LEC: Week One Day One Recap

G2 Esports vs Splyce

G2 Esports, coming off of their landmark MSI victory, absolutely dominated Splyce. The first 10 minutes of the game were slow, with the junglers tracking each other and some small plays being attempted. First Blood was secured by Caps, with the help of Jankos, when they invaded Xerxe on his blue buff. After this G2 turned on. A series of plays started in every lane at 13 minutes, with G2 winning all of them.

At this point Splyce was bleeding out. G2 grouped to take objective after objective and kill after kill, pushing their lead quickly. At an incredibly early 18 minutes, G2 dove Splyce's top lane Inhibitor to kill one member and take the first Inhibitor. Afterwards they backed, regrouped and destroyed the other two by 21 minutes. Though they lost members to an ambitious fountain dive, G2 turned around a team fight in Splyce's base and slaughtered more Splyce members. Overall their victory was swift, fitting for the current best team in the world.

QUICK STATS:

• Time: 22:41
• Kills: 19-6
• Turrets: 11-2
• Gold: 48.3k-37.2k
• Dragons: 2-0
• Barons: 0-0

Origen vs Vitality

The massacre continued into the second match of the day. Origen, with their unconventional team composition, smashed Vitality into the ground. Mowgli fell to Kold and Nukeduck, handing First Blood over to the opposing jungler. Vitality tried to respond with two plays in the middle and bottom lane that netted them kills, but it wasn't enough. Origen's early-mid games plays were superior, taking multiple objectives and winning skirmishes with their heavy engage and peel.

Like G2 did in the match before, Origen consistently grouped together to find fights. Because of strong ultimates from Alphari, Kold and Nukeduck set up plays constantly to find more and more kills. The breaking point came at 22 minutes, when Origen killed four Vitality members and the Baron. Two Inhibitors fell in the next three minutes. Finally, at 27 minutes, Origen caught out Mowgli and Attila and after killing the other three members, easily demolished their Nexus.

QUICK STATS:

• Time: 27:52
• Kills: 22-4
• Turrets: 11-3
• Gold: 58.3k-46.2k
• Dragons: 1-1
• Barons: 1-0

Rogue vs Misfits

The trend of very one-sided matches continued in this third game of the day with Misfits showing up huge. The early game was much more action packed though, with Inspired camping Febiven mid and killing him twice. On the other hand, Misfits set up multiple dives bottom, securing a large lead for Hans Sama. The first team fight broke out early around Rift Herald, where Misfits emerged victorious with a kill and the buff.

Skirmishes were common throughout the mid game, with kills being traded by both sides. Misfits's bottom lane duo was the standout though, diving their counterparts' tower and killing them both. The kills were even but Misfits managed to push their leads with many objective takes. Misfits took a free Baron at 28 minutes and killed four Rogue members to propel to a 10k gold lead. Unfortunately they couldn't end the game on this buff due to a strong Rogue defense, but the next Baron enabled them well. It baited Rogue into a fight where Misfits easily Ace'd them, allowing them to end the game very shortly after with no resistance.

QUICK STATS:

• Time: 28:23
• Kills: 12-16
• Turrets: 0-10
• Gold: 43.7k-56.9k
• Dragons: 0-4
• Barons: 0-1

Fnatic v SK Gaming

Fnatic asserted complete control over SK Gaming in this fourth game of the day. Broxah on his Elise pick was the primary ignition for the team, ganking multiple times to secure leads in every lane. A great Teleport from Nemesis got him First Blood in the bottom lane, which set him far ahead. After that, Fnatic focused their efforts on their duo lane and enabling them in skirmishes, which caused Rekkles to get multiple kills and a ton of gold.

This early game pressure was carried over by Hylissang in the mid game, where he was crucial for setting up and executing on team fights. SK died repeatedly to Fnatic vision denial and was on the back foot, allowing Fnatic to secure an uncontested Baron at 24 minutes. Though they didn't crack any Inhibitors, it helped them grow their gold lead to over 10k. The game stalled for a bit, but eventually Fnatic found the fight they needed. At 30 minutes they hard engaged onto the SK squad and obliterated them. Four SK members fell, and Fnatic took this opportunity to swiftly blast through their base and end the game.

QUICK STATS:

• Time: 31:00
• Kills:15-5
• Turrets: 10-0
• Gold: 61.5k-46.5k
• Dragons: 3-1
• Barons: 1-0

Schalke 04 vs Excel

The final match of the debut day of LEC was much closer than the previous ones. But in the end, S04's superior team fighting pushed them ahead of Excel. There was a ton of action towards the top side of the map in the opening minutes, but no deaths. Expect, with the help of Caedrel, killed Odoamne for First Blood at 7 minutes. An 11 minute team fight went in S04's favor three-for-zero, but Excel ended up obtaining the First Tower bonus.

From this point the game stalled out for a long time. There were a number of fights, but they all resulted in one kill or less for the teams. Finally, at 31 minutes, Excel started up the Baron and secured it, losing only one member for the buff. They tried to use it to crack the top lane, but a clutch Elise Cocoon nabbed Hjarnan and won S04 a team fight. From here S04 ran over Excel at every point, killing multiple members without losing any of their own. At 39 minutes, S04 clean Ace'd a desperate Excel squad at the Elder Dragon and immediately ran through their opponent's base to secure the victory.

QUICK STATS:

• Time: 40:55
• Kills: 17-3
• Turrets: 8-5
• Gold: 75.1k-67.3k
• Dragons: 3-1
• Barons: 1-1

Watch the LEC here at ESTNN TV. For more information on the tournament, teams, standings, and players, visit www.lolesports.com. Stay tuned here at ESTNN and follow us on Twitter for more League of Legends news, articles, opinions and more.

Featured image via LoL Esports Flickr.