This article is part of our LoL Recap series.
Misfits vs. UoL
Misfits (6-1/13-4 match record) came into Week 6, Day 1 of the European League of Legends Championship Series on a hot streak, taking a 2-1 win over Unicorns of Love (5-2/11-6 match record) on Thursday in Berlin, Germany.
Misfits flew out of the gate in Game 1, amassing a sizable lead from the very beginning. With jungler Lee "KaKAO" Byung-kwon's Elise getting his lanes ahead, Misfits racked up five kills before 10 minutes. The lead only grew from there, with Misfits compiling a 6,000 gold lead by 20 minutes thanks to a 12-to-2 advantage in kills. In addition to their teamfighting prowess, Misfits had superb vision control over the river to secure two Barons, leading to a late ace and a 38-minute win.
Game 2 started out in the same vein as the first game, with Misfits in full control. Unicorns of Love had other ideas, though, picking up a massive 3-for-0 teamfight in the mid game that led to an 18-minute inhibitor. For the rest of the game, both teams traded teamfight wins while looking for a knockout punch. UoL picked up two Barons along the way, keeping Misfits from breaking ahead. After a second Baron kill, paired with an Elder Dragon buff, UoL had just enough power to win a late 4-for-2 teamfight to wrap up Game 2 in 39 minutes.
For the third and final game, Misfits came out of the gate firing on all cylinders. While UoL got the first tower gold, Misfits managed to race out to a 6,000 gold lead by 20 minutes on the back of an 8-to-1 kill advantage. Despite the massive lead in kills that grew to 26-to-7 by the game's end, things weren't easy for Misfits, as UoL won a few teamfights in the mid and late game while also stealing the first Baron kill to keep Misfits from breaking ahead. A big ace at 42 minutes finally put the nail in the coffin, though, giving Misfits the 2-1 series win.
Both teams will be back in action on Saturday, with Misfits taking on Origen at 10 a.m. ET and Unicorns of Love facing Team ROCCAT at 1 p.m. ET.
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H2K vs. Fnatic
In the final match of Week 6, Day 1 in the European League of Legends Championship Series, H2k Gaming easily handled Fnatic in a quick 2-0 sweep on Thursday in Berlin.
The first game of this series was a complete trouncing by H2k (6-2, 14-5 match record), which looked to be playing on a different level than Fnatic (4-4, 10-11 match record). The winners started out with a 1,000-gold lead just a few minutes in that ballooned to 6,000 by the 16-minute mark.
Fnatic tried to get back into the game, but at no point did it feel like there was any chance H2k would lose. In a last-ditch effort, Fnatic went for a Baron 22 minutes in, but H2k waltzed up and strong-armed the Baron away while also picking up an ace. The buff allowed H2k to keep moving along on its way to a 27-minute victory.
Game 2 was more of the same, though things started off much slower than Game 1. It was actually Fnatic that picked up the first blood 11 minutes in, but the initial fight ended up 2-for-2. From then on, H2k settled right back into the driver's seat and methodically picked away at Fnatic's resolve bit by bit. At the forefront of this was AD carry Shin "Nuclear" Jung-hyun's Varus, who seemed to pick off members of Fnatic at will on his way to a 6/0/3 KDA (kills/deaths/assists).
With Nuclear leading the way, H2k got ahead by 5,000 gold before securing the Baron at the 24-minute mark. With the Baron buff in tow, H2k easily pushed into Fnatic's base to lock up the 28-minute win and complete the sweep.
Neither team will play again until next week. Fnatic faces Unicorns of Love at 11 a.m. on March 10, and H2k takes on Misfits on at 1 p.m. March 11.
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G2 vs. Vitality
Continuing its campaign of regional dominance, G2 Esports picked up a clean 2-0 series sweep of Team Vitality on Friday in Week 6, Day 2 of the European League of Legends Championship Series in Berlin, Germany.
G2 (8-0, 16-3 match record) had a great start to Game 1, making Vitality (1-6, 4-12) top laner Lucas "Cabochard" Simon-Meslet's Camille trade 1-for-1 every time he tried to make an early play. With a small gold lead accrued from tower kills, G2 finally kicked it into high gear with a 2-for-0 teamfight win to secure a Baron kill at 22 minutes. Snowballing ahead thanks to jungler Kim "Trick" Gang-yun's Kha'Zix, who posted a 4/1/4 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) while maintaining control over neutral objectives, G2 looked unstoppable later in the game. A 3-for-1 teamfight to secure a second Baron kill and 5-for-2 ace afterward led G2 to victory around the 37-minute mark.
Not content with his Game 1 performance, Trick's Nidalee in Game 2 was spectacular. The jungler picked up first blood at seven minutes to get his own snowball rolling. Vitality support player Baltat "AoD" Alin-Ciprian's EU LCS debut on Camille turned heads early, and AoD gave Vitality a couple of early kills, but Trick could not be stopped. His triple kill in an extended top lane fight was just an appetizer: Trick nabbed two more kills and a Baron around 23 minutes. He did a great job of controlling the map in the mid- and late-game, securing four elemental drakes for G2 while teamfighting well, including a 5-for-2 ace at 25 minutes. Ridiculously far ahead, Trick completed a full item build featuring Redemption and Athene's Unholy Grail while still racking up a flawless 10/0/9 KDA for 100 percent kill participation, carrying the rest of G2 to a 33-minute win and a clean 2-0 series sweep.
G2 Esports look to continue its undefeated run next Friday when it takes on Splyce at 10 a.m., while Team Vitality will hope to pick up a crucial win against Giants Gaming next Thursday at the same time.
