Week 3 recap
Excel Esports 2-2 | Tied for 5th place
A first blood on Gabriël “Bwipo” Raus gave an early lead to his lane opposition Ki “Expect” Dae-hans. That lead only grew when Oskar “Selfmade” Boderek alongside Bwipo attempted a tower dive on the flashless Expect. While they did get the kill, they gave their lives for it, making Expect 3/1.
Around 17 minutes in, Tim “Nemesis” Lipovšek as Syndra caught out Son “Mickey” Young-min’s LeBlanc on the topside river, resulting in the second Rift Herald for Fnatic. With that, they secured the first tower in the middle lane, and by that a much needed gold lead.
Fnatic then rotated top where Zdravets “Hylissang” Galabov flashed an engage on XLs AD Carry Patrik “Patrik” Jírů playing Senna under his own tower. To no avail, however, as support Tore “Tore” Hoel Eilertsen devoured him as Tahm Kench, just in time for Marc Robert “Caedrel” Lamont and Mickey to counter engage. XL came out on top and picked up kills on both Hylissang and Selfmade, reclaiming the gold lead.
Despite the rough start for Fnatic, the game remained even throughout. Objectives were traded back and forth – and around the 29 minute mark XL picked up the Baron, only to get wiped out by Fnatic. Mickey barely escaped. Fnatic went straight to the XL base, and the Nexus exploded at 29:35.
Player of the match: Gabrël “Bwipo” Rau
With an ending score of 5/3/4, Bwipo more than made up for his early game mistakes that ended up giving the XL toplaner a 3/1/0 lead on him. Terrorizing sidelines, bullying enemy carries, killing a recalling Patrik under his own tower with Fear Beyond Death – from the river! Bwipo owned this game. Attempts were made, but it is safe to say that he failed the “art of inting” this time.
G2 Esports 5-0 | Placed 1st
This was the Match of the Week, and with good reason. Calling the bot lane matchup hype would be an understatement; we have two best supports in the league in Zdravets “Hylissang” Galabov and Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle. On their best days they are god-like, and on their worst they are really good at challenging their own teams. Alongside them it is Martin “Rekkles” Larsson facing his former midlaner Rasmus “Caps” Winther.
Already in the drafting phase, Fnatic showed no interest in humoring G2s Soraka shenanigans as she was banned in first rotation, a pick they have had much success with.
An early 3v3 skirmish involving G2s Martin “Wunder” Hansen, Luka “PERKZ” Perković and Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski and Fnatics Gabriël “Bwipo” Rau, Oskar “Selfmade” Boderek and Tim “Nemesis” Lipovšek around the blue sides blue buff caused PERKZ to Flash and Teleport early, which Fnatic was unable to capitalize on.
Eventually, first blood went to Wunder on his Aatrox after a Teleport to bot lane; Hylissang had engaged on the G2 duo. Without enough damage the fight went in the way of G2, the Fnatic bottom lane died to Wunder and Caps respectively.
A little over 11 minutes into the game, Selfmade’s Lee Sin found an incredible kick on Caps in the bottom lane, Nemesis teleported to aid and found a kill as well, this time Jankos went down. This was the beginning of a period where everything on the map went in favor of Fnatic. That was until three minutes after the Baron spawned where G2 found a bot river flank and a collapse on Fnatic, wiping them out. With the Baron buff they stormed the Fnatic base and with a 12k gold lead, they destroyed the Nexus at 31:33.
The G2 high utility comp was used to the fullest, thusly giving them the win. In conclusion, after 3 weeks, G2 is still undefeated.
Player of the match: Rasmus “Caps” Winther
Caps’ score was 6/2/13 on Senna by the end of the match. With the shields provided through his ult he managed to save the lives of his teammates as they fought – often seemingly lost fights – while Caps stayed in the sidelines to create pressure.
Not only that but on several occasions, he casually sniped the unsuspecting players from Fnatic. He was, quite literally, everywhere this game.
Week 4 Preview
Team Vitality 0-6 | Tied for 9th place
With Vitality being tied for last place, they remain winless. The scenarios in which Fnatic does not come out on top are, quite frankly, very limited. Vitality has seemed lost in their game plans the first few weeks. But who’s to say they won’t pull it off? Creativity is the word.
Player to watch: Lucas “Cabochard” Simon-Meslet
If Cabochard is able to get the better of Bwipo on the topside of the map, Vitality might just be able to play through him as the carry. Getting Cabochard ahead could potentially be a win condition for the 0-6 team.
Prediction – #FNCWIN
MAD Lions 4-2 | Tied for 2nd
Match of the Week
Second place is currently a four-way tie with both MAD Lions and Fnatic being contestants. How this game ends will have importance to how the rest of the Spring Split pans out; we are almost halfway through and the teams get stronger week by week.
Rekkles will be facing rookie Matyáš “Carzzy” Orság, a young AD carry who has been admiring Rekkles since he started playing League of Legends. They are both hungry and eager to show up, this bot lane matchup will make for an interesting watch.
While both teams are 4-2, MAD Lions currently holds one the longest average game time at 36:31, only behind Origen at 37:35. Fnatic is sitting on the shortest average game time at 29:10. So the question is, what kind of game will it be? Fast and bloody, or long and methodical?
Player to watch: Matyáš “Carzzy” Orság
With Rekkles being one of his favorite professional AD carry players, this could turn out to be a very defining game for Carzzy. Beating his idol would give him a crazy confidence boost and if he is able to carry that momentum through the rest of the split, MAD Lions suddenly looks a lot scarier.
Prediction – #FNCWIN
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