Fnatic now 0-4 following a loss to Schalke 04. SK, G2 and Splyce take down exceL, Rogue and Origen while Vitality handles Misfits its first defeat of the 2019 LEC spring split
All Day 4 2019 LEC Spring Matches Recap
The dominant Fnatic from 2018 is a distant memory. The team that made it to the World Championship finals is 0-4 to start the 2019 LEC spring split following its worst loss so far. In a rematch of last summer’s final, FC Schalke 04 stomped the reigning champions as superstar AD carry Martin “Rekkles” Larsson held a 0/6/0 KDA at one point.
SK Gaming, the team responsible for kicking off Fnatic’s slide, snapped its own losing streak with a win over 2019 LEC newcomers exceL.
Speaking of the 2019 LEC newcomers, Team Rogue is still chasing after its first ever win in the championship. As expected, G2 Esports scored an easy win to remain the only undefeated team at the end of week 2.
Splyce defeated Origen and improved its overall record to 3-1. As it happens every year, it’s easy to overlook this team. But make no mistake. Splyce is right up there competing with the best.
Vitality closed out the second week of competition with a convincing win over the superteam of Misfits Gaming. Until now the only undefeated team along with G2. Vitality’s shaky performance from week 1 is already behind, and the bees look more dangerous than ever.
- More: Day 1 LEC Matches Recap
FNC vs S04
The rematch of last summer split’s finals ended in disappointment for those who were expecting a closely-fought match. Schalke’s strategy became clear from the get-go: play through its bottom lane. Relying on rising star AD carry Elias “Upset” Lipp (Kai’sa) and former All-Star support Lee “IgNar” Dong-geun (Thresh). S04 painted a target on Rekkles’ back. Not even the signature Sivir pick helped his case.
Jonas “Memento” Elmarghichi (Sejuani) kicked off the festivities with a gank through the lane, splitting Rekkles from support Zdravets “Hylissang” Galabov (Braum) as Upset secured the first kill. Rekkles had barely made his way back when IgNar landed a perfect hook onto the AD carry while Hylissang placed a ward. IgNar continued to hit his Death Sentences and Memento set up his campsite around the bottom side of the map as Upset picked Rekkles apart.
At this point Fnatic looked completely lost as S04 found plenty of pickoffs. The reigning European champions finally got something as Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen secured a crucial shutdown on Upset. Rookie Tim “Nemesis” Lipovšek (Cassiopeia) played a key role with a double kill, holding Shalke back for an instant.
Schalke made the Baron call at the 29 minute mark and secured the buff uncontested. The first powerplay exposed Fnatic’s base, but Rekkles wave clearing kept his team alive. S04 were more than happy to sit back and wait for the second Baron buff, which the team again secured uncontested. This time there was absolutely nothing Fnatic could do to stop the more powerful second buff. Andrei “Odoamne” Pascu (Kennen) made his way to Fnatic’s backline and scored an easy triple kill as his team destroyed the Nexus to complete the stomp.
- More: Day 2 LEC Matches Recap
SK vs XL
As exceL opted for a jungle Karthus, SK’s Oskar “Selfmade” Boderek went with an early game-strong champion in Gragas. With a top lane gank, SK’s jungler left the first kill for Jorge “Werlyb” Casanovas (Urgot). SK then moved its focus to the bottom side of the map, rotating four players to take down the first turret.
With a superior macro game, SK followed that by pushing exceL back, destroying the outer turrets. Following a pickoff on support Raymond “kaSing” Tsang (Rakan), the team created the opening to go for the Baron buff. Fabian “Exile” Schubert’s (Zoe) poke kept SK at bay, but a bad engage by kaSing gifted the man advantage to the German team. Werlyb secured a kill on Exile to stop exceL’s poke, giving SK a clean path towards the Nexus as the team ended the match in 28 minutes.
- More: Day 3 LEC Matches Recap
G2 vs RGE
G2 continues to showcase its wide champion pool as Martin “Wunder” Hansen locked in a top lane Karma. While jungler Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski brought Ivern back to the professional scene. Rogue replied with a mid lane Riven for Chres “Sencux” Laursen while jungler Mateusz “Kikis” Szkudlarek locked in Karthus. Luka “Perkz” Perkovic (Xayah) and Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle (Rakan) won a 2-on-2 trade against Rogue’s bottom lane. The G2 support took down former G2 player Kim “Wadid” Bae-in for the first blood.
G2 dominated the actions from start to finish, taking down the bottom lane turret and immediately following that with a lane swap. Using the Rift Herald, the superteam made it all the way to Rogue’s top side inhibitor turret.
GGWP @Rogue!
We secure ANOTHER victory to move onto 4-0 in the #LEC, LETS GO! 💪 pic.twitter.com/AYcLHJFM53
— G2 Esports (@G2esports) January 26, 2019
At the 21 minute mark, with the Baron already up, G2 found a good mid lane teamfight and Perkz scored a triple kill. With the three lanes pushing in, G2 ignored the Baron and went straight towards Rogue’s base. In just over 23 minutes, Rogue’s Nexus was already down as G2 improved to 4-0.
- Other: Splyce UNCOVERED
SPY vs OG
Committing five players to a top lane dive, Splyce walked away with the first blood following a well-executed dive on Barney “Alphari” Morris (Irelia). Jonas “Kold” Andersen (Xin Zhao) showed up too little too late for the counter gank and suffered the same fate as Alphari at the 2019 LEC.
Things continued to work well for Splyce as Origen tried to secure the Rift Herald with a lane swap only for Andrei “Xerxe” Dragomir to steal it. Splyce collapsed onto their opponents and added three more kills to the count while also destroying OG’s outer turret for the bonus gold.
Origen’s first kill of the game went to Kold as the team committed four players to a pickoff on Tamás “Vizicsacsi” Kiss (Urgot). The play created a huge opening for Splyce to release the Herald down the mid lane. The team once again put its macro game on display as OG danced to Splyce’s tune. At the 22 minute mark, Splyce sneaked into the Baron pit as Origen had no vision around it, easily securing the objective. SPY, meanwhile, was already pushing towards the inhibitors before overextending around the top side, which allowed OG to stall with two kills.
Xerxe and Kasper “Kobbe” Kobberup (Kai’sa) picked off Erlend “Nukeduck” Holm (Ryze) and went straight for a second Baron buff. The second push was naturally much more effective as Splyce nearly scored an ace to finish the game in 31 minutes.
MSF vs VIT
The match of the week was a much anticipated clash between superteam Misfits Gaming and Vitality. Forty minutes into the game, a terrible play by Jakub “Jactroll” Skurzyński (Gragas) resulted in an easy first kill for Misfits. The Vitality support went for a jungle invasion while trying to secure some vision only to run straight into four Misfits players. Nubar “Maxlore” Sarafian (Karthus) ended up with the kill.
Much like the previous matches, Misfits dominated the early game and looked set for another easy win. Vitality meanwhile tried to play through its bottom lane by snowballing AD carry Amadeu “Attila” Carvalho (Draven). The teams traded turrets as Misfits secured the additional gold by taking down Vitality’s top side tower.
VIT played to its strengths and decided to force teamfights as Misfits’ lack of coordination became apparent. Vitality won one skirmish after another to build a solid gold lead. The team made a bold Baron call at the 20 minute mark as Misfits had no way to contest it. With a furious push, Vitality had already opened the three inhibitors only 25 minutes into the game while holding a 10,000 gold lead. Misfits forced one final desperate engage which Vitality easily turned around to secure four kills and the game at the 2019 LEC.
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