The second day of international League of Legends competition at the Intel Extreme Masters Season XI World Championship in Katowice is now in the books, and the playoff picture is starting to materialize. Flash Wolves locked up a semifinal spot, while an explosive EU showdown has been set up for the Group B decider match this weekend.
Flash Wolves continues to shut down Europe
Opening up Thursday's action was the Group B winners match between Unicorns of Love and Flash Wolves. Flash Wolves, continuing to steamroll European teams, was in control of this series from the start. Picking up the first blood as part of a team double kill, FW took that gold lead and ran with it into the mid game. While UoL tried to come back into the game by taking down a few towers, FW continued to dominate teamfights to keep ahead and push for the 48-minute win in Game 1.
Game 2 was a bit more closely contested, with FW not truly pulling away from UoL until winning a 2-for-1 teamfight around 24 minutes into the game. It may have taken two Barons to finally finish off UoL, but in the end, FW secured the 37-minute win, propelling it into the semifinals. UoL will now have one more shot to survive in the Group B decider match where they will face the winner of G2 Esports and Kongdoo Monster.
Hong Kong Esports easily handles M19
In the Group A elimination match, Hong Kong Esports took care of business against M19. HKE picked up the first blood less than five minutes into Game 1 and snowballed from there. While M19 tried to hang on with some early objectives, HKE picked up steam after the 20-minute mark to push for a 35-minute win. Whereas M19 had small windows of hope in Game 1, HKE easily ran away with things in Game 2. M19 were completely shut down in the second game of the series, unable to pick up a single objective of any kind in the 31-minute win. HKE will move on to face H2K Gaming in the Group A decider match on Saturday, while M19 have been sent home packing.
G2 rights the ship against Kongdoo
In the final series of the day, G2 took on Kongdoo in the Group B elimination match. The teams started off by trading fairly decisive wins in the first two games of the series. G2 struck first in the series with a snowballing, 31-minute victory in Game 1 that was set off by a double kill from G2 mid laner Luka "Perkz" Perković's Jayce about 15 minutes in. Game 2 was a complete annihilation from Kongdoo after G2 left LeBlanc unbanned in the pick-ban phase. Kongdoo mid laner Lee "Edge" Ho-sung used LeBlanc to lead Kongdoo in a 27-minute victory, ending with a 7/0/2 KDA (kills/deaths/assists).
The final game of the series saw 26 minutes of back-and-forth action between the two teams, with neither gaining a sizable gold lead at any point. At the 26-minute mark, however, the game turned on a dime. G2 went for an extremely decisive Baron kill when it noticed a lack of vision from Kongdoo in the pit. This gave G2 the Baron for free and led to an ace that completely opened the base of Kongdoo and gave G2 the 29-minute win.
The remaining teams will take Friday off before coming back Saturday with the Group A decider match between H2K and Hong Kong Esports starting at 8:15 AM EST. That game will be followed by the EU showdown between G2 and Unicorns of Love in the Group B decider match.