LEC Summer 2019: Week Seven | Day Two Recap

SK Gaming vs Misfits Gaming

The first game of the day was an action-packed brawl, with SK Gaming (“SK”) emerging victorious over Misfits Gaming (“MSF”) and breaking their losing streak. It was quite a volatile match early though. MSF put a lot of focus on the bottom side, executing on multiple tower dives against Crownshot and Dreams. But SK countered many of these plays, roaming Jenax down from the mid lane to pick up kills. Some sneaky Evelynn-Yuumi ganks on the mid lane helped them to carve out a lead too.

In the mid-game, both teams had very different priorities. MSF looked towards the side lanes, constantly using H1iva's Fiddlesticks to catch out SK's solo laners. Meanwhile, SK pushed into MSF's territory as a group and picked larger fights. SK's strategy proved superior. At 27 minutes they engaged a team fight that resulted in four kills for them and a Baron buff. Next, SK fought another winning fight in the top lane to get three more kills. From here, MSF couldn't defend their base against the SK onslaught and their Nexus soon fell.

QUICK STATS:

• Time: 33:10
• Kills: 23-14
• Turrets: 10-4
• Gold: 66.8k-59.1k
• Dragons: 2-0
• Barons: 1-0

Excel Esports vs Vitality

In the second match of the day, Vitality (“VIT”) defeated Excel Esports (“XL”). The match was longer than expected and control of it swung back and forth between the teams. Mowgli ganked bottom to get First Blood for Jactroll, but XL three-man dove Cabochard in the top lane. Jiizuke solo killed Mickey at six minutes to get a lead for himself too. XL gained a huge advantage off of a skirmish in the bottom lane, where they found three kills for zero. VIT also took the Rift Herald away from XL and used it top to take the First Tower bonus.

The mid-game became more hectic. VIT constantly fought, and they won most of these fights, until 27 minutes. At this point, VIT did catch out Mystiques and went to the Baron. But XL contested and engaged a team fight, where they won four-for-two. They also secured the Baron buff. Now empowered with the buff, XL destroyed a couple of towers but VIT grouped and took some of their own. But at 37 minutes, the Elder Dragon and Baron Nashor spawned. Here, VIT proved they had the better late game shot-calling, as they sent Attila to solo the Elder then contest Baron. Though XL got the Baron, VIT Ace'd them and ran through the top lane to claim their Nexus.

QUICK STATS:

• Time: 39:01
• Kills: 12-20
• Turrets: 4-9
• Gold: 67.8k-76.0k
• Dragons: 1-3
• Barons: 2-0

Splyce vs Rogue

Splyce (“SPY”) locked themselves and Fnatic in for playoffs with a victory against Rogue (“RGE”). They dominated every point in the game and cleanly closed out the game with their leads. Nosrkeren killed Wollite for First Blood in the 2v2 bottom, then Xerxe's Gragas began to pop off. He ganked every lane and found kills in all of them, gaining a great amount of gold as a result. His early game impact was immense as he picked up kills and objectives for his team. RGE was outclassed and looked like they had little chance to stand toe-to-toe with SPY in the mid-game.

SPY killed their first Baron Nashor at 25 minutes right after killing four members from RGE. They didn't do a ton with this one because Inspired found a good pick onto Norskeren that forced SPY to retreat temporarily. As a result, SPY had to wait for the second to spawn. When it did, Humanoid back-doored the bottom Inhibitor while his team secured the Baron. He died for it, but SPY got both objectives. All SPY had to do now was to group mid and win one more fight before they demolished RGE's Nexus.

QUICK STATS:

• Time: 35:17
• Kills: 16-10
• Turrets: 10-2
• Gold: 74.2k-58.1k
• Dragons: 4-0
• Barons: 2-0

Origen vs Schalke 04

Schalke 04 (“S04”) widened the gap in the standings between them and Origen (“OG”) by beating them in the fourth game of the day. Most of the game was slow, methodical play, but the ending was a crazy one. Trick ganked bottom to get Upset First Blood on Mith, then helped his team win skirmishes at the Dragon Pit and Rift Herald to get kills and the objectives. S04 grew their lead by taking the First Tower bonus too but then stalled out in the mid-game. This gave OG the chance to win a 27-minute team fight and get their foot back in the door.

S04 amassed a collection of dragons, which gave them the confidence to rush the Baron at 30 minutes. They lost Ignar for it and lost another member shortly after, so this buff was rather ineffective. Consequentially, both teams now waited for the next Baron and first Elder Dragon to spawn. S04 rushed it as soon as it came into the pit, but Kold stole it away from them! S04 killed four in response though and smashed OG's middle Inhibitor. Next, S04 tried their hand at the Elder Dragon. Once again, Kold stole the buff away from S04 and OG killed three from S04. It looked doomed for S04, but all of a sudden Upset Teleported into OG's base and destroyed the Nexus himself to steal the game away from OG.

QUICK STATS:

• Time: 39:06
• Kills: 11-14
• Turrets: 2-7
• Gold: 71.4k-73.2k
• Dragons: 2-4
• Barons: 1-1

Fnatic vs G2 Esports

Dubbed the “Match of the Eons,” this matchup between G2 Esports (“G2”) and Fnatic (“FNC”) certainly lived up to the hype. As expected, it was a bloodbath, but G2 enacted their revenge and smashed FNC into the dirt. Broxah kicked it all off with a gank into the bottom lane, where Rekkles killed Perkz for First Blood. From here, FNC tended to find success in the 1v2's and smaller fights, while G2 was better when they grouped up as three to five. Not a minute went by without blood being spilled and it made for a fantastic early game.

Of course, there was more action in the mid-game. FNC did pull some gold back by taking the Rift Herald and using it to take the First Tower bonus and finding more picks. All in all, it was quite an even game state. But at 17 minutes, G2 seized an opportunity. When FNC overcommitted on a play mid, G2 collapsed and killed three. This set them up to rush the Baron as soon as it spawned and claim it for free. The teams never backed down from a fight though, and one at 21 minutes resulted in four kills for G2. Next, FNC picked off Wunder but lost their top lane Inhibitor for it. One last fight erupted in the top lane, and once again FNC's aggression hurt them as G2 Ace'd their rivals.

G2 didn't waste a moment as they demolished FNC's base and solidified themselves as the best team in Europe.

QUICK STATS:

• Time: 24:06
• Kills: 8-19
• Turrets: 3-9
• Gold: 41.2k-54.3k
• Dragons: 0-2
• Barons: 0-1

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