This article is part of our LoL Recap series.
ROCCAT vs. Origen
In a matchup of the two worst teams in Europe, ROCCAT (1-7, 4-15 match record) picked up their first win over a still winless Origen (0-8, 1-16 match record) during Week 7, Day 1 of the European League of Legends Championship Series in Berlin, Germany.
In a Game 1 that seemingly would not end, Origen picked up their first game win of the season. They needed 78 minutes, five Barons and four Elder Dragons to get there, but it was a relief for Origen fans across the world. Despite controlling every Baron of the game, Origen could not crack open the ROCCAT base until the 72 minute mark, taking two inhibitors. They closed out the game after securing the fifth Baron of the game in the 77th minute, winning the ensuing teamfight 4-for-0. The win also marked Origen mid laner Yoo "NaeHyun" Nae-hyun's first professional win.
ROCCAT evened the series with a fairly one sided Game 2 victory. ROCCAT dominated teamfights throughout the game, but struggled to open up a significant gold lead. While it was able to pick up kills, ROCCAT struggled to transition that advantage into objective control, leading to another prolonged game. Finally in the 40th minute, ROCCAT opened the Origen base, taking out the bottom inhibitor, but losing the ensuing teamfight 1-for-3. The game stagnated until ROCCAT won a 52 minute teamfight 2-for-0, sweeping through all three of Origen's inhibitors. Despite Origen securing the Baron in the 54th minute, ROCCAT was able to win the ensuing teamfight 3-for-0 and end the game. ROCCAT jungler Nubar "Maxlore" Sarafian was excellent throughout, ending with a 7/5/20 KDA as Lee Sin.
ROCCAT mercifully ended the series with a 31 minute win in Game 3. Again, it dominated teamfights, culminating in a 28 minute 5-for-1 teamfight win that secured ROCCAT the Baron. ROCCAT ADC Petter "Hjarnan" Freyschuss Zigg's was able to pick up a double kill in the next minute, opening up the Origen base. In the base, ROCCAT picked up three kills at the 31 minute mark to push down the Origen Nexus and close out the series.
ROCCAT will face off against Vitality on Saturday at 10 AM EST, while Origen will continue to search for their first win against Giants on Sunday at 11 AM EST.
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Vitality vs. Giants Gaming
A remade Game 2 gave Vitality (2-6, 6-13 match record) new life as the team rallied to defeat Giants Gaming (1-7, 5-15 match record) 2-1 during Week 7, Day 1 of the European League of Legends Championship Series in Berlin, Germany.
Giants started off Game 1 strong, picking up a handful of kills which it used to open up an objectives lead. The lead only ballooned further after Giants aced Vitality near the 22 minute with marksman Martin "HeaQ" Kordmaa's Jhin picking up a double kill in the process. It looked like Giants would cruise to victory from there, but Vitality had other ideas, winning two consecutive teamfights, securing Baron, and opening the Giants' middle and bottom inhibitors. Giants managed to stop the bleeding in the 38th minute, eventually winning a 5-for-3 teamfight to stop Vitality from taking their last standing inhibitor, with HeaQ again coming up big with three kills. A 3-for-0 teamfight win moments later allowed Giants to push into the Vitality base and take down the Nexus for a Game 1 victory.
Giants looked certain to close out the series before an Orianna bug in Game 2 forced a remake. Vitality used the remake to regroup and force a deciding Game 3 by taking down Giants in under a half an hour. Vitality were dominant in the remade Game 2, winning teamfights while controlling the game from start to finish. Vitality won a 24th minute teamfight 2-for-0 and secured the Baron, using the buff to push into the Giants base. Vitality took a 4-for-0 teamfight win in the 28 minute, opened the Giants base and finished the game. Vitality mid laner Erlend "Nukeduck" Holm ended Game 2 with a 2/0/7 KDA as Cassiopeia.
Vitality took the decisive Game 3 with another controlled display of gameplay. Vitality won three consecutive teamfights, including a 3-for-0 fight in the 26 minute which swung the gold lead in their favor. The game hit a stagnant point as Vitality struggled to break through Giants' defenses, until Vitality secured the Baron in the 41 minute, cleanly acing Giants to end the game and secure a win in the highly controversial series. Nukeduck again played well, finishing Game 3 with a 5/1/4 KDA as Ryze, earning player of the series.
