The Recap: EU LCS Week 5
With a rabid London crowd going wild for every ward kill and team fight, the always hard-fought EU LCS finally started to separate into two camps: Alliance, and Everyone Else.
GAMES OF THE WEEK
Supa Hot Crew vs. Copenhagen Wolves
Do you like base races? Because if you do, then Supa Hot Crew's game against the Copenhagen Wolves was easily the game of the week. Supa Hot Crew are involved in some tight midfield competition with Fnatic, Millenium, and ROCCAT, and they could not afford to drop a game to the Wolves. But the Wolves were playing some of their best games this weekend, and they slowly pushed SHC into their own base and mounted an effective siege. But Mimer saved Supa Hot Crew's day with a 13/2/5 Kayle, getting a triple in the decisive engagement in front of their mid inhibitor. But even as SHC drove ahead for the victory, Woolite sneaked into their base and tried to steal the win. It very nearly worked, but Mimer made one last save as he instinctively went back home to protect the Nexus. With their base trade denied, the Wolves lost another heart-breaker to Supa Hot Crew.
Fnatic vs. Millenium
Fnatic needed a win here, but they didn't give Kottenx's Evelynn the respect she deserved, letting Millenium get exactly the ganky composition they wanted. That set them up for a chaotic, fast-paced game where Fnatic would have to have eyes in the back of their head in order to avoid Millenium's opportunistic picks. Even though they were under constant threat, Fnatic kept making clutch plays, particularly thanks to Cyanide's self-sacrificing Lee Sin. With Cyanide using Dragon's Rage to knock Millenium out of position in key fights, and with Millenium occasionally getting overly aggressive and letting Fnatic steal back the momentum, the two teams played a long, tense game. In the end, hower, Millenium had too much map control and too much firepower coming from Kerp's LeBlanc and Creaton's Twitch, and they were finally able to break Fnatic in straight fights.
Alliance vs. Copenhagen Wolves
The best game played at Wembley was the last game. Alliance looked so dominant that their victory over the Copenhagen Wolves seemed like it would be a formality. The Wolves rose to the occasion, as team captain YoungBuck went 12/3/5 with Irelia and led the team into one of its best performances. They almost seemed to have victory in their grasp after a brilliant team fight at Alliance's mid inhibitor turret, in which they took out Wickd, Shook, Nyph, and Froggen and grabbed the inhibitor to boot. They were low on health, but they had won, and the timers on Alliance were long enough that the Wolves could get Baron. Then Airwaks tripped a Nidalee trap that Froggen had planted earlier and died instantly. At a stroke, all the math turned against the Wolves, and Alliance were able to respawn, take the Baron, and then eventually drive forward for the victory.
BIGGEST SURPRISE
Werewolves of London
With a starring — and losing — role in two of the week's most entertaining games, the last-place Wolves were a big surprise because of how good they looked and how hard they fought. Some teams end up in last place because they are consistently outclassed, but the Wolves went winless this week simply because a few key plays went against them. But who would have picked the Wolves to give Alliance such a fight? It was an even bigger scare than Alliance's near-miss against Fnatic last week, because there was nothing flukey about the way the Wolves hung in there and pushed Alliance to the brink. For almost an hour, the Wolves looked like one of the best teams in EU LCS. While their season might be going poorly, showings like this remind everyone why they're here.
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT
Fnatic dropping big games
At 1-1, Fnatic didn't have a bad week. But considering that one of their wins came over the cobbled-together Gambit squad, you can't say Fnatic lived up to expectations. Add to that a crucial loss against Millenium, and Fnatic fans could be forgiven for hitting the panic button. For a team with so much talent and now a new coach in Araneae, they really needed to notch a win over Millenium in order to put themselves back in the hunt for a top finish. But at such a defining moment, Fnatic made mistakes during picks and bans and compounded them during the game. While the game wasn't a blow-out, it was hard to deny that Fnatic hadn't just been out-thought and out-fought by the Millenium squad.
