Unicorns of Love 1, H2k 0
Unicorns of Love dominated H2k to claim a swift victory during Week 9 of the European League of Legends Championship Series Summer Split in Berlin.
Moving into the game between H2k (1-16) and Unicorns of Love (6-11) expectations were rather low, with both teams already having been eliminated from playoff contention. As a result, each team picked champions that were questionable, with Unicorns of Love opting for AP Malphite in the top lane, and H2k placing Patrik "Sheriff" Jírů on Vayne. Unfortunately, only one of these champions would find any sort of success.
Throughout the entire game, it was clear that Unicorns of Love was simply a better team than H2k. Despite H2k having a decent start with the team's jungler finding a couple of kills early on, the rest of the team didn't find any sort of success. Unicorns of Love quickly picked up the pace of the game, forcing skirmishes constantly to stop H2k from scaling up. This worked out perfectly, putting the team firmly in the driver's seat early on.
Although H2k was able to slow things down to find an opening of its own during the mid game, the team simply couldn't capitalize. Forcing a fight that resulted in a quick kill, the team got over-ambitious, chasing too far into enemy territory. This allowed Unicorns of Love to react and flip the fight on its head, picking up multiple kills and quickly gaining full control of the game once more.
With a 6,000-gold lead, Unicorns of Love quickly took a 20-minute Baron and a teamfight, quickly picking up a number of kills, allowing the team to easily crack open the enemy base. On the defense, H2k felt the pain of not having reliable engage or wave clear options, once again being forced to react to the enemy team's engagements. Unfortunately, the team was so far behind that the only reaction it had was to die, giving Unicorns of Love free reign of the base, ultimately handing Unicorns of Love a 25-minute victory.
Unicorns of Love will try to end the team's split on a high note as it takes on Fnatic at 2 p.m. ET on Saturday while H2k will attempt to end the split with more than a single win as it moves into the team's final match, taking on FC Schalke 04 earlier in the day at 12 p.m. ET.
Schalke 04 1, Splyce 0
Both Schalke 04 (12-5) and Splyce (8-9) started things off with confidence, both teams having already qualified for playoffs. Despite this, each team was desperate for a win, looking to increase its seeding in an attempt to have an easier matchup in the first round.
The early game was rather uneventful, with both teams playing calm and collected in order to avoid making any mistakes that would put the team at a large disadvantage. This resulted in nearly breaking the record for the slowest first blood. Once that happened, the pace picked up, as both teams forced fights whenever possible in a constant race to find an opening.
Once the teams got aggressive, the gold still remained even for the majority of the match as they jockeyed for position in a back-and-forth mid game. The turning point came in a series of fights that saw objectives being traded, starting with a Baron and ending with an Elder Dragon. Unfortunately, Splyce was unable to find an opening in either of these situations.
For Schalke 04, the standout player was AD Carry Elias "Upset" Lipp. Coming up big in a teamfight at Baron, he was able to quickly eliminate the opposing AD Carry and allow his team to save several buffs and begin marching towards the enemy base. Even as his team fell in fights, Upset kept himself healthy, dealing enough damage to become the catalyst for his team's offense. This effort was rewarded generously, with his team being allowed to steal an Elder Dragon in a 4-vs-5 scenario off the back of Upset's damage.
Schalke 04 quickly made a decision with the Elder Dragon, moving aggressively into the enemy base to force a final teamfight at the 40-minute mark. With a confident play resulting in the teamfight victory, the team quickly closed out the game, keeping hope alive for a playoff bye.
Schalke 04 will attempt to secure the No. 1 seed when it takes on H2k Saturday at 12 p.m. ET while Splyce will look to end the regular split on a high note as it takes on Giants earlier in the day at 11 a.m. ET.
G2 1, Giants 0
Although the teams were at drastically different places in the standings, with G2 Esports having secured a spot in playoffs and Giants (5-12) already being eliminated, the teams seemed relatively equal during the early stages of the game. G2 Esports (12-5) quickly found first blood, but this didn't cause Giants to falter or slow down, leading to a dead-even game for the majority of the early stages.
