Misfits 1, Unicorns of Love 0
Misfits dominated Unicorns of Love to claim a 28-minute victory to kick off Week 6 of the European League of Legends Championship Series Summer Split in Berlin.
It should be obvious given their respective records, but it was clear Misfits (10-1) was the better team. Quickly building up a decent lead through farming despite being even in kills, UoL (3-8) felt the pressure early. Despite trying to keep up the aggression, the team could not put a stop to the enemy pressure, quickly giving up an early tower.
Although UoL's jungler Jonas "Kold" Kold used Kindred to find an early kill for his team and found a subsequent dragon, the rest of his team could not find a favorable opportunity. This resulted in Misfits quickly putting out pressure that went unanswered, making it seem as though UoL was content with just keeling over and dying. Misfits took advantage of the enemy team's poor play with calculated aggression, blowing the game wide open at the 15-minute mark, quickly finding several kills for AD Carry Steven "Hans Sama" Liv on Draven as well as three towers, bringing the team's gold lead to 7,000. The team continued to push its advantage, taking over the macro game and using Nocturne's Paranoia to claim a quick 23-minute Baron.
Although Unicorns of Love made a final stand in its base, quickly eliminating Hans Sama, the team could not follow up to defend the Nexus. After using all of the resources for a single kill, the rest of Misfits had no problem closing things out.
Unicorns of Love desperately need a win if it has any hope of earning a spot in the playoffs when it faces Giants Gaming at 11 a.m. ET on Saturday. Misfits will look to begin its winning streak once again as it takes on Splyce later that day at 3 p.m. ET.
--Rotowire
ROCCAT 1, H2k 0
H2k was put at a huge disadvantage moving into its match against ROCCAT (6-5). Already sporting a winless record in the split, the team had an emergency roster change as it was forced to use substitute jungler Marc "Caedrel" Robert Lamont in place of Marcin "Selfie" Wolski who had a medical emergency. As such, the team role-swapped Ilyas "Shook" Hartsema from jungle to the middle lane.
Despite playing without the team's intended roster, H2k (0-11) looked much better during the early game than in previous matches. At the 15-minute mark, the team was down less than 500 gold, a huge improvement all things considered. Without falling far behind, it seemed as if H2k may be able to scale up and find a lead for itself.
Unfortunately, the team had fallen behind on the objective front, allowing ROCCAT to gain additional stats that made the difference in teamfights. As a mid lane fight broke out at the 20-minute mark, H2k focused different members of the enemy team, giving up four uncontested kills and allowing ROCCAT to claim Baron. This would be the beginning of the end for H2k.
With the buff, ROCCAT had extremely decisive play, forcing a pair of additional skirmishes and focusing on two lanes to begin pressuring the enemy base. With H2k at such a large disadvantage, the team had no problem marching into its base and forcing a final teamfight to secure a 24-minute victory.
H2k will hope to correct that ugly mark when it takes on Fnatic this Saturday at 2 p.m. ET. ROCCAT will look to continue its streak of its own as it looks to pick up a victory against Vitality earlier in the day at 12 p.m. ET.
--Rotowire
Vitality 1, Giants Gaming 0
Vitality claimed a back-and-forth victory over Giants Gaming to keep the team's playoff dreams alive during Week 6 of the European League of Legends Championship Series Summer Split in Berlin.
During the early game, the difference in skill was apparent. Although Giants (3-8) found itself an early kill lead, Giants missed the team's compositional strength, failing to capitalize on a midgame power spike. Additionally, despite having double the enemy team's kills, the team was still down in gold. This ended up giving the enemy team the ability to use its scaling composition to start putting pressure on the enemy team and attempting to force teamfights.
Although Vitality (6-5) was able to find a huge teamfight engagement off the back of a four-man taunt from mid laner Daniele "Jiizuke" di Mauro's Galio, the team simply lacked the damage to close the fight out. As a result, Giants was able to pick up several kills that resulted in the team's continued objective control, picking up a 27-minute Baron.
The buff proved to be exactly what Giants needed, revitalizing the team after 10 minutes of stagnating. With the newfound energy, the team flipped the game on its head, taking control of the map once again. The next 10 minutes saw Giants trying to crack open the enemy base, but Vitality held strong, setting up an impenetrable defense to protect the team's inhibitors.
