroughly handled Origen in a quick 2-0 series on Saturday in Berlin, Germany.
Fnatic AD carry Martin "Rekkles" Larsson kicked things off in Game 1 with a first blood just over five minutes into the game when he used his Jhin to take down the Zyra support of Aleksi "Hiiva" Kaikkonen. After another teamfight win in the bottom lane, Fnatic secured the first tower kill to take an early advantage. Fnatic continued to push every lane, not allowing OG to take a single tower until 21 minutes into the game. Fnatic almost lost control of the game when OG secured the Baron 24 minutes in, but rather than slowly trudging its way back, OG tried to go for it all in one shot and was cut down. On the back of Rekkles' impressive 10/0/7 KDA (kills/deaths/assists), Fnatic grabbed a second Baron at 34 minutes to secure the Game 1 win.
Game 2 started out much like Game 1 did, this time with Fnatic jungler Mads "Broxah" Brock-Pedersen using his Rengar to take down top laner Max "Satorius" Günther's Gragas just four minutes in. Spreading its pressure out to the other lanes, Fnatic picked up the first tower in the bottom lane by 18 minutes and all three tier-one towers by 21 minutes. While Origen tried to battle back into the game with some teamfight wins, it could never fully get its footing. This led to an all-in Baron attempt at the 24-minute mark that backfired in stunning fashion, with Fnatic grabbing the Baron for itself and taking a 3-for-0 teamfight. The Baron buff ended up netting Fnatic plus-7,200 gold, which was more than enough to solidify the team's standing and allow them to push for the 30-minute Game 2 win.
Origen has yet to win a single game in the 2017 Spring Split.