With both teams looking for proactive plays, the team lower in the standings was able to find openings to bring an advantage over G2 Esports. After taking a several-thousand gold lead, it seemed as though Giants would be able to claim victory. That was the case until the carries of G2 Esports began to step up. Notably, Luka "Perkz" Perković had no problem using Zoe to great success, constantly catching out key members of the enemy team to bring his team back into the driver's seat.
Once ahead, G2 Esports proved why it was a playoff-caliber team, taking even the smallest of openings and running with them. The mid game saw a drastic shift as the once-struggling G2 began making proactive plays of its own. The shift was too much for Giants to handle, as the team began conceding map pressure.
The increase in pressure caused Giants to get desperate, overextending and ultimately giving up a Baron. This was all the enemy team needed to begin closing things out as it moved through Giants' side of the map uncontested, quickly making moves to close out the game. Although Giants was able to get an inhibitor during the process, that was the extent of the team's success as it failed to react to back-to-back teamfights, giving G2 the chance to close out the game with ease.
G2 Esports will look to fight for the No. 1 seed as it takes on Vitality on Saturday at 3 p.m. ET while Giants will attempt to end its split on a positive note as it takes on Splyce earlier in the day at 11 a.m. ET.
Fnatic 1, ROCCAT 0
ROCCAT started off by jumping into the driver's seat against Fnatic (13-4) with superior macro play. Though the team found itself struggling to keep up with Fnatic's kill count, it had no problem taking down towers and finding shutdowns that gave it (6-11) a sizeable gold lead. This resulted in the team taking control of the map and objectives, seemingly poised to hand Fnatic a loss.
Fnatic showed its perseverance against ROCCAT, quickly finding plays after being in a large hole. Despite the team's disadvantage, it never gave up, opting to use the seemingly endless engage options to force skirmishes time and again. ROCCAT seemed unprepared, allowing Fnatic to consistently take these fights time and again. Although ROCCAT began to get a read on the enemy team, eventually finding a dominant teamfight of its own, the results came too little too late. With no neutral objectives standing, the team could do little more than wait. Fnatic remained calm and collected after respawning to close out the game in 36 minutes.
Fnatic's strongest player in the victory was by far mid laner Rasmus "Caps" Winther, who had an amazing showing on Leblanc.
Fnatic will be able to secure the top seed should the team win its next match against Unicorns of Love on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET, while ROCCAT have no chance at playoffs and will look towards its final match against Misfits earlier in the day at 1 p.m. ET.
Vitality 1, Misfits 0
Vitality (11-6) played major spoiler, eliminating Misfits (11-6) from the battle for first place. To add insult to injury, Vitality opted to deny Misfits' carry Steven "Hans Sama" Liv his pocket pick Draven, instead taking it for Amadeu "Attila" Carvalho who picked up an early kill and never slowed down.
Despite having an extremely strong start to the first half of the split, Misfits' recent struggles once again emerged as the team could not find any sort of opening against Vitality. Lacking a cohesive composition, the team seemed unsure of how to play around Vitality's aggressive movement. Trying repeatedly, Misfits could not find a way onto the enemy Leblanc or Draven, allowing Vitality to take over the game.
Once ahead, Vitality played decisive, forcing skirmishes and objectives left and right, which gave Misfits unfavorable trades. Vitality played perfectly around its fed carry, optimizing positioning in teamfights to allow him to deal uncontested damage time and again. Though Misfits attempted to focus him down, the team could never hit its crowd control, allowing Vitality to simply run away with the game.
Though Misfits found a single opportunity to engage onto the enemy team, it got too antsy and blew all of its crowd control on the enemy support, resulting in yet another teamfight defeat. Vitality took the win and quickly picked up Baron, giving the team the last tool it needed to close out the game. With the buff, Vitality quickly defeated Misfits, shutting the team out of the battle for the top spot moving into playoffs.
Misfits will look to bounce back from the loss and head into playoffs with a victory as it takes on ROCCAT Saturday at 1 p.m. ET while Vitality will aim to play spoiler in the next game against G2 Esports at 2 p.m. ET.