Unicorns of Love 1 - Giants Gaming 0
Unicorns of Love took down Giants Gaming during the European League Championship Series Summer Split to open Friday's slate of games in Berlin.
It was clear from the pick and ban phase that Unicorns (1-2) were going for a siege-heavy composition in this game, while Giants (1-2) looked to teamfight early and often. Unicorns may have picked up first blood, but the next few kills went the way of Giants as the teams began jockeying for an advantage. Unicorns seemed content to give up a few kills, focusing entirely on gaining control of the map via objectives.
The strategy seemed to pay off throughout the first 20 minutes of the game, as Unicorns of Love held a 4,000-gold lead on the back of a 4-to-1 advantage in towers. Despite looking a bit worse for wear, Giants' gameplan finally came to fruition near the 24-minute mark when AD carry Pierre "Steeelback" Medjaldi's Lucian secured a huge pick on Unicorns AD carry Samuel "Samux" Fernandez Fort's Ziggs. Before getting to the Baron, however, Giants made sure to decimate any stray UoL members.
The extra time spent solidifying the team's hold on the Baron gave Unicorns jungler Jonas "Kold" Andersen time to get in position with his Sejuani for a game-changing Baron steal. The gutsy play completely flipped the game on its head, as Unicorns turned the objective into an ace that allowed the team to close out the game in just 27 minutes with one final push.
Unicorns will look to get to .500 when it takes on Splyce at 2 p.m. ET on Saturday, while Giants will try and prevent a 0-2 week against Misfits Gaming earlier in the day at noon ET.
--Wyatt Donigan
ROCCAT 1 - Vitality 0
In stark contrast to the volatile meta sweeping through the world, Team ROCCAT won against Team Vitality in a close battle fit for metas of the past Friday during the European League of Legends Championships Series.
With many games in the current meta finishing in one-sided romps that frequently last under 30 minutes, ROCCAT (2-1) and Vitality (2-1) went toe-to-toe for 46 minutes before a victor was decided. From the outset, however, it didn't look like things would last very long. With Team ROCCAT jungler Jonas "Memento" Elmarghichi's Trundle tallying four kills in the first five minutes of the game, it looked incredibly grim for Vitality.
Miraculously, the entire mid game and much of the late game was controlled by an ever resilient Vitality, who started teamfighting with cohesion thanks to Lucas "Cabochard" Simon-Meslet's Darius who gave ROCCAT late-game fits. With a handful of teamfight wins finally under its belt, Vitality began to secure major objective left and right. Not only did Erberk "Gilius" Demir's Skarner come up with a clutch Baron steal to completely bring the game to a standstill, but Vitality expertly danced around both the Baron and Elder Dragon a few minutes later to secure both of the major objectives. Even with the massive buffs in hand, Vitality was unable to push past the feisty ROCCAT squad.
ROCCAT simply played a pitch-perfect prevent defense, never allowing Vitality a chance to make much of its advantages. Vitality did manage to break its way into the ROCCAT base, but it only did so after the buffs had expired. It was at that point that Jin "Blanc" Seong-min's Irelia took over with two big kills in the top lane that led to a monumental ace for ROCCAT. With the death timers at almost a full minute, ROCCAT had ample time to traverse the entire length of the map and close out the 46-minute win.
Vitality will look to bounce back from the heartbreaking loss against Fnatic at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday, while ROCCAT hopes for another win when it takes on FC Schalke 04 at 11 a.m. ET to open Saturday's action.
--Wyatt Donigan
G2 1 - FC Schalke 04 0
G2 Esports decimated FC Schalke 04 in a one-sided victory Friday during the European League of Legends Championship Series in Berlin.
G2 Esports (3-0) jumped into the game by drafting a near identical composition to the team's last victory, placing mid laner Luka "Perkz" Perković on Kai'Sa and the rest of the team on various supportive champions; playing a single carry funnel composition. Schalke 04 (1-2) opted for a much different composition, instead selecting more standard picks and playing in a much more aggressive manner, attempting to shut down the enemy Kai'Sa before it could dominate the team.