Giants will look to bounce back Sunday at 11 AM EST, while Vitality will look for their first 2-0 week of the Spring Split on Saturday at 10 AM against ROCCAT.
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G2 vs. Splyce
G2 Esports continued their undefeated streak (9-0, 18-4 match record) defeating Splyce (5-4, 12-9 match record) 2-1 during Week 7, Day 2 of the European League of Legends Championship Series in Berlin, Germany on Friday.
G2 Esports put together a solid start to Game 1 when jungler Kim "Trick" Gang-yun's Graves took Splyce's red buff and set Splyce jungler Jonas "Trashy" Andersen's Gragas behind early, but Splyce would surge into the lead with their signature team play. Picking up first tower and first blood in a top lane dive that went 2-for-0 in Splyce's favor at the 10-minute mark, Splyce rotated circles around a passive G2. While G2 held a firm grip over the Elemental Drakes in the early-mid game, Splyce's coordination gave them a strong lead, securing a Baron kill after finding two kills at 26 minutes. In particular, Splyce mid laner Chres "Sencux" Laursen had a great performance on Viktor, flashing into G2's base at 32 minutes to pick up a triple kill en route to a 6/1/3 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) as Splyce cruised to a 32-minute Game 1 win.
Bouncing back from a poor Game 1 showing, G2 Esports again picked up an early lead through Trick's aggression, this time on Graves, as the jungler picked up first blood in the bottom lane near four minutes. Shortly afterwards, a questionable invade from Splyce gave G2 a free 4-for-0 skirmish win, which they snowballed into a 4,000 gold lead by 15 minutes. In the mid game, G2's carries popped off, with mid laner Luka "Perkz" Perkovic's Ahri finding picks while AD carry Jesper "Zven" Svenningsen had a monstrous performance on Ezreal, dealing a game-high 32,700 damage alongside a flawless 7/0/8 KDA for 88 percent kill participation. Securing Baron at the 31-minute mark, G2 Esports methodically pushed down the mid and bottom lanes, taking 4-for-0 and 3-for-0 teamfight wins, respectively, as they took Game 2 in a tightly controlled 34 minutes.
Once again, Trick's Graves applied strong early pressure to give G2 a lead, killing Martin "Wunder" Hansen's Kennen at just two minutes into Game 3. Splyce displayed none of the crisp rotations that gave them their Game 1 victory, repeatedly getting caught out by G2 and generally feeding without any resemblance of a cohesive game plan. Trick dominated the objective game, securing two Cloud Drakes, two Mountain drakes, and a 30-minute Baron kill to keep G2 out of Splyce's reach. In lieu of massive 5-vs-5 teamfights, most of G2's 15 kills came from isolated skirmishes and picks, but it was nonetheless effective as G2 took a final 4-for-0 fight in Splyce's base to close out the series in 34 minutes.
G2 Esports will have their work cut out for them next week as they battle Misfits next Friday at 2:00 PM EST. Meanwhile, Splyce will enjoy a much easier week as they square off against last-place Origen next Saturday at 1:00 PM EST.
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UoL vs. Fnatic
In a battle of European League of Legends Championship Series veterans, Unicorns of Love (7-2, 15-7 match record) took care of business against Fnatic (4-5, 11-13 match record) on Friday to close out Week 7, Day 2 in Berlin, Germany.
Unicorns of Love took control early on after surrendering first blood, picking up three kills and the first tower kill in the bottom lane at 15 minutes. UoL snowballed into the mid game, taking two Barons and smashing through Fnatic's outer turrets. After exposing all of Fnatic's inhibitors, however, Unicorns stalled, partially due to Fnatic's carries dealing tons of damage in late-game teamfights. Mid laner Rasmus "Caps" Winther and AD carry Martin "Rekkles" Larsson kept Fnatic in the game by dealing massive damage with 41,200 and 39,600 damage dealt, respectively, giving Fnatic time to scale up to match UoL's power. Despite UoL securing three Baron kills and an Elder Dragon, an extended 5-for-0 teamfight gave Fnatic the opportunity needed to steal Game 1 in 49 minutes.
