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Defending European League of Legends Championship Series champion G2 Esports took down Fnatic 3-1 on Saturday to advance to the Spring Split finals.
The first game of the series was an interesting bout, to say the least, with Fnatic mid laner Rasmus "Caps" Winther locking in Aurelion Sol and AD carry Martin "Rekkles" Larsson locking in Twitch. Despite giving away an early kill to G2 AD carry Jesper "Zven" Svenningsen's Ezreal, Fnatic jumped ahead early through solid macro plays and began snowballing into the mid game.
Fnatic broke open the game after jungler Mads "Broxah" Brock-Pedersen's Elise hit two crucial Cocoons to lock down two kills and give Fnatic complete control. After methodically breaking down G2's defenses, led by a 5/0/4 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) from Caps, Fnatic closed out the game in 31 minutes to go up 1-0 in the series.
G2 struck back in the second game, but it wasn't easy by any means. A pre-five minute lane swap from Fnatic fed valuable experience and gold to Rekkles on his Twitch. It led to an easy first blood for Rekkles but no noticeable lead. It was a back-and-forth game until near the 30-minute mark when Fnatic took down the first Baron. After initiating a push into G2's base, G2 managed to turn the game around off of a 3-for-1 teamfight. With that play, G2 took down Baron and Elder Dragon to ease its way to even the series at 1-1. G2 jungler Kim "Trick" Gang-yun was a force for his team with a 7/3/3 KDA as Graves.
The third game of the series included a similar lane-swap early on, but again it had little impact. G2 mid Luka "PerkZ" Perković as Ekko was gifted first blood, beginning his snowball throughout the game.
The game eventually turned into a macro-play clinic by G2 with Fnatic looking simply outmatched. Broxah managed to keep things interesting by stealing a Baron for Fnatic, but PerkZ and his 8/0/1 KDA on Ekko pushed G2 to a 2-1 lead in the series.
The fourth game of the series was a slugfest, with both teams throwing punches and making proactive plays against each other. Fnatic illustrated its relatively newfound global presence with a beautiful 3-for-1 trade in the bottom lane. G2 was able to reassert itself by rushing down Baron and taking advantage of Fnatic's lack of vision. A near-miracle play by Rekkles as Tristana (7/1/4 KDA) almost put the game out of reach for G2.
And then, after taking down another Baron, G2 was able to break all three inhibitors in Fnatic's base to close out the series 3-1.
G2 advances to the finals on April 23 in Hamburg, Germany, and will take on the winner of Sunday's 11 a.m. match between Misfits and Unicorns of Love. Fnatic will face the loser of the other semifinal match in the third/fourth place match on April 22 in Hamburg.