This article is part of our LoL Recap series.
Team Vitality finally shook off the rust to pick up its first series win of the split after taking down the Mysterious Monkeys 2-0 on Thursday to open Week 3 of the European League of Legends Championship Series in Berlin.
Mysterious Monkeys (0-3, 0-6 match record) came looking to fight early and often in Game 1 with a heavy engage composition against the scaling composition of Vitality. This worked out well for Monkeys in the early game, taking first blood before quickly escalating to a 4-to-2 kill lead. Vitality (1-2, 2-4 match record) wasn't fazed one bit and continued to pick up objectives to keep the gold even moving into the midgame. It was at this point that Vitality mid laner Erlend "Nukeduck" Våtevik Holm's LeBlanc started to get out of control, dealing tons of damage in teamfights. The Monkeys sensed that things were starting to slip away, leading to a desperation Baron rush 24 minutes in that ended with Vitality acing the Monkeys and taking the Baron. That was the final nail in Monkeys' coffin as Vitality easily took the game a few minutes later, winning Game 1 in just under 30 minutes.
In Game 2, Mysterious Monkeys continued the trend of a somewhat solid early game, but still found itself unable to push through as the game progressed. With a composition focused on getting picks, the Monkeys did just that early on with a first blood at 14 minutes. Unfortunately, that proved to be one of just two kills that the team earned all game long as Vitality came alive in the midgame. VIT started dominating teamfights left and right with Nukeduck once again on top of his game, this time on Syndra. Additionally, AD carry Pierre "Steeelback" Medjaldi's Caitlyn held Mysterious Monkeys at bay with massive damage, keeping Vitality ahead as the game progressed. Vitality locked up the win on the back of a beautiful Baron bait that drew all of Monkeys in to get picked off in a 4-for-0 fight in favor of Vitality. With the Baron buff in tow, Vitality waltzed to a 35-minute victory.
Vitality will look to get a streak going when it takes on H2k on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET, while Mysterious Monkeys will continue to search for its first win next Saturday at 2 p.m. ET.
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Team ROCCAT defied the odds to earn an improbable 2-1 victory over Fnatic on Thursday to close out the first day of Week 3 in the European League of Legends Championship Series in Berlin.
Fnatic's lack of initiation meant things were even early in Game 1. It managed to secure first blood, but then failed to use that to its advantage, causing the game to settle into a lull. ROCCAT (1-2, 4-5 match record) tried to get something going in the midgame, but chose to commit to a disadvantageous teamfight that went heavily in Fnatic's favor. Fnatic (3-1, 7-3 match record) picked up four kills and used the momentum from that fight to pick up the first of two Barons in the game, which all but closed the book on the game. While it took another 17 minutes to get the win, at no point did it seem like ROCCAT had a chance. Fnatic finally made a strong push around 40 minutes to take the Nexus and Game 1.
Fnatic started off well once again in Game 2, despite ROCCAT having a composition centered around early game pressure. Fnatic jungler Mads "Broxah" Brock-Pedersen was on fire in the early game picking up kills left and right on his Lee Sin. These early advantages allowed Fnatic to snowball into a massive 10,000-gold lead by the time the late game hit. Instead of using that lead to push into ROCCAT's base, however, Fnatic played very passive, which gave ROCCAT the smallest of windows back into the game. ROCCAT started picking up teamfight wins until getting one last pick that led to a 43-minute Baron. The Baron buff allowed ROC to push right into Fnatic's base to overcome an incredible deficit in a massive 45-minute win. ROCCAT AD carry Petter "Hjärnan" Freyschuss' Varus was the driving force of the comeback with his game-high 42,900 damage dealt to champions giving his team the edge in those final fights.
ROCCAT rode the high of its Game 2 win with another strong showing from the start of the final game. While Fnatic came up with the first blood, its bot lane gave up two silly kills to give ROCCAT a chance to stick even in the early game. By the time 15 minutes had passed, ROCCAT managed to edge its way into a lead across the entire map to limit Fnatic's influence. ROCCAT still didn't own a huge lead going into the late game, giving Fnatic a chance to wrestle back control of the game. FNC went for two Barons in the late game, and both times the Baron was stolen away by jungle Milo "Pridestalker" Wehnes' Warwick. The Baron steals completely broke Fnatic's will and allowed ROCCAT to take a convincing 33-minute win to complete the miraculous comeback.
ROCCAT will hope to build on this win with a matchup against Ninjas in Pyjamas on Saturday at 11 a.m. ET, while Fnatic will have to wait until next Thursday to try and bounce back against H2k at 2 p.m. ET.