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Splyce vs. Giants Gaming
Splyce (5-3, 11-7 match record) demolished Giants Gaming (1-6, 4-13) in Week 6, Day 2 of the European League of Legends Championship Series, leaving Berlin, Germany with a 2-0 series sweep on Friday.
While Game 1 was heavily focused on farming, with first blood not coming until 10 minutes in, all hell broke loose from there. After Giants picked up a 4-for-3 teamfight win in the mid lane, Splyce jumped ahead in gold through their superior objective control, securing three early towers and giving top laner Martin "Wunder" Hansen's Gnar the Rift Herald buff at 17 minutes. Wunder put together a great performance on Gnar, providing good crowd control as a part of Splyce's well-oiled teamfighting machine, finishing with an 8/1/4 KDA for 80 percent kill participation. Snowballing off of their mid game objective leads, Splyce took a couple of kills and a Baron kill at 25 minutes before quickly taking a clean 5-for-0 ace on the back of a Wunder triple kill to close out Game 1 in a lightning-quick 27 minutes.
Looking to put Giants in the driver's seat for Game 2, mid laner Na "NighT" Gun-woo took Talon into the mid lane, where he picked up a couple of early kills, developing into a decent threat. Unfortunately for NighT, Splyce still had the edge in shotcalling and team play, leading to an early Splyce lead as they took the first few towers of the game before 15 minutes. Splyce looked great against Giants, following a similar script to that of Game 1 by picking up an early gold lead through objectives, finding picks in the mid game, and then capitalizing by dominating teamfights. In a solid team effort, Splyce secured three kills and a Baron at 25 minutes, using the buff to surge through Giants Gaming's base as Splyce picked up the 5-for-0 ace to close out the 30-minute win without losing a single tower in a huge series victory.
Giants Gaming will look to get back on track next Thursday when they face off against Team Vitality at 1:00 PM EST while Splyce have a tough task ahead of them in G2 Esports when the teams clash next Friday at 10:00 AM EST.
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Misfits vs. Origen
Misfits continue to close the gap on G2 Esports in Group A, and on Saturday earned its fifth-straight series victory with a 2-0 sweep over Origen during Week 6, Day 3 of the European League of Legends Championship Series.
The tone of this series was set just a few minutes into the game, when Origen jungler Kim "Wisdom" Tae-Wan's Kha'Zix was killed by jungle minions without being hit once by a Misfits player. He followed this up by falling to Misfits jungler Lee "KaKAO" Byung-kwo's Lee Sin a couple of minutes later. That gave Misfits (7-1, 15-4 match record) a massive jungle lead coupled with a similar lead in the mid lane, thanks to Misfits to Tristan "PowerOfEvil" Schrage's Syndra, who dominated to the tune of a 7/1/4 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) by the game's end. While Origen's bottom lane duo of Erik "Tabzz" van Helvert's Ezreal and Enrique "xPeke" Cedeño Martínez's Braum managed to hold its own early on, the deficits in every other lane amounted to an 8,000-gold lead for Misfits before they even secured the Baron. Once the Baron fell, it was curtains for Origen (0-7, 0-14 match score) in this 30-minute win for Misfits.
The second game started off very much like the first did, with PowerOfEvil picking up a double kill in a 3-for-1 teamfight at the eight-minute mark. Shortly afterward, Misfits secured another teamfight win, this time a 3-for-0, to further solidify its lead.
Despite the deficit, Origen secured a 3-for-0 teamfight win of its own at the 22-minute mark that allowed it to take the first Baron. The Baron only netted Origen about 2,000 gold, though. Still handily in the lead, Misfits built off a 2-for-0 teamfight at the 32-minute mark to grab the second Baron and began pushing for the win in earnest. Misfits broke into Origen's base and took the 41-minute win to complete the sweep.
Origen, still looking for its first game win, will return to the stage on Thursday at 11 a.m. ET to take on Team ROCCAT, while Misfits will gear up for a big matchup against H2K Gaming on Feb. 11 at 1 p.m. ET.
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UoL vs. Team ROCCAT
Unicorns of Love easily handled Team ROCCAT in a very quick 2-0 sweep on Saturday in Week 6, Day 3 of the European League of Legends Championship Series.
UoL (6-2, 13-6 match record) started and ended this game looking incredibly strong, not letting ROCCAT (0-7, 2-14 match record) have much of a chance from start to finish. Starting off with strong presence in all lanes, UoL had a 2,000-gold lead before eight minutes had even passed. What followed was a pretty subdued laning phase that didn't see very many kills. It wasn't until 22 minutes that major action took place. Looking to solidify its lead, UoL went for the Baron and secured it, but the team lost four of its members in the ensuing fight.
Despite what could have ended up being a major setback, UoL decisively took the following teamfights to hold onto its gold lead. One final 4-for-1 teamfight win in favor of UoL, bolstered by a triple kill from Samuel "Samux" Fernández Fort's Jhin, gave UoL the window needed to secure a 32-minute win.
Although ROCCAT did pick up the first blood and first tower in Game 2, it was all UoL the rest of the game. Less than 10 minutes into the game, UoL secured a 3-for-0 teamfight that gave it an almost 2,000-gold lead once again. From then on, there was simply nothing that ROCCAT could do to stop the freight train that was UoL in the final game. The Unicorns roamed the map razing towers, slaying dragons and winning teamfights with impunity to leave ROCCAT with no viable route back into the game. Rather than give ROCCAT an opportunity delay its fate any longer, UoL decided it was ready to go home, picking up a 4-for-0 teamfight late to lock up the 25-minute win to secure the series sweep.
Team ROCCAT will next see action Thursday at 11 a.m. ET to take on Origen in the battle of winless teams, while Unicorns of Love will come back on Friday at the same time to face Fnatic.
