LEC Summer 2019: Week Seven | Day One Recap

Splyce vs Excel Esports

To kick off the LEC Week Seven, Excel Esports (“XL”) took a huge upset victory over Splyce (“SPY”). Though Xerxe ganked and killed Expect for First Blood, beautiful Irelia play from Mickey in the mid lane brought the game in their favor. First, he managed to get a kill in a 1v3 when he was caught out. Then, at nine minutes, Mickey and XL turned around a skirmish in the middle lane to get his Irelia two more kills. XL furthered their lead by taking the Rift Herald, dropping it in the middle lane and securing the First Tower bonus there.

In the next few minutes, XL and SPY traded a few towers as they prepared for the Baron to spawn. It did, and at 22 minutes XL started it up. This forced SPY to respond, where XL turned to fight and Ace'd SPY. to claim the Baron. With this, XL began dismantling SPY's base, destroying multiple towers and, after winning a team fight, the bottom lane Inhibitor. At 29 minutes, XL secured a second Baron buff for free. They only needed one more fight from here to kill multiple SPY members and demolish their Nexus.

QUICK STATS:

• Time: 32:17
• Kills: 6-17
• Turrets: 2-10
• Gold: 51.9k-65.4k
• Dragons: 1-3
• Barons: 0-2

SK Gaming vs Rogue

The second game of the day was an incredibly close nail-biter, but in the end, Rogue (“RGE”) pulled out the win over SK Gaming (“SK”). RGE dominated the early game through great multi-man roams to other lanes, where they successfully dove the SK solo laners multiple times. They expanded their gold lead by taking the First Tower bonus too. It appeared that RGE was in a strong position going into the mid-game, but SK struck back with a three-to-zero team fight victory and Baron take at 25 minutes.

This Baron allowed SK to destroy a middle Inhibitor and helped them establish some control over the map. RGE clapped back at 32 minutes by killing two from SK and grabbing the respawned Baron buff. Now back in the driver's seat, they pushed and knocked down two of SK's Inhibitor Towers before SK engaged on them. This fight went in SK's favor three-for-zero, and they immediately started running down mid, retaking the middle Inhibitor before trying to end the game. But RGE wouldn't lose here, as they defended their base and Ace'd SK. Finally, RGE had their opening to Teleport to the top lane, push and claim SK's Nexus.

QUICK STATS:

• Time: 39:18
• Kills: 15-18
• Turrets: 7-9
• Gold: 72.0k-73.5k
• Dragons: 4-0
• Barons: 1-1

Vitality vs G2 Esports

Though G2 Esports (“G2”) won some fans by picking Garen, they ultimately fell to Vitality (“VIT”) in the day's third match. VIT's early game was fantastic, nullifying G2's impact and finding a ton of minor victories of their own. When G2 dove their bottom lane at six minutes, they managed to trade back a kill. Then, at seven minutes, two separate 2v2's in the top and bottom lanes resulted in four total kills for VIT. Mowgli, in particular, popped off and found kills all over the map.

In the mid-game, VIT grouped together to push their lead in team fights. At 16 minutes they killed three G2 members in their own jungle, then killed two more in a team fight a couple of minutes later. After this, VIT applied more map pressure as they readied themselves for the Baron. Though it took until 27 minutes, VIT did secure the buff with no problems. They never even backed after getting it. VIT simply picked off and killed Jankos, then smashed through G2's base. They easily Ace'd the best team in Europe at this point and pushed on to demolish their Nexus.

QUICK STATS:

• Time: 28:38
• Kills: 18-5
• Turrets: 8-1
• Gold: 57.1k-42.8k
• Dragons: 4-0
• Barons: 1-0

Misfits Gaming vs Origen

Many have doubted them lately, but Origen (“OG”) silenced many doubts with a dominant win over Misfits Gaming (“MSF”). Lider did start MSF off on a strong note with a solo kill onto Nukeduck, but OG soon turned up the heat. Kold started it by ganking and killing Lider, then helping Alphari win a skirmish to get his team two more kills. OG continued to find advantages by moving around the map as a unit, winning skirmishes and claiming neutral objectives left and right.

At 15 minutes, Alphari solo killed Lider, then helped his team to win a team fight five-for-one at 18 minutes. This led to OG taking three towers to boot. MSF had to try to move into their jungle to get vision on Baron, but when they did, OG engaged on them to kill four. A minute later, Nukeduck was caught out in the bottom lane but managed to get two kills in a 1v4 while his team took the Baron. MSF crumbled under the weight of the buff, quickly losing all three Inhibitors. OG slaughtered four MSF members before taking their base, and finally their Nexus.

QUICK STATS:

• Time: 26:49
• Kills: 5-25
• Turrets: 0-11
• Gold: 40.4k-59.3k
• Dragons: 0-2
• Barons: 0-1

Fnatic vs Schalke 04

Fnatic (“FNC”) finished off the day with a win over Schalke 04 (“S04”). They established control over the game and snowballed their leads quite well. The first skirmish did go in the favor of S04, but FNC quickly turned the match in their favor when Nemesis 1v2'd Trick and Abbedagge, killing the enemy mid laner in the process. They also stole the Rift Herald away from S04, then won the ensuing team fight. The fight went on for quite a long time as players rejoined after dying, but FNC won out by the end.

In the mid-game, FNC claimed a number of objectives for themselves, including multiple towers and dragons. The match seemed to stall for a few minutes but burst open in the blink of an eye. At 23 minutes, FNC smashed a team fight in the middle lane, which allowed them to kill three and take two whole Inhibitors. FNC never even had to look towards Baron, as they picked off two S04 members from their jungle, then ran through their base to smash their Nexus.

QUICK STATS:

• Time: 26:53
• Kills: 15-7
• Turrets: 10-0
• Gold: 51.7k-41.2k
• Dragons: 3-0
• Barons: 0-0

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Images via LoL Esports.

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