ROCCAT 1, Giants 0
Team ROCCAT outlasted Giants Gaming in a slow, meandering game to open Week 3 of the European League Championship Series on Friday.
With Giants (1-4) and ROCCAT (3-2) owning the two longest average game times during the Summer Split, it was no surprise that this game went the distance (relatively speaking given the current meta) at 36 minutes. What was surprising, however, was just how slow-paced this game ended up being. While there was a combined 20 kills in this one, eight of them came in the final, frantic fight towards the end of the game.
From the outset of the series, ROCCAT held a lead thanks to the efforts of top laner Kim "Profit" Jun-hyung who secured a couple of early kills that allowed his team to start taking objectives across the map. Anytime an early teamfight broke out, ROCCAT was on the winning side thanks to both Profit's Aatrox and mid laner Jin "Blanc" Seong-min's Irelia. It seemed like it was poised to take an easy victory, but Giants wouldn't be denied without a fight.
After securing a few scattered kills, Giants was in a good position to win the game due to ROCCAT not being able to leverage its lead into a Baron. The team danced around the major objective for 15 minutes until Giants finally pulled the trigger and took the Baron for itself. The move proved costly, however, as ROCCAT nullified the Baron with a 5-for-3 ace that gave ROCCAT just enough room to waltz into the base and raze Giants' Nexus for the 36-minute win.
ROCCAT will now turn to its match with Splyce at 2 p.m. ET on Saturday, while Giants hope to salvage its week against Fnatic at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday.
--Wyatt Donigan
Misfits 1, Schalke 04 0
Misfits asserted its dominance with a blistering takedown of FC Schalke 04.
After struggling during the Spring Split, Misfits (5-0) have looked like a brand new team this summer and Friday was no different. It had the upper hand over Schalke (2-3) from the draft phase as Misfits' composition was built to teamfight as much as possible. Schalke seemed wholly unprepared for the onslaught, with Misfits having its way to the tune of a 16-to-3 kill advantage by the game's end.
Misfist jungler Nubar "Maxlore" Sarafian picked up a late first blood at 15 minutes with his Camille, but from that point forward it was all action. Over the next 18 minutes, Misfits did whatever it wanted while taking complete control over every inch of the map. Whether it was the top lane, mid lane, jungle or bottom lane, Misfits owned it and Schalke was playing from its backfoot.
The one time that Schalke tried to stand up to Misfits' destruction, near the 22-minute mark, Misfits easily shrugged it off and picked up three kills before moving on to the Baron. That one sequence all but did Schalke in as there was no avenue in which it had a chance of getting back into the game. Misfits continued pressing the issue in every lane, meticulously building on its lead until it secured a second Baron and ended the game at the 33-minute mark.
Misfits hope to continue its winning streak against H2k Gaming at 11 a.m. ET on Saturday, while Schalke look to bounce back with a matchup against Team Vitality in the next game at noon ET.
--Wyatt Donigan
Splyce 1, H2k 0
Splyce found its first win of the Summer Split, taking down H2k Gaming.
While the early game was fairly close, that was by Splyce's design as it was content to simply play the macro game by obtaining objectives, forgoing kills in an effort to build an incremental lead. H2k (0-5) might have felt good about keeping things even early on, but it was seemingly unaware that it was playing right into Splyce's hand.
Through the first 26 minutes, Splyce (1-4) simply picked up objectives across the map to slowly grow its gold lead as the game progressed. By that point, it was up 4,000 gold with a 5-to-2 advantage in towers and 2-to-1 advantage in dragons. Sensing that the game was slipping away, H2k went for broke with a Baron play at 26 minutes that ended up being its undoing.
Despite whittling the Baron down incredibly low before Splyce even moved towards contesting, H2k let it slip away as Splyce jungler Andrei "Xerxe" Dragomir flew into the pit with his Trundle and stole the Baron away. Not only did it get the Baron, but Splyce also decimated H2k with an ace powered by mid laner Yasin "Nisqy" Dincer's triple kill with Zoe. At that point, Splyce was in full control and it wasn't long before it continued into the H2k base and secured the win to keep its opposition winless.
Splyce will attempt to get a streak going against Team ROCCAT at 2 p.m. ET on Saturday, while H2k continues its search for a win against the red-hot Misfits earlier in the day at 11 a.m. ET.
--Wyatt Donigan
Vitality 1, Unicorns of Love 0
Team Vitality obliterated the Unicorns of Love in a lightning fast game on Friday.
While every game so far today has gone past the 30-minute mark, Vitality (3-2) clearly wanted no part of that against Unicorns (2-3). After picking up an early first blood, Vitality kicked off a flood of kills the likes of which we don't see too often. There have been plenty of high-kill games during the current meta, but rarely are they as one-sided as this one.
Vitality support Jakub "Jactroll" Skurzynski opened up the kills at the eight-minute mark with his Pyke and then it was off to the races. Within the next six minutes, Vitality rattled off a whopping eight more kills to take full control. There was simply nothing that Unicorns could do against the deluge, as Vitality seemingly fought at the drop of a pin.
With the Unicorns' rhythm completely thrown off, Vitality could relax and have a bit of fun as the game progressed. By the end of the 24-minute game, every member of Vitality tallied at least one kill, with mid laner Daniele "Jiizuke" di Mauro's Darius and AD carry Amadeu "Attila" Carvalho's Swain picking up six each. Unicorns only managed two kills and a single tower in the loss as it fell below .500.
Unicorns will have its work cut out as it looks to prevent a 0-2 week against G2 Esports at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday, while Vitality look to continuing climbing the standings with a matchup against Schalke 04 earlier in the day at noon ET.
--Wyatt Donigan
G2 Esports 1, Fnatic 0
G2 Esports exercised its demons from the Spring Split Finals with a quick stomp of Fnatic.
All of the statistics were against G2 (5-0) in this contest with Fnatic (3-2), as the last time the two met, Fnatic swept G2 to win the Spring Split. In fact, G2 hadn't won a game against Fnatic in its last eight tries. Against all those odds, however, G2 absolutely decimated Fnatic in a lopsided 24-minute game.
Coming out of the gate, it looked as though Fnatic was on its way to a ninth straight win over G2 after picking up the first two kills of the game. That was just about the beginning and end for Fnatic's positives, however. Once G2 won a 3-for-0 teamfight near the 13-minute-mark, it was all but over for Fnatic. After taking the lead on the back of that teamfight, G2 had plenty of time to get its funnel strategy off the ground as mid laner Luka "Perkz" Perkovic's Xayah grew into a monster, picking up five kills before 20 minutes had even passed.
It wasn't just Perkz that was a problem for Fnatic, however. When it tried to go for a Baron right as it spawned at 20 minutes, G2 needed just three members to easily win a 3-vs-4 and secure the Baron for itself. That was the final nail in Fnatic's coffin, as G2 simply picked up a few more objectives before moving on to Fnatic's base to tally another seven kills to close out the game.
G2 now moves on to a match against the Unicorns of Love at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday, while Fnatic will want to get back on track against Giants Gaming at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday.
--Wyatt Donigan