It just wouldn’t be EU without multiple teams tied for each place, big upsets, and teams playing off-meta picks in order to keep their opponents (and us!) guessing. What a week it’s been. Alliance took down strong leaders Fnatic, while Gambit’s surprise loss to Supa Hot Crew resulted in a three-way tie for first place. Below them, just a single win separates the remaining five teams!

Thursday February 13th 6pm

(4 – 6) SK Gaming vs Fnatic (7 – 3)

SK only had a single game last week, which resulted in a loss against Copenhagen Wolves. CandyPanda brought out Graves for the first time this split and was almost able to pick up first blood on Forg1ven’s Caitlyn as Copenhagen Wolves grouped for dragon. However Amazing and Unlimited, with the help of the Mega Inferno Bomb coming from cowTard’s Ziggs, were able to turn the fight around for a double kill on the bot lane duo.

Later in the game Amazing on Lee Sin was able to kick Svenskeren’s Wukong away from the team time after time and helped nullify the engages from SK Gaming as the Wolves using their superior poke to cause havoc for SK. They put up a valiant effort defending their base despite having 2 inhibitors down, however their first team fight outside of their own base cost them 4 deaths for none and the Wolves pushed for the game.

Fnatic are having a mid-season blip and have lost 3 games in the past 2 weeks despite winning 7 in a row before that. There has been a lot of criticism laid on sOAZ recently and I think it’s unfair despite him giving up an uncharacteristic kill in top lane against Xaxus’ Renekton.

ROCCAT were able to use their superior brand of objective control to build a gold lead and even took a 24 minute Baron. Fnatic will want two wins this week in order to regain their confidence and, having beaten SK convincingly in week 1 of the Spring Split, this might be the match-up they need to get back to their winning ways. Cyanide needs to be careful as his predictable pattern of attempting to steal Baron over the wall was capitalised on by both teams last week costing him his life and a shot at stealing Baron.

Lane to Watch: Bot: CandyPanda & nRated vs Rekkles & YellowstaR

(4 – 6) CWolves vs Supa Hot Crew (4 – 6)

Copenhagen Wolves’ victory last week against SK gaming ended their 4 game losing streak to bring them to 4-5 in the standings. cowTard was able to pick up first blood with a cross map Ziggs ultimate on his way to a 5/2/4 game. However Diamondprox’s concentrated his ganks on the duo lane and this allowed him to get fed early and he snowballed this into the game win.

Youngbuck, on Renekton, looked slightly out of sync with the rest of the team frequently ended up alone against Genja, whose superior farm and kills allowed him to duel the croc from very early on in the game.

Supa Hot Crew’s victory against Gambit was huge for the team. Impaler’s gank on Alex Ich to secure first blood after he flashed to attempt a kill on Moopz’s Kayle was sublime and set the tone for the early game. SHC roamed as a 3 man unit and even managed to kill Diamondprox’s Eve despite landing a 3 man ult, and the shield that came with it, before cleaning up Alex and forcing Darien to flash into the jungle.

Without the early power Diamond’s influence on the game was minimal and he was focused repeatedly by SHC in order to stop any possible come back. Migxa lands the hook of the season on to Alex in order to secure SHC’s 8th kill of the game and SHC just pile on more pressure taking the first baron on 22 minutes. A final team fight in Gambit’s base ends with a 3-0 and they take down the nexus.

Lane to Watch: Bot: Forg1ven & Unlimited vs MrRalleZ & Migxa

(7 – 3) ROCCAT vs Alliance (4 – 6)

ROCCAT’s week 4 sees them able to join the EU elite on a 7-3 record with victories over Millenium and a faltering Fnatic. Their objective control against Fnatic was excellent and they choked the life out of the European champions before picking up the game win. They started a little shakey against Millenium, as Kerp’s Gragas went man mode under the turret to pick up first blood against Overpow.

ROCCAT’s superior teamfighting swayed the game back in their favour and they managed to make pick after pick on Millenium even resulting in a 4-0 and Baron after killing Araneae. I think teams are still missing out on banning VandeR’s Thresh as he has such a huge impact in the game. Teamfight after teamfight were started after a Death Sentence lands on a key member of the team and ROCCAT’s synergy bursts them down.

Alliance continued their trend of only winning on even-numbered weeks as they took Fnatic apart with great synergy between Froggen and the rest of the team. Nyph went back to Leona, something I recommended last week, and his engagement on top of Shook’s Grand Skyfalls allowed Alliance to repeatedly focus xPeke and take him out of teamfights.

Lane to Watch: Mid: Overpow vs Froggen

(7 – 3) Gambit Gaming – Millenium (3 – 7)

Gambit continue to surprise with their picks as we saw the EU LCS’ first Alistar and Varus building on Alex Ich’s Lulu from last week. However their picks let them down this week, as Diamond said, and they were beaten for the first time since week 2. Their game against the Copenhagen Wolves was classic Gambit Gaming with Diamond picking up Eve and grabbing first blood and first dragon after CW’s Amazing appears top to help push the tower.