Unphased by its Game 1 throw, UoL came out of the gate swinging in Game 2 as jungler Andrei "Xerxe" Dragomir's Rengar picked up first blood at four minutes in. Taking a 3-for-0 skirmish in Fnatic's blue side jungle, UoL played with confidence throughout the mid game, capitalizing on Xerxe's pressure and poor map awareness from Fnatic. When it came time to teamfight, mid laner Fabian "Exileh" Schubert's Ryze shined, using Realm Warps to open up teamfights and picks en route to a 5/2/7 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) for 71 percent kill participation. Securing two Baron buffs, Unicorns of Love stampeded through a passive Fnatic side in a 35-minute win to force Game 3.
While Fnatic jumped out to an early lead, Unicorns of Love bided its time, finding trade kills to keep even in gold heading into the mid game. Taking a 2-for-0 fight in the mid lane at 18 minutes, UoL surged, taking control of the tumultuous game, but Fnatic's triple Infernal Drake cost the Unicorns dearly. Swiftly taking control with a 3-for-1 teamfight at 22 minutes before bullying Unicorns of Love away from the Baron at 32 minutes with a 2-for-1 fight, Fnatic were poised to take the Baron and crush the game. Then, everything changed when Xerxe's Ivern stole the Baron, leading the Unicorns to two more kills. Out of options and with its back against the wall, Fnatic crumbled under UoL's pressure, as Unicorns of Love secured an Elder Dragon and a 4-for-2 in Fnatic's base to take the series in 40 minutes.
Fnatic will head to the Rift next Thursday to take on a struggling Team ROCCAT at 2:00 p.m. ET, while the Unicorns of Love battle Group B rivals H2K at 11:00 a.m. ET on Friday.
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ROCCAT vs. Vitality
Team ROCCAT came away with a hard-fought 2-0 sweep of Team Vitality on Saturday to open up Week 7, Day 3 of the European League of Legends Championship Series in Berlin, Germany.
The first game of this series was an incredibly slow affair, with neither ROCCAT (2-7, 6-15 match record) nor Vitality (2-7, 6-16) willing to risk losing a big fight. This forced the teams to simply farm and look for a moment to break ahead of the competition. Kills were traded early on, but a 10-minute drought from 13 to 23 minutes left both teams with a combined five kills nearly a half hour in. It was only when ROCCAT picked up a Baron kill and 3,000-gold lead at the 30-minute mark that moves started happening.
ROCCAT wrestled control of the river away from Vitality with strong rotations and positioning to get enough space for a second Baron at 39 minutes, which was followed closely by an Elder Dragon. With the dual buffs in tow, there wasn't much that Vitality could do to stop ROCCAT from picking up a 41-minute win.
Game 2 was essentially a rehash of the first, a contest filled with failed engages that never seemed to go anywhere at all. Vitality got itself ahead from the start, securing both the first blood and first tower. Despite Vitality getting four towers by 20 minutes, ROCCAT managed to even things up a couple minutes later. From there on, the two teams proceeded to dance around each other while looking for a game-changing fight.
Vitality came up with two Barons in the mid-late game but was only able to come out plus-2,800 gold with both buffs combined. Its inability to fully capitalize on these crucial buffs ended up being Vitality's downfall. ROCCAT was able to hang around thanks to an Elder Dragon, which provided the team enough wherewithal to secure the third Baron at the 47-minute mark. That final buff ended up being the difference maker and allowed ROCCAT to break into Vitality's base and pick up the 49-minute win.
Team Vitality will come back next Thursday at 12 p.m. ET to face Origen, while Team ROCCAT will look to continue its win streak against Fnatic on Thursday at 3 p.m. ET.
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Misfits vs. Vitality
Closing out Week 7, Day 3 of the European League of Legends Championship Series, H2K Gaming easily handled Misfits in a quick 2-0 sweep on Saturday in Berlin, Germany.