The defense was critical for Vitality as the team took a series of fights outside its base to bring things back, simultaneously gaining control of the contest for the first time since the early game. Off the back of huge damage from AD Carry Amadeu "Attila" Carvalho, Vitality found itself able to take a final teamfight victory at the 38-minute mark, allowing the team to close out what seemed to be an impossible game.
Giants will look to bounce back from the disheartening loss as it takes on Unicorns of Love Saturday at 11 a.m. ET while Vitality will aim to continue its upward trend as it faces ROCCAT later that day at 12 p.m. ET.
--Rotowire
G2 Esports 1, Splyce 0
G2 Esports decimated Splyce to claim a convincing victory during Week 6 of the European League of Legends Championship Series summer split in Berlin.
G2 Esports (8-3) quickly identified the enemy top lane as the weakest area of the map and focused it heavily while Splyce seemed out of synch from the very start of the competition. Finding success, the team's aggression handed Splyce's top laner Andrei "Odoamne" Pascu three deaths on Dr. Mundo, putting him extremely far behind. This allowed G2 Esports to continue pressuring Splyce (5-6) with ease, moving its advantage towards the rest of the map to ensure the team could capitalize on the early victories.
Splyce seemed lost after falling behind, with every member of the team down a substantial amount of gold against their lane opponent. Giving up on attempting to make proactive plays, Splyce was content to just wait for G2 Esports to make a mistake that the team could capitalize on. Unfortunately for them, this would never come as G2 Esports was playing at peak form, dominating at every step of the game.
Though G2 Esports slowed things down during the mid game, it was calculated in its risks. The only mistake the team made in the final 15 minutes was overextending after taking Baron, giving Splyce the team's second kill of the game. Immediately following this, G2 Esports regrouped to use the buff to easily dominate the enemy team and siege Splyce's base. Without any proper waveclear, and behind too much gold to win a fight, Splyce was swiftly defeated, resulting in a convincing 25-minute victory for G2 Esports.
With the victory G2 Esports bounced back from its recent loss and will look to put together a win streak as it takes on Schalke 04 Saturday at 1 p.m. ET. Splyce will attempt to rally and make a playoff run as it matches up against Misfits later in the day at 3 p.m. ET.
--Rotowire
Fnatic 1, Schalke 04 0
Fnatic ended Schalke 04's four-game winning streak as it dismantled its opposition in 28 minutes during the European League of Legends Championship Series Summer Split in Berlin.
Fnatic (8-3) put together a destructive start to the early game. After ganking for star midlaner Rasmus "Caps" Winther at level one, the team continued pressuring the lane, picking up two swift kills. With the successful early game strategy, Fnatic opted to continue focusing down Schalke's (6-5) mid laner Erlend "Nukeduck" Våtevik Holm's Yasuo, completely negating the champion's early game strength. This opening was easy for Fnatic to capitalize on, building up a lead across the entire map off the back of Caps' success.
Despite being behind several thousand gold in the early game, Schalke continued to look for proactive plays in an attempt to bring things back. This paid off slightly, allowing the team to find a pair of kills and interrupt the enemy team's Rift Herald channel. Unfortunately, this success was short-lived as Fnatic expertly displayed the team's superior macro play. Continuing to focus on the team's strengths.
Though Schalke continued to find small openings, Fnatic simply had greater opportunities, utilizing the team's early lead to focus down towers across the map, amassing a large gold-lead that put Fnatic firmly in the driver's seat. The small victories for Schalke were short lived as Fnatic boasted an 11,000 gold lead just 24-minutes into the game.
With the team's massive lead, Fnatic had a field-day, forcing several teamfights before taking a Baron buff to all but solidify the team's victory. Though Schalke tried, the team could not find any way back into things, understandably unable to overcome the 18,000 gold deficit. As a result, Fnatic claimed a convincing 28-minute victory.
Schalke will look to start a new win streak as it takes on G2 Esports Saturday at 1 p.m. ET while Fnatic will attempt to continue its own, with its next match against H2K later that day at 2 p.m. ET.
--Rotowire