

Vitality 1 - Unicorns of Love 0

Vitality easily handled and outmatched Unicorns of Love to open Saturday's slate in the European League of Legends Championship Series. Editor's Picks The 2018 League of Legends Hub

While many teams in Europe have gravitated to stalling until the late game to win through explosive teamfighting, Vitality bucked the trend in thrilling fashion during this outing. Vitality jumped out a lead immediately, securing a first blood just after two minutes, and simply never looked back. Unicorns of Love tried to battle back with a 1-vs-1 outplay by mid laner Fabian "Exileh" Schubert's Zoe onto Vitality mid laner Daniele "Jiizuké" di Mauro's Malzahar, but the moment was short-lived. Jiizuké shook off the death, showing why he's widely considered the best mid laner in EU at the moment by inexplicably surviving a 1-vs-2 inside of UoL's base long enough for top laner Lucas "Cabochard" Simon-Meslet to come down with his Jax and clean up the kills.

UoL again tried to mount some sort of comeback, garnering for the Baron close to the 30-minute mark, but Vitality again shut it down by walking in and easily securing the objective for itself. Simultaneously, Cabochard and Jiizuké were already backdooring the UoL base to quickly wrap up the win in just under 30 minutes.

While UoL certainly put up more of a fight than many were expecting from a one-win team, this series was just an example of how far this team has fallen. It never seemed able to counter or even slow down a major push from Vitality, leaving the team floundering whenever Vitality turned up the heat. Vitality, on the other hand, continues to show vast improvements with Jiizuké leading the way in the mid lane. This success of this team begs the question of whether the reign of G2 Esports (2-3) will come to an end sooner rather than later.

Vitality will look to continue paddings its lead atop the standings against Team ROCCAT at 1 p.m. ET next Friday, while Unicorns of Love will try for win number two against Fnatic at 3 p.m. ET later the same day.

--Wyatt Donigan



Schalke 04 1 - Giants 0

FC Schalke 04 teamfought its way to a dominant victory over Giants Gaming on Saturday in the European League of Legends Championship Series.

The contrast between the two team's styles was interesting to say the least. While Schalke seemed bent on teamfighting and securing picks from start to finish, Giants was content to give up the kills while picking up objectives aplenty in an effort to earn the win.

At first, Giants managed to grab an early lead thanks to a pair of turrets prior to the 10-minute mark, counteracting the first few kills from Schalke. As the game progressed, however, the picks from Schalke began to pile up. With both mid laner Erlend "Nukeducks" Våtevik Holm's Galio and AD carry Elias "Upset" Lipp's Twitch pouring on the damage, it wasn't long before Schalke evened up, and eventually surpassed, the gold lead Giants had built. Giants, ever steadfast in its strategy, tried to wrestle control of the game with a last-ditch Baron attempt, but Schalke rushed in to steal it away. With the Baron buff in hand, it wasn't long before Schalke stormed in and laid waste to Giants' base to pick up the big win.

Schalke's win is surely a confidence booster to a team that has been struggling to find its place in the EU LCS this split. The way the team waded through teamfight after teamfight to take down a Giants team that is considered as one of the best in EU at the moment was a testament to the true potential Schalke is capable of. At the same time, Giants will need to re-evaluate its gameplan, as the total commitment to macro level play to the detriment of its teamfighting was ultimately the team's downfall.

Giants will hope to turn things around against Misfits at 2 p.m. ET next Friday, while Schalke 04 will try and get above .500 against G2 Esports later that day at 4 p.m. ET.

--Wyatt Donigan



Fnatic 1 - ROCCAT 0

Fnatic cruised to an easy victory over Team ROCCAT on Saturday in the European League of Legends Championship Series.

For as timid as both teams looked in the early moments of this game, it's amazing how quickly things snowballed out of control for ROCCAT. After support Tore "Norskeren" Hoel Eilertsen's Shen picked up first blood on Fnatic mid laner Rasmus "Caps" Winther's Aurelion Sol, ROCCAT only managed to secure two more kills throughout the rest of the 30-plus minutes of gametime. Caps easily rebounded from the early death to start roaming the map with reckless abandon. To ROCCAT's credit, it kept the game pretty much even in the face of Caps' strong play. Until about 17 minutes in, that is. At that point, Fnatic picked up speed and turned the game into a stomp of epic proportions.

Leading the way for Fnatic, to the surprise of no one, was Martin "Rekkles" Larsson and his Tristana. While the perennial AD carry may have a different lane partner in Zdravets "Hylissang" Iliev Galabov, Rekkles continues to be the lifeblood of Fnatic. As soon as he decided it was time to take over, he did so with gusto. In just about every teamfight in the final 20 minutes of the game, Rekkles was pouring on damage in droves, leaving ROCCAT to run for cover under the relentless attack. Cover was rarely found, as Rekkles ended the game with a flawless 8/0/8 KDA (kills/deaths/assists) while doling out a game-high 26,300 damage. With Rekkles playing at such a high level, in conjunction with Caps' own 6/1/6 KDA, there was simply no way for ROCCAT to stop the bleeding in this one-sided loss.

Fnatic will now look towards a matchup with Unicorns of Loves at 3 p.m. ET next Friday, while ROCCAT will battle with Vitality earlier in the day at 1 p.m. ET.

--Wyatt Donigan



G2 Esports 1 - H2k Gaming 0

G2 Esports blitzed through H2k on Saturday in the European League of Legends Championship Series in Berlin, Germany.

G2 Esports made winning over H2k (1-5) look easy, only giving up one kill for the entire game when it was already too late for H2k to make a comeback. H2k's decision to focus on the game scaling backfired tremendously, as G2 jungler Marcin "Jankos" Jankowski made his presence felt throughout the early game, picking up first blood at 11 minutes and always showing up wherever H2k wanted to try and make a play. The early game was slow and methodical as G2 rotated around the map and took down towers, abusing its earlier power spikes, but G2 went full-throttle in the mid game.

After a pick in the mid lane freed up a 21-minute Baron for G2, there was nothing H2k could do to stop the reigning kings of Europe. G2 had everything go right this game, with clean rotations, good understanding of how to play a 1-3-1 splitpush, and solid vision control. After forcing H2k into its base with the first Baron buff empowered push, G2's second Baron at 30 minutes all but ensured a victory, adding to an already impressive 10,000-gold lead by the 26-minute mark. Choking H2k out of the map, G2 made one final push through H2k's base, sweeping through H2k's weak defenses to put the finishing touches on a commanding 32-minute win.

H2k will look to bounce back on Friday when it faces Splyce at 12 p.m ET, while G2 Esports prepares to take on Schalke 04 on Friday at 4 p.m ET.

--Noah Waltzer



Misfits Gaming vs Splyce - recap coming soon