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H2K Gaming's first-place hopes remain intact after a 2-1 win against Team Vitality on Saturday during Week 9, Day 3 of the European League of Legends Championship Series in Berlin.
The two teams traded kills back and forth for the first 25 minutes of Game 1, with H2K jungler Marcin "Jankos" Jankowski in particular finding kill after kill to enter the late game with a 5/1/0 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) on Kha'Zix. The superior farm and tower offense of Vitality (3-9, 9-19 match record) lent the team a small lead, but that all changed at 27:30, when H2K (8-3, 18-8) won a 3-for-0 fight to open up Baron. H2K amassed a sizable advantage with the buff, which the team used to close out Game 1 in 36 minutes following an ace.
Vitality struck back in Game 2, finding first blood in the first minute of the game with a five-man brush camp. Vitality kept up this aggression all game long, including a series of picks around the mid lane to go up 4,000 gold just 11 minutes in. Meanwhile, Lucas "Cabochard" Simon-Meslet's counter pick of Swain into Camille was working wonders in the top lane. All together, this allowed Vitality to take a sub-30-minute Game 2 in a virtual shutout, giving up no objectives and only three kills.
Game 3 looked grim for Vitality early on, with H2K grouping up early and often to pull off dives and take a hefty lead. It took an incredibly creative flank engage from Vitality at 21 minutes to pull back into the game, but the underdogs had to sacrifice an inhibitor to pull the maneuver off. Two Barons later, however, Vitality finally had a lead and a chance to pull off the upset. Unfortunately, while on the verge of winning the game, Vitality lost a fight at H2K's base, and a misguided attempt at a base race gave H2K the win.
Things won't get easier for Vitality as it faces off against Unicorns of Love at 10 a.m. ET on April 1. H2K, meanwhile, can probably expect a fairly easy victory over a winless Origen at 11 a.m. on Friday.