Team Vitality finally shook off the rust to pick up its first series win of the split after taking down the Mysterious Monkeys 2-0 on Thursday to open Week 3 of the European League of Legends Championship Series in Berlin.
Mysterious Monkeys (0-3, 0-6 match record) came looking to fight early and often in Game 1 with a heavy engage composition against the scaling composition of Vitality. This worked out well for Monkeys in the early game, taking first blood before quickly escalating to a 4-to-2 kill lead. Vitality (1-2, 2-4 match record) wasn't fazed one bit and continued to pick up objectives to keep the gold even moving into the midgame. It was at this point that Vitality mid laner Erlend "Nukeduck" Våtevik Holm's LeBlanc started to get out of control, dealing tons of damage in teamfights. The Monkeys sensed that things were starting to slip away, leading to a desperation Baron rush 24 minutes in that ended with Vitality acing the Monkeys and taking the Baron. That was the final nail in Monkeys' coffin as Vitality easily took the game a few minutes later, winning Game 1 in just under 30 minutes.
In Game 2, Mysterious Monkeys continued the trend of a somewhat solid early game, but still found itself unable to push through as the game progressed. With a composition focused on getting picks, the Monkeys did just that early on with a first blood at 14 minutes. Unfortunately, that proved to be one of just two kills that the team earned all game long as Vitality came alive in the midgame. VIT started dominating teamfights left and right with Nukeduck once again on top of his game, this time on Syndra. Additionally, AD carry Pierre "Steeelback" Medjaldi's Caitlyn held Mysterious Monkeys at bay with massive damage, keeping Vitality ahead as the game progressed. Vitality locked up the win on the back of a beautiful Baron bait that drew all of Monkeys in to get picked off in a 4-for-0 fight in favor of Vitality. With the Baron buff in tow, Vitality waltzed to a 35-minute victory.
Vitality will look to get a streak going when it takes on H2k on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET, while Mysterious Monkeys will continue to search for its first win next Saturday at 2 p.m. ET.