In Week 6 of the League of Legends European Championship (LEC), G2 Esports (G2) went up against SK Gaming (SK) and Team Vitality (VIT). The weekend resulted with two wins.
Vs SK Gaming (2-8)
Numbers
G2 won the match with a 7.7k gold difference, 19 kills, all towers, with no need for any Dragons or Baron. SK took eight kills and two towers and one dragon.
Highlights
Based on just the numbers, this is the usual G2 game. The usual heavy stomp, and the usual fun. And the game really was just a fun one for G2, it did not seem like they were planning seriously or making cautious plays like they did in Week 4 and 5. An interview with Fabian “Grabbz” Lohmann, the coach, put it best. He mentioned that up to Week 4, the team was just playing the game the way they knew how to and didn’t expect to go 6-0. Once they lost Week 4, they played the game seriously, but that too wasn’t the right play. So this week, they just decided to play the game and have fun as they did in 2019 of the LEC.
The draft shows this the most with Martin “Wunder” Hansen on his fun Gnar, Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski on a map invader Pantheon, and Rasmus “Caps” Winther on an APC (Ability Power Carry) Taliyah. Caps promised that he would bring variety to the Bot lane, and finally, it has happened. In addition, the synergy between Pantheon is fun and extremely aggravating for SK. Taliyah’s Weaver’s Wall (R) was used twice to block off SK and massacre them. Pantheon’s Grand Starfall (R) helped Jankos get to lanes in time to perform quick ganks.
The 2019 Spirit
The game was an absolute victory for G2, but the main takeaway is that G2 is back. They are playing for fun and having fun. In the match, they weren’t very concerned about dying or losing. They were just making plays with confidence and aggression and knew that they had the skill to make it work. There were many early game ganks and they killed as they pleased. G2’s main strategy is still to get kills so that they can secure objectives and hinder their opponent’s progress in doing the same.
At 15 minutes, the game was already at 10-4, with G2 in the lead in all ways. They outplayed, out-killed, and trapped SK in the jungle for two minutes while they pushed in Top and Mid lane at one point. Humorously, Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle still can’t land all of his Thresh hooks, but during the entire game, he just fishing without worrying about SK outplaying him. Especially since his Dark Passage (W) can bring Pantheon and Taliyah out of the fight immediately.
MVP – PERKZ
Luka “PERKZ” Perkovic played a standard mid lane champion: Zoe. And he did so well, with many Sleepy Trouble Bubbles (E) landed and ensuring kills for the team. Notably, first blood went to Jankos during a gank when a trouble bubble hit Janik “Jenax” Bartels and he went under tower to retrieve the kill. PERKZ beat two of his personal bests in this game for the split. Highest KDA (kill/death/assist) with 5/0/11 and highest DPM (damage per minute) with 960 per minute. He never died and did 29.9% of the total damage in the game. A showcase of his skill and G2’s return to style.
Vs Team Vitality (1-10)
Numbers
G2 won this match with a 7.1k gold lead, 21 kills, 10 towers, and the Dragon Soul. VIT only got 11 kills and were not able to take down any objectives.
Highlights
This is a first-place team versus a last-place team, so to be fair, there was a small chance for G2 losing. But, G2, again returning to 2019’s form, outplayed VIT very hard. The game was a 21-11, G2 gaining most of those kills very early. This means G2 has fixed their early game issues. First, around three minutes into the game, Jankos’ Rek’sai to helped Caps’ Senna and Mikyx’s Taric get ahead. Then, again at six minutes, Jankos gets first and second blood in another Bot lane gank. With CC (crowd control) coming from Taric and Senna, they won Bot lane hard. And like how G2 lost to a Taric, G2 won this game with a Taric due to his Cosmic Radiance (R).
PERKZ came into this fight with Akali and showed that even after her nerfs, she is still a high damage champion to be feared. His KDA was 7/2/5, again being the strongest player in his team. The true reason why G2 won is not PERKZ’s damage but the team’s objective taking capability. Throughout the game, G2 made efforts in pushing out the wave and taking kills to reduce VIT’s pressure. By 20 minutes, VIT was not able to engage in fights anymore. Actually, the real reason why this game was one-sided isn’t really because G2 played spectacularly, which they did, but really because Vitality played poorly. This is looking quite fearful for VIT, and it’s too late in the split for them to make it up with any wins.
MVP – Jankos
Even though PERKZ put out ‘200 years of damage’, he made several wrong plays that got him killed twice needlessly. In this game in particular, macro and playmaking made the game. Jankos was the crowd pick as MVP for his playmaking on Rek’sai. Overall, Jankos has shown to the league that his playmaking is fearful and he is stupidly stubborn on getting his team ahead early on. Big praise to his efforts on getting Caps ahead while still securing early Dragons.
Week 7
Week 6 had G2 against two of the lower-ranked teams, and they also brought back some of their old play styles that secured them their place at Worlds 2019. G2 ended with a 9-3 win/loss, but next week they will be up against the other two 1st place teams. Was this week too easy for G2 or are they actually back to form?
Can you really have too much fun? 🤔@G2Mikyx breaks down our 2-0 week at the #LEC with the help of @MastercardNexus! pic.twitter.com/CYn1vSh0tL
— G2 Esports (@G2esports) February 29, 2020
Vs Origen (9-3)
Tied for first place with G2, Origen showed strength in the split. Unlike G2, their losses were scattered and for different reasons. Last time they played against G2, they lost completely. It was a 21-9 kill game, and G2 took Dragon Soul too. It looked like they had no chance, but it was also Patch 10.2 and Wunder was playing Soraka and healed up the team before anyone could take out G2. This time Soraka is out of effectiveness and it’s a whole new patch. Notably, Erlend “Nukeduck” Holm and Elias “Upset” Lipp have made strong cases for their performances and made very risky plays that worked out.
Origen has only lost to other top teams, Fnatic and Misfits Gaming, so heading into Week 7, there is a real chance that Origen can defeat G2 and it will be an exciting game to watch.
Vs Fnatic (9-3)
Last time Fnatic played G2, the LEC ran the Caps vs Rekkles narrative and hyped it up. Caps beat out Rekkles and it looked like Fnatic was no comparison for G2 Esports. They’ve only lost to Origen in week 1, and beat them in week 5. And they’ve lost to G2 and MAD Lions. So, like Origen, they’ve only lost to top teams in the LEC. The difference is that G2 is a flexible team, while Origen is a consistently strong team, Fnatic plays by gaining a lead and snowballing until they win. If they can’t lead, they lose. The problem for Fnatic is that G2, even if they lose early game they have the ability to flip the game back to their side.
The main reason why Fnatic can gain leads is Gabriel “Bwipo” Rau. He has a strong and high level of strategical thinking and understands the game very well. He translates that well to plays and helps Fnatic get ahead. He may be the reason that G2 could lose this match this weekend.
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