Setting Expectations: A Look at the EU Semifinals
Ahead of the EU LCS Spring Split Semifinals this weekend, we sat down with Fnatic’s Deilor and Origen’s Mithy to see how they’re feeling before their biggest games this split.
[[{"fid":"22312","view_mode":"centered","fields":{"format":"centered","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":""},"tagName":"IMG","src":"http%3A//admin.prod.lolesports.com/s3/files/styles/centered/public/26252526385_89d397fe00_k.jpg%3Fitok%3DV3nbAGRy","type":"media","attributes":{"class":"media-element file-centered","height":"661","width":"992"}}]]
Fnatic vs G2 esports
Fnatic have an impressive history of Playoffs performances, but this is the first season they find themselves lower than Top 2 in the regular season. While their Quarterfinals performance against Vitality was clearly the product of hard work and preparation.
It's clear that not only has Fnatic’s understanding of Vitality improved, but also their understanding of how to play lane swaps, generate advantages, and utilize strong picks within the meta.All of Fnatic stepped up to make their win over Vitality possible, and while Fabian "Febiven" Diepstraten’s amazing plays on Lissandra earned him series MVP, Lee "Spirit" Da-yoon’s performance deserves some special attention, as his aggressive picks like Kindred and Graves were effective.The constant pressure and excellent mechanical play displayed by Spirit created opportunities for Fnatic left and right. When asked about Spirit’s sudden increase in performance, Fnatic’s coach, Luis “Deilor” Sevilla Deilor said, “It’s not something recent. It was a continuous effort and at some point it clicked.”
Deilor goes on to explain that Spirit’s “click” moment happened more than a month ago and the performance we saw from Spirit was not just a product of his individual improvement, but of Fnatic working better together as a whole.
While Fnatic have found an opportunity to improve on their regular season performance in the EU LCS Playoffs, the pressure on them is immense.
“It’s not just about the win, It’s about the legacy.” - Luis “Deilor” Sevilla
Since their arrival in the EU LCS, G2 Esports have looked nearly unstoppable. With many former top teams struggling in the early season, the surprisingly concrete roster G2 put together was able to demolish the competition, showcasing the shortest average win times in EU at 32:37.
With star aggressive players Luka "PerkZ" Perković and Jungler Kim "Trick" Gang-yun, G2 have held their place with ease, dropping only three games over the course of the regular season. Despite such an impressive first split from this rookie team, a lot of questions still remain.
A 1st place finish in the regular season doesn’t mean a perfect performance, and while G2’s macro game is in no way weak, other top teams have been able to punish their aggressive play with smart use of Teleport and vision control, resulting in 1-1 records against both H2K and Vitality.
G2’s final loss comes from their Week 6 match vs. Fnatic. However, Fnatic’s AD Carry Martin "Rekkles" Larsson mentioned on broadcast that he thought the win was due to the power of Kog’Maw, not to the power of his team. In this weekend's Semifinals rematch against Fnatic, G2 will have to temper their aggression and be quick to adapt to the format as the lineup has yet to play a Best of 5 series on the LCS stage together.
Changes in performance during a Best of 5 are incredibly common. For many veteran teams such as Origen or Fnatic, this often means immense improvement. But for younger rosters, the high demands of longer series' have often meant falling flat right when it matters most.
Before their win over Vitality it would have been easy to call the match in favor of G2, But now with Fnatic rising from the ashes of a 6th place finish, G2 will have to prepare for their hardest challenge yet.
[[{"fid":"22313","view_mode":"centered","fields":{"format":"centered","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":""},"tagName":"IMG","src":"http%3A//admin.prod.lolesports.com/s3/files/styles/centered/public/25864354751_725ddb3660_o.jpg%3Fitok%3Dq9uWjWcl","type":"media","attributes":{"class":"media-element file-centered","height":"661","width":"992"}}]]
H2K vs. Origen
Origen had some outstanding individual performances against the Unicorns of Love in the EU LCS Quarterfinals. They clearly outclassed the Unicorns in the first game of the series, with Tristan "PowerOfEvil" Schrage dominating the mid lane with his Orianna in Game 1, before initiating a series of dives in Game 2 with some confident Varus play. But later in Game 2, everything came crashing down for OG, falling behind as far as 5k gold in the mid game to UOL. Yet even with massive mid game deficits, OG still clawed their way back into the game with superior decision making.
PowerOfEvil's LeBlanc in Game 3 may have been a little unrefined, but top laner Paul "sOAZ" Boyer more than made up for it, acting as a fearless frontline initiator for the majority of the set. Despite the excitement of Origen after earning the 3-0, support Alfonso "mithy" Aguirre Rodriguez remained very level headed when asked about his upcoming Semifinals set against H2K.
“Games 2 and 3 we made too many mistakes,” Mithy remarked. ”But, if we play a little better than we did in game 1, and make less individual mistakes, we can take the set. It will be back and forth, but I believe we can beat H2K.”
In terms of individual skill, there aren’t massive differences between H2K and Origen. This set may come down to the difference in midlaners. Yoo "Ryu" Sang-ook has proven himself to be an excellent option for sidelane pressure, consistently forcing advantages with smart use of teleport, flanking in teamfights and forcing bad plays out of the opposing team. PowerOfEvil is an incredibly gifted mechanical laner but has yet to show any confidence in the side lanes, a potentially massive weakness against the macro masters, H2K. Origen’s substitute mid laner Enrique "xPeke" Cedeño Martínez, could make up for this weakness but Origen has yet to utilize the unique option of swapping players between game. H2K, remain the clear favorites as their mastery of map play is without a doubt the strongest in Europe and while Origen may be ready to fight tooth and nail, H2K will be ready to blunt every blow.
Each of these teams have punched their ticket to Rotterdam, but for some it will be bittersweet as they battle it out for 3rd place. Only two teams will make it to the finals for one last set to decide who will be crowned kings of the European LCS.
Tune in to watch H2K vs Origen at 5pm CEST on Saturday and Fnatic vs G2 Esports at 5pm CEST on Sunday.
