G2 Esports have claimed the 2019 LEC Summer Split title with a victory over Fnatic. With today’s win, the team has locked down Europe’s first seed at the League of Legends World Championship later this year.
After losing to Invictus Gaming in the 2018 League of Legends World Championship finals, Fnatic parted ways with their star mid laner Rasmus “Caps” Winther, and the Danish player signed with G2. Fnatic struggled to find its footing following the loss of Caps, stumbling on an 0-4 start to the Spring Split. While Fnatic eventually regained ground, G2 went on to dethrone the former champs by the end of the split.
The two teams met in the second round of the Summer playoffs just last week. It seemed as though Fnatic would finally stand up to the giants after the team took the first two wins of the series. But G2 pried the victory out of Fnatic’s grasp, stealing away the final three matches and securing a reverse sweep for themselves.
Fnatic were left with a shot at redemption, however. The team faced off against Schalke 04 yesterday for the opportunity to rematch G2, and an easy 3-0 brought Fnatic back to the stage for today’s series.
The first game of today’s series set the tone of the matchup almost immediately, and the two teams broke out of the gate with fire in their eyes. A back-and-forth trading of kills in the bot lane resulted in a pace of over a kill per minute, and neither contender slowed by the end of the match. Fnatic’s objective control reigned supreme in the late game, however, and two early-game Mountain Drakes allowed the team to take Baron, followed shortly by G2’s base.
Unlike the first time the two teams met in the playoffs, G2 weren’t planning on giving Fnatic any hope of a clean sweep this time around. The samurais dominated game two to tie up the series, and both G2’s AD carry Luka “Perkz” Perković and jungler Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski reached their 1,000th kills across their careers.
After a grueling 40-minute game three, Fnatic regained the upper hand, but the series was tied once more by a G2 comeback in game four. The teams then stepped back on stage with “Silver Scrapes” sounding in the background.
G2 kicked off game five with kills in every lane and carried the advantage through the mid game. A favorable fight from Fnatic picked off three G2 players, however, and the team then rotated to Baron. But a second skirmish from G2 allowed the samurais to secure the buff for themselves. While pressuring Fnatic’s base, Perkz flashed in with a Syndra ultimate and allowed his team to secure a final fight before taking Fnatic’s nexus.
Both Fnatic and G2 locked down a spot on the World Championship stage prior to today’s series, but G2 now hold Europe’s first seed as the Summer Split champs. Fnatic will fight for the second seed during the LEC regional qualifier, which kicks off on Sept. 13.
Published: Sep 8, 2019 03:11 pm