Game of the Day: SK Gaming versus Elements (EU LCS Spring Split - Week 6 Day 2)

By Helmight

            Today’s game between front-runner SK Gaming and Summer Split champions Elements was supposed to be a good one. Elements had been struggling to find their stride in a league full of good contenders, but had finally broken their losing streak with a win yesterday over Meet Your Makers. Meanwhile, SK Gaming had been on a slide, losing 3 straight games after Fnatic handed them their first loss of the season. Both teams desperately needed a win here today- but only one could have it. As it turns out, the game wasn’t even close – SK Gaming fixed their mistakes from previous matches and annihilated Elements in a one-sided, 32-minute contest.

            SK was solidly in the lead of this game from square one. Though they were running a similar midgame-oriented team like the Copenhagen Wolves from yesterday’s article, they actually managed to make it work. FORGIVENGRE’s Graves was always an item and a half ahead of Rekkles’s Jinx and absolutely annihilated Elements in teamfights. On top of that, SK Gaming had finally learned from their mistakes in earlier games and were much better about playing the vision game. Though Elements still outwarded SK, it was by a much lower margin than normal and SK certainly played with more confidence thanks to their increased vision.

            With the vision advantage and a better team in the midgame, SK was able to shut Elements down out of almost every objective and keep their team alive through teamfights. It was a low-kill game, but that was because Elements wasn’t able to contest any of SK’s moves. On top of that, Elements squandered two to three ults on nRated multiple times throughout the early game in the hopes of getting picks, only to find their hopes dashed when nRated simply walked out of the fire – or when Svenskeren and Fox showed up to take a kill of their own. With Elements out of sorts and out of time, it was easy for SK to close out the game.

            The addition of Krepo looked to be a solid move on the part of Elements during yesterday’s game, but the LoL veteran wasn’t able to help his new team pull it out this time. Elements had picked and itemized solely for the lategame, leaving itself absolutely helpless against SK through the early- and midgame. Only two players on Elements managed to pick up kills throughout the game, and they looked weaker than they ever had before against the league leaders. One thing is for sure – something has to change within the team if they want to have a chance at making Worlds this year.

SK Gaming (W)					Elements (L)
Kills	Turrets		Gold		Kills	Turrets			Gold
11	8		57.9k		2	1			42.7k
Lineup
Position	Player		Champion	K/D/A	Position		Player			Champion	K/D/A
Top	fredy122		Morgana	2/1/6	Top	Kev1n				Maokai	0/2/1
Jungle	Svenskeren		Rengar	1/0/6	Jungle	Shook				Lee Sin	1/2/1
Mid	Fox		Zed	2/0/6	Mid	Froggen				Orianna	0/2/2
ADC	FORGIVENGRE		Graves	3/0/6	ADC	Rekkles				Jinx	0/2/1
Support	nRated		Annie	3/1/5	Support	Krepo				Thresh	1/3/1
Bans
Kassadin		Lissandra	Ahri		Nidalee			Lulu	Rek’Sai

For stats, builds, and other information, check out the match history. In the meantime, let us know what you thought of the game below!

Game of the Day: Fnatic versus SK Gaming (EU LCS Spring Split - Week 5 Day 1

By Helmight    

The first El Classico of the season was set to be a good one. SK Gaming had been rampaging through the EU LCS, crushing all of the competition and jumping out to an 8-0 win streak – just one short of Fnatic’s record. Fnatic meanwhile wasn’t quite as solid, but they had a respectable 6-2 record, which wasn’t bad for a team that had really only started playing together a month ago. While SK Gaming appeared to be in control of the game right from the start, Fnatic managed to fight back and eventually overcome their rivals in a 43-minute game.

            SK Gaming appeared to have Fnatic’s number right from the start. They’d studied Fnatic’s loss to the Copenhagen Wolves and had obviously caught on to their preferred strategies and champions, because the pick-and-ban phase went solidly in their favor. Huni lost his Lissandra, Reignover his Rengar, and YellOwStaR his Leona and Annie in quick succession. To compound matters for Fnatic, SK managed to avoid the lane swap, thus setting up a massively advantageous early game.

            Despite this, Fnatic managed to claw their way back into the game, blunting SK’s success with successful ganks from Reignover all across the map. However, it was really Huni and Steeelback who carried the rest of Fnatic to victory. Huni’s Rumble scored first blood after a gank from Reignover, then Teleported to a skirmish near mid for a double a few minutes later. Once Huni began falling off though, it was all on Fnatic’s marksman to pick up the slack. Steeelback did incredibly, staying safe on the backline of Fnatic and grabbing kill after kill in teamfights.

            SK Gaming meanwhile didn’t look prepared to face this Fnatic squad. They took away Fnatic’s favorite champions and set up a favorable early game, but they were seemingly caught by surprise when Fnatic didn’t roll over and die. Svenskeren was definitely a weak link for SK in this matchup. He had nothing more than a Skirmishers Sabre for the first twenty minutes of the game and his initiation frequently only caught one Fnatic member. Fredy meanwhile played well, but by choosing Renekton he shot his teamfighting potential right in the foot.

            There were a few close fights that went in SK’s favor, and for a while it looked as though they might be able to pull off the win. Fnatic however always stayed one step ahead, grabbing themselves a Baron at the 20-minute mark and pulling out an ace on SK Gaming fifteen minutes later. That led to an inhibitor, a fourth dragon, and a 10k gold lead for Fnatic. SK Gaming responded with a pick onto Reignover and attempted a Baron, but an insane 4v5 teamfight from Fnatic was enough to secure 4 kills in their favor and abort the Baron play. At that point the outcome of the game was no longer in doubt. After one more decisive teamfight, Fnatic pushed down the Nexus to end our first El Classico of the split. 

Fnatic (W)					SK Gaming (L)
Kills	Turrets		Gold		Kills	Turrets			Gold
29	10		82.6k		14	4			66.5k
Lineup
Position	Player		Champion	K/D/A	Position		Player			Champion	K/D/A
Top	Huni		Rumble	8/3/16	Top	fredy122				Renekton	2/8/7
Jungle	Reignover		Rek’Sai	2/4/15	Jungle	Svenskeren				Jarvan IV	1/8/9
Mid	Febiven		Zed	6/3/10	Mid	Fox				Ahri	3/4/7
ADC	Steeelback		Corki	11/1/8	ADC	FORG1VENGRE				Graves	7/3/7
Support	YellOwStaR		Thresh	2/3/18	Support	nRated				Annie	1/6/10
Bans
Kennen		Gnar	Kassadin		Lissandra			Rengar	Leona

 For stats, builds, and other information, visit lolesports.com. In the meantime, let us know what you thought of the game below!