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Misfits shed its underdog status with a big 2-1 series win against G2 Esports on Friday during Week 3, Day 2 of the European League of Legends Championship Series in Berlin.
Kicking off what would be a phenomenal personal series, Misfits jungler Nubar "Maxlore" Sarafian got Misfits (3-1, 6-4 match record) ahead as Lee Sin, giving first blood over to mid laner Tristan "PowerOfEvil" Schrage's Orianna at three minutes. Maxlore continued to pressure the map throughout the early game, helping Misfits pick up kills, but G2 Esports stayed even in gold thanks to CS (creep score) leads in the solo lanes. Misfits neutral objective control gave it the edge it needed, as two Infernal Drakes helped Maxlore pick up a triple kill at 26 minutes, leading to a free Baron kill. G2 was powerless to stop Misfits since it drafted few initiation tools, allowing Misfits aggressive pick comp to thoroughly dissect it. Methodically breaking down G2's defenses, Misfits finished Game 1 off with a powerful teamfight from PowerOfEvil, picking up a quadra kill as MSF aced G2 at 35 minutes.
G2 Esports (2-2, 6-5 match record) wasn't humbled by its previous loss, coming into Game 2 with a fierce determination. After helping secure first blood at four minutes, G2 jungler Kim "Trick" Gang-yun's Kha'Zix put the upstart Maxlore in his place, picking up early kills to snowball G2's tanky teamfighting composition. Misfits' strategy of relying on picks from support Lee "IgNar" Dong-geun's Blitzcrank didn't pan out as G2 Esports set a blistering pace in the midgame, going up by 5,000 gold at 17 minutes. After securing a Baron kill a few minutes later, and taking its third Elemental Drake, G2 Esports had a 10,000-gold lead at 23 minutes, pummeling Misfits as the entire team shined in a 24-minute Game 2 win.
Standing by its tried-and-true pick oriented playstyle, it was Misfits' turn to jump out to a significant early lead when it won a 4-vs-5 teamfight at five minutes, taking it 3-for-1 and getting Maxlore's Lee Sin another early game lead. Misfits snowballed heavily, taking first tower gold at 12 minutes and then starving G2 Esports' heavy AD composition of vital resources through the midgame. With a huge 4-for-0 teamfight giving Misfits a free Baron kill, G2 Esports went down by as much as 10,900 gold at 25 minutes, the biggest deficit in the club's EU LCS history. Taking its time to close out the series, Misfits secured a second Baron at 29 minutes, using the buff to push into G2's base and take Game 3 in 36 minutes of dominance.
Misfits will look to maintain its momentum into its matchup against Team Vitality on Thursday at 11 a.m. ET, while G2 Esports prepare for a showdown with the Unicorns of Love at 2 p.m. ET on Friday.
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In the second matchup of Week 3, Day 2 in the European League of Legends Championship Series, Splyce left Berlin on Friday with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Unicorns of Love.
Unicorns of Love (3-1, 7-3 match record) did basically what you'd expect in Game 1 -- pick on off-meta champion, use it to snowball out of control, and dominate Splyce through superior macro. With jungler Andrei "Xerxe" Dragomir on Warwick, UoL got ahead early as Xerxe took over the top half of the map, picking up several kills. Splyce managed to group up and find good skirmishes to stay close in gold, but UoL regained control though strong sieging, leading to a 26-minute Baron attempt. While Splyce jungler Jonas "Trashy" Andersen's Gragas stole the kill, UoL calmly picked up a 5-for-3 ace, staying in control. All it took was for Xerxe to initiate a final 5-for-1 teamfight, en route to a 7/0/9 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) for 89 percent kill participation, to take Game 1 in 32 minutes.
While Xerxe's Warwick held another early lead over Trashy's Gragas in Game 2, UoL struggled to pull ahead of Splyce (3-1, 6-3 match record). Splyce repeatedly put pressure in the top lane, giving top laner Martin "Wunder" Hansen's Fiora a massive lead over his struggling UoL counterpart. UoL's macro kept the gold lead close as its pick/siege composition knocked down towers, but Splyce's late game splitpushing composition was given too much time to scale into the late game. Splyce managed to turn a Baron-buff empowered Unicorns push into a 5-for-2 ace at 28 minutes, taking full control through AD carry Kasper "Kobbe" Kobberup's Twitch, who earned a ridiculous 10/1/13 KDA while dealing 40,900 damage to enemy champions or roughly 1,217 damage per minute. One final 5-for-0 ace in UoL's base, and Splyce took Game 2 in 33 minutes.