Schalke 04's strategy didn't work out perfectly early game, largely due to an extremely lackluster performance by top laner Tamás "Vizicsacsi" Kiss who struggled on Dr.Mundo from the very beginning and never seemed to recover. With G2 moving as a cohesive unit, he found himself being taken down time and again. Crucially, the rest of S04 did not find anything as a result of the deaths.
With G2 finding huge advantages early on, S04's plan to play aggressively early did not pan out. Time and again the team found itself at the mercy of G2, struggling to find even the smallest of openings. Once ahead, G2 quickly ran away with things, picking up a 20-minute Baron and quickly beginning to set its sights on the enemy base.
To add insult to injury, Perkz stepped up yet again in the final minutes of the game, quickly showing the strength of G2's composition. After shredding the enemy front line, he had no problem diving with his team onto the backline, eventually picking up a pentakill in the final teamfight of the game. With the jaw-dropping performance, G2 claimed a convincing 26-minute victory to remain at the top of the EU LCS standings.
G2 Esports will look to continue its dominant streak as it takes on H2K on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. ET. FC Schalke 04 will likely need to make drastic changes to its training schedule in order to tackle the new meta if it hopes to claim victory as the team battles ROCCAT earlier in the day Saturday.
--Rotowire
Fnatic 1 - H2K Gaming 0
Fnatic took a win over H2K Gaming with a convincing 27-minute victory Friday during Week 2 of the European League of Legends Summer Split in Berlin.
Moving into the game between H2K (0-3) and Fnatic (2-1), there was a decent amount of speculation about Fnatic's roster. Due to the developing meta, the team opted to play substitute top laner Gabriël "Bwipo" Rau as the bottom laner for the match. The substitution made sense given the team's current playstyle and the meta.
Fnatic utilized the substitution by picking Ryze for Bwipo, working in synergy with support Zdravets "Hylissang" Galabov's Pyke. The duo absolutely dominated during the early game, picking up several kills in skirmishes and never slowing. Fnatic's bottom lane was not the only impressive members of the team however, as the entire FNC roster reigned fury onto H2K. After an early game 4-vs-5 skirmish went convincingly the way of FNC, H2K's fate was all but secured.
H2K struggled as it attempted to come back into the game. Due to the team having a distinct lack of damage against a health-filled Fnatic lineup, H2K had almost no options. The team became extremely desperate and frequently engaged in fights with FNC despite being down over 10,000 gold. The results were as expected, with the team dying over and over again, getting nothing in return.
The final five minutes of the game were no different from the rest with H2K simply being outclassed in every lane. Nothing went well for H2K as the team continued to be killed with ease, allowing Fnatic to take an easy 27-minute victory.
H2K will have its work cut out for the team as it takes on G2 Esports this Saturday at 1:00 p.m. ET as it attempts to finally put a win on the board. Fnatic will look to continue its recent strong showings as it takes on Vitality later that same day.
--Rotowire
Misfits 1 -- Splyce 0
Misfits dominated Splyce in a 38-minute victory to remain undefeated in the EU LCS on Friday in Berlin.
Both teams approached this game with different ideas of how to build team compositions, with Misfits (3-0) staying true to the "traditional" meta, picking a bottom lane marksman in Lucian for AD carry Steven "Hans Sama" Liv and rounding things out with a smorgasbord of engage. On the side of Splyce (0-3), the squad opted for a much different composition, picking skirmishing power and sending an increasingly popular Heimerdinger to the bottom lane.
Despite a back-and-forth early game that made both teams seem evenly matched, this perceived equality ended once MSF revealed its dominant mid game coordination. Moving quickly together, the team dominated the map, forcing SPY to take unfavorable objective trades. With poor vision, Splyce found itself walking into MSF's traps time and again. Although Splyce attempted to mount a comeback during the mid game, it came far too late. While the team found several kills to bring itself into the game, it ignored what was happening on the other ends of the map. Trading a single kill for a Baron, Splyce got caught out, resulting in even more kills going the way of Misfits.
As the game progressed, Splyce was down over 10,000 gold. Misfits took its time closing out the game, abusing its massive gold lead and slowly choking Splyce out.
Misfits look to remain undefeated as it takes on Giants at 12:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, while Splyce will attempt to bounce back as it takes on Unicorns of Love at 2:00 p.m. ET later that day.
--Rotowire