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In a cross=group matchup between two of Europe's lowest-ranked teams, Mysterious Monkeys triumphed over Team ROCCAT 2-1 during Week 6, Day 3 of the European League of Legends Championship Series Summer Split in Berlin.
Early on in Game 1, everything revolved around the carries of Team ROCCAT (2-6, 8-13 match record) as mid laner Felix "Betsy" Edling's LeBlanc was gifted a ninth-minute kill by support Kim "Wadid" Bae-in's Thresh. While Betsy snowballed, AD carry Peter "Hjarnan" Freyschuss used Jhin's long range to contribute to and later maintain the highest kill participation on his team.
Despite a strong mid game, ROCCAT was unable to break into the Monkeys base, while Mysterious Monkeys (2-6, 4-13) did so by capitalizing on two picks at 35 minutes. By the time the late game had rolled around, Mysterious Monkeys scaled into its superior late game teamfighting, and it closed out the game in 45 minutes with relative ease.
Game 2 threatened to be more or less a repeat of Game 1, with Betsy's Vladimir and Hjarnan's Jhin getting early leads, but Mysterious Monkeys took control after a fight at 26 minutes gave it a Baron kill.
This time around, however, it was ROCCAT with the edge in late game teamfighting, with Betsy's Vladimir becoming unkillable later on while Wadid's Tahm Kench provided protection for Hjarnan in the face of the aggression of Mysterious Monkeys. This proved to be pivotal as Mysterious Monkeys top laner Mateusz "Kikis" Szkudlarek's pocket Akali was unable to take out either of ROCCAT's carries in teamfights, while Hjarnan was free to dish out massive damage for his team. In another sloppy, back-and-forth affair, it was ROCCAT who stood tall after 43 minutes, forcing a pivotal Game 3.
The final game of this battle of the bottom-dwellers was sluggish compared to the first two, with each team securing only two kills apiece in the first 20 minutes. This left the gold within 1,000 until 24 minutes in, when ROCCAT was caught sleeping and Mysterious Monkeys snuck a free Baron kill, securing the buff easily using AD carry Soler "Yuuki60" Florent's Kalista and her massive Rend damage. This play alone was sufficient to take over the game, albeit anticlimactically, as Mysterious Monkeys flooded into ROCCAT's base through the bot lane in 29 minutes, shortly after the buff expired to secure the 2-1 series win.
ROCCAT's chances against league-leading Unicorns of Love will be dubious at best when the two face off on Thursday at 2 p.m. ET, while Mysterious Monkeys hope to continue climbing the standings against Misfits on Friday at 11 a.m. ET.