The weekend came and went, the anticipated possibility of up to 7 tiebreak games didn’t turn into reality – with actually North America claiming that “honor” – but we now finally know the six organizations who will be fighting to become the 2018 EU LCS Spring Split Champions. But it was a long path, with the final week being the climaxing moment of a regular season filled with surprises and twists.

So grab a drink, and let’s recap the best (and worst) of Week 9 here in Europe:


Schalke 04 v H2K

And things right away started at 100%! With a textbook performance, H2K destroyed Schalke 04 in a little over than half an hour to move to 7-10 – becoming thus the fifth team with 7 wins in the EU LCS. Impossible to get closer than that!

With both teams displaying strong bot lane combos – Caitlyn and Morgana for Schalke, while H2K selected Xayah and Rakan – the earlier stages – and the entire game, truth to be told - were marked by H2K’s dominance, who got a couple of kills, kept control of all drakes, opening thus a decent gold lead.

But after managing to sneak out Baron, the true onslaught began, with Schalke not being able to defend as H2K went in to crack their base open, opening a 10k gold lead. After 31 minutes, H2K claimed for themselves the second Baron completely uncontested, and soon after, it was over: after taking all 3 inhibitors down, 6 baron-empowered minions were simply too much for Schalke, with H2K easily taking their Nexus down to keep their playoffs hopes more than alive. 

Notable Performance: Smittyj (1/1/5) on Gnar. Drawing attention the whole lane phase, the German played smartly, being the big frontline for H2K needed in order to handily taking down Schalke 04.


Misfits v ROCCAT

H2K’s opponent the following day, ROCCAT also showed a flawless performance to dominate a very mediocre Misfits, who after a terrible week 8, didn’t show the improvement many expected from them coming to the decisive week of the split.

In a game marked by ROCCAT’s control across the map, their superior vision at the top side of the river proved to be decisive in the game’s first 5-on-5 brawl, which saw them coming out ahead to take an early Baron, which served as the catalyst to break down Mistifs’ defenses.

With a 10k gold lead, they had an easy job securing the second big purple worm, and pushed towards the enemy base, with their overwhelming lead proving to be simply too much for Misfits, who fell without offering much resistance. 

Notable Performance: Norskeren (1/0/6) on Tahm Kench. In a game marked by few fights, Norskeren was vital for ROCCAT, claiming the first kill for himself in the brawl who decided the game, before using his ultimate to take down Sencux, leaving the path to Baron Nashor open. 


Team Vitality v Splyce

Despite ending the game behind in kills, Vitality were the most decisive team, and aided by a questionable Baron from their opponents, took the win home to tie in the standings with Splyce, warming even more the fight for the final playoffs spot.

The early game was marked by Splyce being able to get isolated kills, which however was countered by Vitality’s superior farming and objective taking, meaning that the gold was extremely close for the entire contest. They are lucky as well, as a big mistake by Gilius went virtually unpunished by Splyce, who didn’t have the firepower to quickly burning down Baron before the jungler respawned.

After an explosive and extended brawl at the 26th minute, with both teams walking away with several casualties, Vitality found themselves the decisive fight of the game a few minutes later: with Gilius and Cabochard going for a 2v1 on Odoamne in the bot lane, Splyce tried to take down Baron, and despite being successful, didn’t manage to escape to safety, and got annihilated by Minitroupax’s Caitlyn and the rest of Vitality, who used the sudden opportunity well, barely managing to take down the Nexus before Splyce completely respawned to move to 10-7 in the standings.

Notable Performance: Minitroupax (6/3/2) on Caitlyn. Once again the Portuguese marksman with a standout performance – once more – putting it the carry shoes to be the difference in a really close game.


Fnatic v Giants Gaming

Business as usual for Fnatic, who despite a troubled start, recovered well to claim a convincing win Giants Gaming.

The start was action filled, with 13 kills in the first 16 minutes, with Giants even managing to take down the bottom inhibitor turret with the handy help from the Rift Herald, while Fnatic maintained a meager gold lead. The next minutes were however considerably slower-paced, with the sides studying themselves and quite reluctant to engage each other.

The stand-off was however broken at the 24th-minute mark, with Fnatic coming out ahead after a very extended fight, taking down 4 in order to claim the all-important first Baron of the game. Now over the 7k gold head, the leaders went for Giants’ base, taking down the whole base – expect the Nexus - before being forced to retreat.

But the end was close: on a desperation attempt to stop Baron, Giants got caught all separated, and Rekkles cleaned house, and almost got a Penta-kill for himself before shut-down by Steeelback, who himself was sent to the fountain shortly after. With the path completely open, it was an easy job for the surviving Fnatic members to run down mid, and claim their 13th win in the split.

Notable Performance: Rekkles (8/2/9) on Ezreal. Despite the win, Rekkles had a slightly disappointed face after missing out a Penta kill due to a single auto attack. But he shouldn’t be: with another MVP-worthy performance, the Swede led Fnatic to yet another win in the EU LCS.


