Week 3 of the League of Legends’ European Championship, or LEC for short, concluded with a showdown. The clash went down between the top two teams at the moment but the previous games saw a lot of action as Misfits and MAD Lions continue their rise.
Schalke’s woes continue with loss against SK
FC Schalke 04 met SK Gaming in the first game of the day, with both teams desperate for a win. SK struck first with a bot-lane gank only two minutes in, but Schalke’s new jungler Lukas “Lurox” Thoma led his team to equalize only a minute later.
The teams remained close for the initial 20 minutes, with SK having a lead in dragons and their rivals enjoying a minor gold lead.
Once more, a dragon would be Schalke’s downfall. A 5v5 fight at the 23-minute mark saw them lose their AD carry to a flank by Janik “Jenax” Bartels’ Mordekaiser flank. SK got a clean ace as well as the Baron and they never relinquished their advantage. Another won fight, this time a 4-0, led to them getting the bottom lane inhibitor and a mountain soul shortly afterward. Schalke could only watch as their opponents took another Baron, pushed down the top lane, and won a fight in front of their inhibitor tower to secure the game.
This is a welcome win for SK Gaming as it helps them be at least one level above the bottom. For Schalke, however, things look disastrous. They faced a scaling composition and were unable to get ahead in the early game, then once again collapsed in the mid game. The Royal Blues have to find a solution quickly or resign themselves to being at the bottom of the table. Considering that next week they will be facing Rogue and G2, the situation in their camp is bound to be grim indeed.
Excel Esports rally to defeat Vitality
After a scrappy game on Friday, the other 0-5 squad in the LEC – Team Vitality – tried to fix their mistake against Excel Esports. Things started pretty well for the underdogs who got a first blood in a top-lane tower dive and slowly grew a small lead over their opponents.
A catch on Vitality’s mid-laner Lucas “Saken” Fayard gave Excel a breather, but after several early kills, top laner Lucas “Cabochard” Simon-Meslet was unlocked on Gangplank, and the pirate gave Excel no end of trouble.
Eventually, his split-pushing resulted in him breaking into the enemy base but another catch let Excel take the Baron in return. Vitality’s reliance on split-pushing was not enough to stave off Excel’s teamfighting composition, and in the face of the Baron, they were left scrambling. Excel jumped in to fight near the middle inhibitor, and while Vitality mounted a valiant defense, they were eventually aced and lost the game.
It was a difficult game for Excel, who appeared firmly on the back foot until they secured the Baron to find an answer to their opponents’ split-pushing. Unfortunately, yet another good start ends in disaster for Vitality, who tried to play the map but were unable to coordinate effectively in the mid game. While they look a lot better than the other 0-6 team, FC Schalke 04, this is cold comfort.
MAD Lions win showdown with Rogue
After a series of wins, MAD Lions faced Roguewith a position in the upper half of the table on the line. Both teams showed some adaptations in the draft as Rogue picked Draven, an old favorite of their AD Carry Steven “Hans Sama” Liv. MAD took a page out of the G2 playbook and drafted Sorakatop and a scaling composition. The Spanish team had a great Level 1 invade but Rogue recovered quickly, finding the first blood with an invade of their own a few minutes later.
Just nine minutes in, the teams gave us the first big fight. MAD committed to the Rift Herald with five people and Rogue came to contest, losing their support but flanking their opponents for a devastating wombo combo that exploded three people. From this win, they would take over much of the map and have a big pressure and gold lead.
While the Lions were able to claw back a few kills, they were playing on the back foot until they punished an overreach for the dragon with two kills and a Baron. Even with that, Rogue had the lead until an uncharacteristic mistake 31 minutes in decided the game.
MAD spotted two deep teleports and engaged on the flankers for two kills and an easy Baron. Rogue nearly lost the game in the subsequent attack but barely held on after an unexpected kill on their opponents’ young AD Carry Matyáš “Carzzy” Orság. It was their last hurrah, however: two minutes later, MAD won a fight near Rogue’s top-lane inhibitor, took four kills and pushed for the win.
Now with a third consecutive win, the Spanish team moved to a joint second place with a 4-2 score but Rogue cannot help but think that this was their game to lose.
The Misfits winning streak continues
After several wins in the last two weeks, Misfits Gaming would face their greatest challenge yet in the face of Origen. They showed they had come to play with a very strong early game, taking first blood and then killing Elias “Upset” Lipp’s Aphelios 12 minutes in. This secured them the first tower and opened up a 2K gold lead.
The Misfits jungler Iván “Razork” Martín Díaz was kicking butts and taking kills all over the map while Origen’s attempts to make moves and get back in the game floundered.
Around the 24-minute mark, Misfits killed Origen jungler Andrei “Xerxe” Dragomir in the river and went for the Baron. However, poor coordination saw them lose their top laner early in the fight and in the ensuing melee, Origen got several more kills and Upset stole the Baron.
This evened the game somewhat but Misfits did not lose heart. Seven minutes later, a great engage set off a fight where they took three kills and followed this with an inhibitor and a Baron of their own. It all came down to a big fight 34 minutes in. Despite a surprise engage, Misfits had the superior coordination and won the teamfight, closing the game shortly afterward.
After their poor starts, they are now looking like one of the best teams in Europe. Meanwhile, Origen once again show that despite their great control when they are ahead, they sometimes struggle without a big advantage in the mid game.
G2 firmly on top with a key win vs Fnatic
The last game of the day put what many consider the two best squads of the LEC in a face-to-face battle. The teams started skirmishing early on, and a Fnaticattempt to set an ambush ended poorly when G2 Esports used a teleport to make it a 3v2 and get 2 kills. With this, the 2019 champions grew a significant gold lead in the early game.
Fnatic were not ready to roll over, however, and 12 minutes, in they burned G2 for pushing in the bottom lane. Meanwhile, in the top lane, Gabriël “Bwipo” Rau survived a 1v2 tower dive. The teams traded blows, and while G2 had a gold lead and were the first to breach their opponents’ outer towers, Fnatic had the early dragons that promised them a significant advantage if they could get to a dragon soul.
The game was still fairly close 22 minutes in when Fnatic chased a seemingly exposed G2 out of their jungler. However, a great teleport flank by Luka “Perkz” Perković turned the tables. G2 got a delayed ace and solidified their lead. Another good fight for G2 six minutes later saw them take a 4-1 and the Baron.
Fnatic tried to find a pick on the enemy top-laner but a long chase resulted in G2 collapsing on them and taking two more kills. That was the advantage G2 needed to close the game. It was another impressive victory by the 2019 Worlds finalists, all the sweeter for being against their closest rivals. Fnatic now join a group of four teams tied for the second spot and despite looking impressive in the previous several games, they were clearly the inferior team today.
With this, G2 are now two full wins ahead of their closest competitors and seem to be set for another dominant season. However, they have not been flawless, and their many rivals are unlikely to take this lying down. The LEC continues on Friday, February 14. Ready for more LoL esports?
