Roccat got their first win of the Summer Split, and they did it by ending Fnatic's unbeaten run.
Day one of the week’s European LCS saw Vitality finally get their first win on the board. They took a win from the newly-promoted Mysterious Monkeys, despite the new team taking an early lead in game one. Indeed, they were 3-0 up in kills and a thousand or so gold ahead before Vitality got on the score board. But when the more experienced team picked up first tower, they took the lead for themselves and never gave it back. Game two looked like an extension of game one. Mysterious Monkeys made each fight close, but a series of small losses snowballed out of control and they found themselves on the wrong end of another 2-0 defeat.
The Monkeys remain winless, but undefeated Fnatic were next on the Rift, taking on Roccat. It took 10 minutes before a kill happened in game one, but, predictably, it went the way of the group leaders. Roccat immediately traded it for first tower and actually kept the tower lead for some time, but kills and CS kept the score dead even going into the mid-game. A pick onto Betsy in the mid lane broke the game open, just after the 20-minute mark, granting several kills and a Baron to Fnatic and pushing them out to a 4,000 gold lead. A second Baron put them into an insurmountable lead and Rekkles had his 20th deathless game.
An early gank from Broxah’s Lee Sin got game two off to a great start for Fnatic. It got even better soon after, with Caps narrowly avoiding death at the hands of a Syndra ult while a return gank in the top lane put Broxah and his team further into the lead. 10 minutes in, Phaxi’s Jarvan was 0/4 and down a turret while his team trailed by almost 3,000 gold. The game was spiralling out of control, and even a cleanup triple kill for Betsy was matched by a tower kill from Caps’ Leblanc. An impressive Roccat Baron steal later in the game seemed like a drop in the ocean, and led to an ace for Fnatic.
However, the game remained bloody, and at one point Roccat seemed to be hatching the beginnings of a comeback. Fnatic grabbed another Baron, but Roccat pinched the Elder Drake for themselves and continued to cling on for dear life. The next baron (number three) went Roccat’s way, and 45 minutes into the game the teams were still going at over a kill per minute. Fnatic looked sloppy and nervous, unable to finish the game. It was only natural, then, Roccat the game ended with a base race while 7,000 gold behind.
Game three started well for Fnatic again, with the first two kill going their way. But Roccat didn’t want to wait 40 minutes for comeback, taking the first two turrets for themselves and equalling up the kill score. After picking up another turret kill, Roccat had a 3,000 gold lead and it was Fnatic’s turn to play catch-up. A forced Baron attempt backfired when Pridestalker snuck in and stole it and suddenly the Roccat late game scaling composition seemed to be coming into its own. A second Baron steal was the final straw that broke the camel’s back and Roccat soon had their first win of the season.
Image courtesy of Fnatic's Twitter.