However we finally saw some weakness in the Russian armour and SHC were able to expose Eve’s weak early game by grouping for the second red buff and picking up two kills. Gambit will look to get back to their winning ways in short order but their loss to SHC last week has proven that no team can be truly underestimated.

Millenium’s last week wasn’t ideal after their victory at IEM Sao Paulo. They went 1-2, losing to ROCCAT and Alliance, but managed to pick up a victory against SHC. They started their games with great confidence, especially Kerp pulling off first blood on Overpow under the inner mid lane tower, but they weren’t able to close out the games. Kerp’s roaming top helped kev1n against Mimer’s Dr Mundo while Araneae’s aggression against the bot lane allowed Creaton to get fed picking up kills on Migxa and MrRalleZ. Their game against Alliance started so well however Araneae’s overly aggressive playstyle started to run out of steam after Alliance started to get their co-ordination together and focus him when he picked on Shook.

I can see LeBlanc being banned against Kerp however he was kept quiet by Froggen’s Kayle, a champion we have seen Alex have some success on. Millenium are currently the only team that hasn’t beaten one of the top three teams, SK and CW have beaten ROCCAT, Alliance beat Fnatic last week and SHC took down Gambit. However with two of those victories occurring last week Gambit can’t afford to give Millenium any breathing room.

Lane to watch: Jungle: Diamond vs Araneae

Friday February 14th 4pm – NOTE THE EARLY START TIME

(4 – 6) Alliance vs Supa Hot Crew (4 – 6)

Both teams come into this game after big wins last week against top 3 teams however their inconsitencies against teams around them have cost them a higher position in the table. Alliance are still having teething problems but when Froggen gets rolling the entire team follows him. I feel that they need to increase the protection Shook gets in the jungle as he is being focused by teams, including Araneae’s Vi going looking for Shook’s Elise on more than one occassion last week.

Supa Hot Crew’s domination of Gambit Gaming was the result of great co-ordination between their top lane, jungler and mid player. Moopz struggled in lane slightly against Alex Ich but responded well in order to pick up kills on Darien and Alex later in the game. Mimer was a beast on Renekton going 3/0/2 by 20 minutes and even picking up a solo kill on Diamond’s Eve as he attempted to defend top tower.

Lane to watch: Mid: Froggen vs Moopz

(7 – 3) Fnatic vs Millenium (3 – 7)

Another top of the table, well equal top in this case, against bottom of the table clash. Both teams have points to prove this week with Millenium’s play against ROCCAT and Alliance not picking up the results they deserved. They are still struggling to close out games after strong starts, especially with Kerp’s roaming picking up kills in the bot lane against ROCCAT, and they gave up 3-4 unnecessary kills, on top of a baron, at 24 minutes after Araneae was caught out of position. There are small mistakes to iron out and they need to be careful in the mid game.

Fnatic shouldn’t be counted out just yet but their week 1 game against Millenium was a lot closer than they would’ve liked it to be. I’d like to see Rekkles get back on to Jinx, a champion he didn’t pick up in their three previous losses, as he is able to dominate the bot lane and, along with YellowstaR’s aggressive initiation, snowball this to a strong mid game advantage so they can contest dragons and turrets.

Lane to watch: Mid: xPeke vs Kerp

(4 – 6) CWolves vs ROCCAT (7 – 3)

Copenhagen Wolves managed to inflict ROCCAT’s first loss in the EU LCS back in week one and I think it was partly due to the Thresh ban against Vander. When not running Pantheon ROCCAT rarely run a hard engage comp that isn’t focused on getting picks through Vander on Thresh, or potentially Morgana. However ROCCAT have learnt so much since their last match against the Wolves and will be looking to bring all of that to bear against them.

Credit is due for Amazing after his game against SK last week. He was involved in 10 of their 11 kills and his kicks on Svenskeren’s Wukong to keep him away from the backline denied SK any chance of a comeback as they couldn’t combo their CC.

Lane to watch: Jungle: Amazing vs Jankos

(4 – 6) SK Gaming vs Gambit Gaming (7 – 3)

SK’s last game against Gambit Gaming came in week 2. Both teams pulled out interesting team comps with SK running Amumu in his only game in the EU LCS so far and also pulled out Tristana top as the answer to Darien’s Dr Mundo. However their team lacked a tanky front line as Svenskeren died 3 times in the first half an hour and Alex could easily pick off kev1n’s Tristana. SK will be looking for a less confusing team comp coming into this game and their bot lane could once again cause problems for Edward and Genja.

Gambit Gaming also pulled some off meta picks with Diamond’s Zed Jungle and Edward’s Kennen support. Genja was able to get fed on Jinx and went on a rampage picking up a 17 KDA after grabbing 10 kills including a fountain dive on nRated’s Blitzcrank. Edward’s Kennen was able to duel CandyPanda’s Ezrael in the later stages off the game, even managing to dodge his ult with his lightning rush.

Lane to watch: Bot: CandyPanda & nRated vsGenja & Edward

Can Alliance break their curse of losing all of their games on odd numbered weeks? Can Millenium and SK Gaming shut down the Russian powerhouse or does Edward and co. have a few picks up their sleeves? Will we see another three and four way tie? Tune in on Thursday and Friday at lolesports.com for all of the action.