The Recap: Europe Week 11

With one week to go, there were 16 games left with which the European LCS teams could climb their way to the top of the ladder. Would SK Gaming complete their ascent to the top slot? Would Alliance hold off the hungry pack? Would there be another massive tiebreaker like last split? Let’s find out.

Games of the Week

Fnatic vs. Alliance Coming into Super Week, Fnatic and Alliance were two of the three teams tied for first place in Europe making this game a pretty big deal. Right off the bat, it showed in their play. sOAZ stole Alliance’s blue buff the first time it spawned, and continued to put down jungle pressure throughout the game. In response, Alliance - and Tabzz' Lucian in particular - did their best to play aggressively and took fights wherever they could. Despite opening with a solid mid game lead and pushing into Fnatic’s base, Alliance was unable to deal with Cyanide’s Elise, giving up a key Baron and allowing Fnatic to take the Nexus. Gambit vs. Fnatic When Darien picked top lane Ryze, Fnatic responded with the rarely picked Yorick. His first appearance in the LCS this split was an impressive one, with sOAZ more than holding off Darien in the top lane, grabbing himself a solid farm lead as a result. From there, he ran rampant in teamfights, providing a massive meat shield for the Fnatic siege composition led by xPeke’s Nidalee and Rekkles’ Lucian. Gambit put up a valiant defense including an incredible Baron steal from EDward’s Leona and a Mega Inferno Bomb from Alex Ich's Ziggs, but Fnatic was just too far ahead for them to hold off the siege. Alliance vs. Copenhagen Wolves The Ryze picks continued, but this time, CowTard played him in the mid lane. Alliance knew exactly what they had to do to deal with him: kill him early, kill him often, and win the game before he reached his late game potential. Froggen did his best to shut him down with Zed, grabbing some early solo kills and delaying the big Ryze power spike. Meanwhile, Wickd’s Irelia was giving YoungBuck’s top Gragas some serious trouble. Thanks to excellent Dragon control by the Copenhagen Wolves, they never got too far behind despite going down in early kills and towers. The game turned when Nyph started landing Death Sentences, Froggen started picking up more and more kills, and Wickd relentlessly split pushed. In the end, Copenhagen Wolves simply got overwhelmed by the multi-tiered assault coming from Alliance, who secured the No. 3 spot in the standings.

Overachievers of the Week

Rekkles Fnatic may have only gone 2-2 over the course of Super Week, but Rekkles showed that he’s still one of the strongest players in the LCS. Across four games, he picked up 20 kills and 15 assists while only dying a miniscule 6 times. nRated nRated didn’t start the season terribly well, but he’s more than turned it on as the season has gone on. During Week 11, he showed how great he can truly be. In SK’s 4-0 week, he led the team to victory on multiple occasions, especially when allowed to pick his beloved Leona. He seemingly couldn’t miss Solar Flares, single-handedly turning teamfights around and allowing his team to pick off unsuspecting targets.

Surprise of the Week

No Tiebreakers in Europe Europe isn’t exactly known for being a simple region to run away with countless wins. In fact, the summer split of the 2013 season ended with a four-way tie for second place, forcing six additional games on the last day. In this split, everything fell into place, giving the EU a nice, clean leaderboard with which to set up the upcoming playoffs. sOAZ on Yorick Yorick made his first appearance this season in the hands of Fnatic’s sOAZ as a surprise counter-pick to Ryze in the top lane. As it turns out, he does extremely well against the rapid-speed caster. He was able to punish Ryze every time he came in to harass or pick up farm while simultaneously sustaining through the damage. And once the base siege began, he more than pulled his own weight by allowing his Ghouls to tank up turret hits and poke down opponents while they shoved in towards the Nexus.

Disappointment of the Week

Saying Goodbye to Supa Hot Crew and Millenium (Maybe) With the final standings set in stone, we know which two teams will be the first into the relegation tournament: Supa Hot Crew and Millenium. Now, this may not be the last we see of the two, as they’ll potentially be able to protect their spot in the LCS, but it’s still sad to see them drop to the bottom of the leaderboards.

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