LEC Summer 2019: Week Three Day One Recap

Excel vs Vitality

Vitality (“VIT”) finally put their first win on the board with a win over Excel (“XL”). As both teams were 0-4, many thought this match would be close, but VIT absolutely smashed their opponents. It all started with Mowgli and his successful ganks in the bottom and top lanes. After ganking top with Jactroll, they took the Rift Herald which resulted in multiple tower plates later on.  A 16 minute team fight was won with a five-man Kennen ult from Cabochard, and gave VIT a ton of control over the map.

After this VIT set up around objectives and found a couple of picks. The game slowed down for a few minutes, but when VIT started the Baron at 26 minutes XL had to respond. VIT turned on them, slaughtering multiple members before taking the Baron buff. With this, VIT took two Inhibitors quickly before sieging top. Eventually they dove into XL's base, Attila got a Quadra Kill, and they claimed their first Nexus of the split.

QUICK STATS:

Time: 31:58

Kills: 6-19

Turrets: 2-11

Gold: 51.6k-66.3k

Dragons: 1-3

Barons: 0-1

Rogue vs Splyce

The second game of the day was no where no clean, but Splyce (“SPY”) managed to take the win over Rogue (“RGE”) in the end. The early game was very quiet, with only neutral objectives falling. RGE claimed the First Tower bonus and SPY obtained First Blood at 13 minutes, but RGE traded a kill back. At 18 minutes SPY won the first team fight two-for-one, but in the next few minutes RGE caught out Viziscasci on the side lane twice.

The teams fought multiple times as they tried to gain control over the Baron, but these fights were very messy and resulted in little kills. By 30 minutes both teams had at least started it, but no one killed it. Finally, at 33 minutes, SPY won a team fight in the middle lane and secured the buff. They quickly took the top Inhibitor before knocking down the tier two towers in the other lanes. The Elder Dragon spawned, and both teams met at it. But SPY were ready. They slayed the Elder Dragon and eliminated three RGE members. Now with the man advantage, they rushed into RGE's base and closed out the long game.

QUICK STATS:

Time: 40:13

Kills: 6-12

Turrets: 3-9

Gold: 64.2k-74.1k

Dragons: 3-3

Barons: 0-1

Schalke 04 vs Origen

Origen (“OG”) defeated Schalke 04 (“S04”) in a long third match. The early game was quite explosive, with a team fight breaking out as early as five minutes. Here, S04 gained a kill lead and the Ocean Dragon. After this Trick solo killed Mithy, but OG used the Rift Herald to take the First Tower bonus a few minutes later. From here, the teams poked around each other as they tried to gain control of the Baron pit, and though there were a few fights, no one could get the buff.

That was until OG won a number of fights in a row, gained full vision control and took the Baron buff for free at 33 minutes. With this, OG knocked down the middle Inhibitor and some other towers. Afterwards, the Baron respawned and the teams both had it in their eyes. S04 committed onto the Baron, trying to engage onto OG. But Alphari was split pushing. He took the bottom Inhibitor and both Nexus Tower, and Nukeduck tried to help him end but S04 returned to base and killed them. Now it was S04's turn to run it down, and they took the middle Inhibitor but couldn't end the game. When Nukeduck respawned he Teleported in the base and S04 couldn't kill him in time before he took their Nexus.

QUICK STATS:

Time: 43:35

Kills: 11-12

Turrets: 4-10

Gold: 76.4k-78.8k

Dragons: 3-3

Barons: 0-1

SK Gaming vs Misfits

The match between SK Gaming (“SK”) and Misfits Gaming (“MSF”) was slow at first, but once SK gained a lead they destroyed MSF. The opening 20 minutes had little action, with only a few noteworthy occurrences. There were Dragons taken by both sides, with SK coming out on top with an Infernal. Other than that, SK claimed the First Tower bonus in the bottom lane, with all the gold going to Crownshot. It felt like forever, but at 20 minutes Crownshot destroyed a top lane tower then killed Maxlore for First Blood. This one kill turned out to be crucial for SK's momentum.

Soon after, three SK members returned to the top side to catch out and kill Hans Sama. Next, the teams met in the middle lane, and a team fight broke out. In the beginning only one member fell from the MSF squad, but a huge Gnar ultimate from Sacre netted his team two more kills. With this advantage they easily took the Baron buff. SK backed and regrouped, wasting no time on pushing their lead. Multiple towers and two Inhibitors fell quickly before SK sieged the final top lane Inhibitor Tower. Emboldened with a massive gold lead, SK engaged onto MSF and killed three of them. MSF could only watch on as SK demolished their base and their Nexus.

QUICK STATS:

Time: 28:41

Kills: 8-1

Turrets: 11-2

Gold: 55.3k-43.4k

Dragons: 2-2

Barons: 1-0

G2 Esports vs Fnatic

The final game of the day and LEC match of the week certainly delivered a great game. It was an absolute blood bath, and Fnatic (“FNC”) pulled off the upset over G2 Esports in a dominant fashion. It all started with Bwipo solo killing Caps in the top lane at level two. Right after, Caps killed him, but traded his life to Broxah. Broxah became a monster from this, ganking and skirmishing all over the map and slaughtering G2 members. FNC set up multiple dives, killing both Wunder and Caps at different times. G2 tried to fight back with fast paced skirmishes of their own, but they were so far behind in gold.

The action never slowed down. Broxah continued to attack the side lanes and made Wunder's and Caps' life hell. At 16 minutes, Hylissang was almost caught out, but his team collapsed to help him and they won a team fight four-for-one. Two minutes later they sieged the mid lane, and Bwipo decided to Flash under tower and dive G2. This play netted them three kills and two towers. Another team fight at 21 minutes went in FNC's favor, and allowed them to take the Baron Nashor. FNC immediately pushed down tow Inhibitors and the Nexus Towers, but G2 managed to push them out temporarily. But out of nowhere Nemesis used his Twisted Fate ultimate to get into the base and he rushed the Nexus with his team to finish this chaotic game.

QUICK STATS:

Time: 26:42

Kills: 11-27

Turrets: 2-11

Gold: 45.4k-58.6k

Dragons: 0-3

Barons: 0-1

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Featured image via LoL Esports Flickr.