Splyce shock Misfits to keep their EU LCS playoff hopes alive

Sunday’s EU LCS match between Misfits and Splyce was supposed to be a stomp. Splyce have struggled to pick up any wins at all this split. They did find some momentum in the last few weeks, but a blowout loss to G2 on Friday stopped them in their tracks.

Misfits, on the other hand, have looked like the best team in the region, combining an explosive early game with strong macro and map control. But neither quality showed in today’s match against Splyce.

The first thing that went wrong was Splyce getting all of their comfort champions, such as Zoe and Trundle. Needing a response, Misfits picked Ezreal for ADC Steven “Hans Sama” Liv. Ezreal is a fine champion, but he seemed like a bad fit for Misfits because of his delayed power spike.

Instead, Splyce took over. Jungler Andre “Xerxe” Dragomir outpathed Nubar “Maxlore” Sarafian and got first blood in the bot lane. And then Splyce did what they do best: Stall.

For 38 minutes, we hardly got a fight as both teams postured around objectives with no results. Splyce did pick up a slew of dragons, and their superior side lane control gave them big CS leads at key positions.

Misfits tried to respond around Baron, but their tepid baits—some within full vision of Splyce—led nowhere. Splyce support Raymond “kaSing” Tsang placed what he later called a “cheeky ward” that Misfits failed to sweep. It was reminiscent of Misfits’ loss in the Worlds quarterfinals last year to SK Telecom T1 when they gave up pressure around Baron in clutch moments.

With both teams just playing ARAM for more than 20 minutes, the match ground to a halt. Then Maxlore stepped forward and got caught, Splyce cleaned up the fight, and won the game, no Baron required.

This was a welcome surprise for Splyce, especially on mid laner Yasin “Nisqy” Dinçe’s birthday. They’re now 6-6 and right in the thick of the EU LCS playoff race.

Misfits are still leading the league in the standings, but it seems like they’ve ceded the “best team” moniker to Fnatic. They have to get back to the style that got them ahead in the Summer Split to continue winning.