It was Splyce that took an early lead in Game 3 as Trashy's Ivern gave first blood over to Wunder's Kled at five minutes, repeating the storyline of the series without fail. Unicorns of Love used its meaty teamfighting composition to pull off early tower dives, earning a gold lead through objectives, but the disgusting amount of initiation/teamfighting damage coming out of Splyce's comp was overwhelming later on. Eventually, UoL was unable to deal meaningful damage in teamfights, all while Splyce support Mihael "Mikyx" Mehle danced circles around UoL as Rakan, chaining The Quickness into Grand Entrances and facilitating Splyce's dominant teamfighting while mid laner Chres "Sencux" Laursen dealt massive damage as Malzahar. Securing a Baron buff at 21 minutes, Splyce ran through UoL's weakened defenses, crushing a final 5-for-0 clean ace to finish the game in under 27 minutes.
Unicorns of Love prepare now for a clash vs G2 Esports at 2 p.m. ET on Friday, and Splyce will take on Team ROCCAT on Friday at 11 a.m. ET.
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Ninjas in Pyjamas has yet to take a single game since rejoining the European League of Legends Championship Series, as it was swept by Team ROCCAT on Saturday to kick off Week 3, Day 3 of the Summer Split in Berlin.
Between the Fiora for Ambroz "Phaxi" Hren in the top lane and Vladimir for Felix "Betsy" Edling in the mid lane, ROCCAT (2-2, match record 6-5) drafted a hard-scaling, 1-3-1 split-push composition for Game 1. As such, it was content to play a slow early game, which it did perfectly aside from Phaxi's two deaths. However, ROCCAT finally decided to get aggressive near the 22-minute mark, moving towards Baron in the blind spot of Ninjas in Pyjamas (0-4, match record 0-8). ROC secured not only the buff, but also a clean ace, which, along with its two (and later three) Infernal Drakes, made it all too easy for ROCCAT to systematically clean up the game in 31 minutes.
ROCCAT went with a scaling composition again in Game 2, this time with a tint of teamfight focus as Betsy locked on Orianna while AD carry Petter "Hjarnan" Freyschuss went with Kog'Maw. NIP didn't allow another slow early game, however, grappling with ROCCAT and taking an early objective as well as gold lead thanks to Ilyas "Shook" Hartsema on Lee Sin. Nevertheless, another early Baron take from ROCCAT, this time at 23 minutes, gave it an easy pathway to victory. Betsy's Orianna snagged a quadra kill as ROCCAT took Game 2 in under 30 minutes.
Team ROCCAT will look to further its win streak Friday at 11 a.m. ET when it takes on Team Splyce. Ninjas in Pyjamas, meanwhile, will be hard-pressed to find its first win over H2K-Gaming next Saturday at 11 a.m.
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H2K Gaming claimed sole possession of first place in Group B on Saturday with a 2-0 sweep over Team Vitality to end Week 3, Day 3 of the European League of Legends Championship Series Summer Split in Berlin.
Game 1 was all about H2K support Choi "Chei" Sang-ho on Tahm Kench. Vitality (1-3, 2-7 match record) asserted itself immediately with three quick kills in multiple lanes, but Chei's Abyssal Voyage roams brought H2K back into the gold lead. The support maintained perfect kill participation throughout the early game, and helped top laner Andrei "Odoamne" Pascu's Fiora to snowball into a massive threat. The game broke open in earnest at 24 minutes, with H2K finding a pair of picks to open up Baron. Vitality made a valiant effort to slow H2K's roll, but a 4-for-1 teamfight at 33 minutes won the game for H2K.
H2K (3-1, 7-2 match record) drafted a powerful teamfight composition in Game 2, with Fabian "Febiven" Diepstraten's LeBlanc and Marcin "Jankos" Jankowski's Kha'Zix providing Odoamne's Shen plenty of ways into the fray. With these tools, along with Enchanted Crystal Arrow from Sin "Nuclear" Jeong-hyeon's Ashe, H2K had no problem taking fights after spending the early game building up incremental leads across the map. A 4-for-1 victory for H2K in the river at 19 minutes was the beginning of the end for Vitality, as the former steamrolled through engagement after engagement to end Game 2 in under 26 minutes.
H2K will face its toughest challenge yet against Group A leader Fnatic on Thursday at 2 p.m. ET. Vitality will also have a tall task ahead of it when it takes on Misfits at 11 a.m. the same day.