Game 1 certainly had all the fireworks expected of a clash between two teams near the top of the EU LCS. Misfits (7-2, 15-6 match record) started off with the first blood and ended up getting a gold advantage solely based on kills. H2K (7-2, 16-5 match record) was content to give up the early kills, though, instead focusing on objectives: The team picked up two dragons and three towers by 20 minutes to eventually regain a slim gold lead.
Misfits managed to take the lead right back by piling on the kills, but H2K's objective-focused strategy led to a Baron kill at 27 minutes that was made possible by a 3-for-1 teamfight win. The buff led to a plus-5,400 gold swing for H2K, which set it on the path for victory. Misfits won another fight in the late game, but H2K responded by killing a second Nashor for free at the 36-minute mark that was followed by a 5-for-2 ace to seal the 39-minute win.
While Misfits put up a bit of a fight in Game 1, H2K dominated from the beginning of the second game of the series. Misfits got off to a rough start when H2K jungler Marcin "Jankos" Jankowski's Lee Sin invaded the Ivern jungle of Lee "KaKAO" Byung-kwo early on, which completely threw off Misfits' rhythm. By the time seven minutes had passed, H2K had already put three kills on the board, and it never let up from there.
Downing towers and securing kills with little resistance, H2K amassed a 5,000-gold lead once the 15-minute mark hit. From there, H2K continued to win fight after fight on its way to a 21-minute Baron. That buff allowed H2K to grow its gold lead from 7,200 to a whopping 10,900. While it wasn't able to secure the win with just that one buff alone, Misfits still couldn't stymie H2K. Without any vision in the Baron pit, Misfits were powerless to stop H2K from picking up a second Baron, which was used to push into the Misfits base to lock up the 34-minute win.
H2K Gaming will take on Unicorns of Love in a battle for the top spot in Group B on Friday at 12:00 p.m. ET, and Misfits will try to bounce back against G2 Esports at 3:00 p.m. ET that day.
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Origen vs. Giants Gaming
Giants Gaming (2-7, 7-16 match record) picked up its second win of the split against Origen (0-9, 2-18 match record) with a 2-1 victory during Week 7 Day 4 of the European League of Legends Championship Series in Berlin, Germany.
Game 1 started off with both teams playing cautiously until Origen pushed for a turret in mid lane around the 21-minute mark. Origen secured the Tier 1 turret but overstayed. Giants jungler Jonas "Memento" Elmarghichi's Graves capitilzed by securing first blood with a Collateral Damage snipe on Enrique "xPeke" Cedeno Martinez's Nami. Giants easily pushed Origen off turret after turret in the mid lane until taking the inhibitor. Origen failed to put together a well coordinated engage to break Giants' siege and fell in just under 29 minutes.
Giants were quicker to pull the trigger in Game 2 as mid laner Na "NighT" Gun-woo's Ahri struck first blood on jungler Kim "Wisdom" Tae-wan's Lee Sin just eight minutes in. However, Giants lost control in the mid game where it failed to find many picks, leading to an Origen Baron kill at the 30-minute mark. While Origen used the buff to push down mid lane and take an inhibitor, Giants managed to stall long enough for their inhibitors to respawn. Even though Memento's Graves ended up stealing the Elder Dragon, the double Infernal Drake enhanced Elder wasn't enough to carry Giants through the next teamfight that went 2-for-1 in favor of Origen. Origen slowly forced Giants into its base and finally closed out Game 2 after a second Baron buff aided its winning push.
Origen had a bad start to Game 3 as it gave up three kills to Giants just eight minutes in. Giants dominated until they overextended 22 minutes in when Origen finally put its first two kills on the board. However, it was too little too late for Origen as Giants already trimmed away all outer turrets. Once Giants secured a Baron buff, it forced its way down top lane to take down an Inhibitor and a Nexus turret at 31 minutes. Origen managed to pick up a few more kills defending, but couldn't stop Giants from pushing in all lanes on its way to securing the series victory.
Origen starts off Week 8 squaring off against Team Vitality on Thursday at 12 PM EST. Giants Gaming won't see action until Saturday when they meet Team ROCCAT on the Rift at 11 AM EST.