Unicorns of Love v G2 Esports

It was hard, it was nail-biting, and it was very messy, but the Kings of Europe overcame all adversities thrown at them to come out with an important win over the Unicorns of Love, ending the day tied for second with Splyce and Vitality – game on for the final semi-finals bye!

With an abysmal early game, it seems that the Unicorns would actually do quick business: with several picks, they managed to open a good lead, while G2 looked completely lost – captain PerkZ was definitely not having a good day.

But G2 had Wunder. Often criticized due to some sub-par performances, the Dane kept G2 alive in the game with an amazing play in the botlane, picking two kills while the rest of his team sneaked away Baron. Building up the momentum, it took long, with the Unicorns repeating the favor by stealing the third Baron themselves, but after almost 50 minutes, G2 Esports found themselves the perfect fight, acing the Unicorns of Love to close out a chaotic game.

Notable Performance: Wunder (3/0/4) on Camille. Simply put, without Wunder, G2 Esports would have lost this game in less than 35 minutes. Outfarming Whiteknight heavily, he gave himself the resources in order to be the most relevant and dreaded member of his team, keeping them alive for longer than they should, buying his teammates valuable time to catch up and turn the game around.


Giants Gaming v Splyce

What a statement to end the regular season. With 20 kills in just 26 minutes, Splyce massacred Giants to claim their 7th win a row, ending the split with an 11-7 record, but tiebreak vs G2 / ended third as they lose the head-to-head to Vitality. Meanwhile for Giants, with H2K’s win over ROCCAT, it meant that they would be going for an early vacation.

Simply put, it was an extremely one-sided affair, with Splyce playing as a title contender team, outplaying and outclassing Giants Gaming since the moment the game begins. With a 6k gold after just 13 minutes played, they gradually built up their lead, taking down an easy Baron at the 22nd- minute mark after yet another won teamfight.

From there on, it was easy, and without much resistance from Giants, they convincingly closed out the game in a little more than 26 minutes.

Notable Performance: Xerxe (1/0/16) on Zac. Making a case for becoming the split’s MVP, Xerxe was the main reason his team opened such a huge lead early on, with his Zac terrorizing the entire Giants squad with his cross maps plays. From there on, it was not hard for his team to tear apart their opposition to bring home an uncontested win.


Team ROCCAT v H2K

In a back and forth game, ROCCAT and H2K delivered one of the most exciting games of the split – and precisely at the most crucial time. With the very hard-fought win, H2K made their comeback throughout the split perfect to lock themselves a much deserved playoffs spot, at the expanse of the Misfits, Unicorns of Love and Giants Gaming, the first three casualties from the final day of the regular season. 

Slower pace early game, gold equally divided. After taking baron, ROCCAT went on cruising mode, opening the map, control the vision and got themselves considerably ahead. But, with a disastrous fight, they put a seemingly easy game at peril, gifting away kills and the second Baron of the game for H2K, who equalized in gold, and who kept ahead, taking down also the next Baron while Sheriff going rampage as Jinx.

Now finding themselves at the driver’s seat, H2K pushed ROCCAT back to their base, taking down the mid inhibitor before being forced to retreat after SmittyJ got caught, with ROCCAT using the numbers advantage to take the Elder Dragon down, turning the momentum once more. And yet again, it didn’t take for everything to change, this time, for the final time: after taking Baron for the third time, H2K went for ROCCAT’s base, and barely managed to take the Nexus down in a nail-biting final fight.

Notable Performance: Sheriff (6/1/6) on Jinx. If Xerxe made earlier his case for MVP of the split, H2K’s ADC surely got some votes for Rookie of the Split following this performance! It is always tricky to play Jinx: despite her huge damage output, her lack of mobility and escapes is main reason she is underused in the professional scene. But Sheriff didn’t care. Trusting his team to keep him safe, he brought H2K back to the game, ending the contest with over 76k damage done – more than 1450 per minute!  


Unicorns of Love v Misfits

Following H2K’s win over ROCCAT, both teams unfortunately arrived to their final game of the Spring Split already eliminated from Playoffs’ contention, but regardless from that, the Unicorns of Love and Misfits tried their hardest to at least end their participation on a positive note, and delivered an entertaining game, with last year’s World Championship Quarterfinalists coming out ahead.

After a rather equal early game, it seemed however that the Unicorns would be the ones ending the split with a win, after finding themselves a favorable teamfight to take down Baron Nashor and most of the Misfits. But once again, they failed to capitalize on their advantage, managing to bring their opponents back to game, who in turn, were much less forgiving: after taking down the big neutral objectives themselves, they used the buff well, winning a decisive fight in the midlane before running down mid towards the Unicorns’ base to take the Nexus down after 33 minutes.

Notable Performance: Maxlore (6/3/7) on Kha’Zix. After two losses earlier on the split as Kha’Zix, Misfits’ jungler teared UOL’s carries – especially Exileh – apart, enabling his team to find the openings needed to come out ahead from clutch situations.


G2 Esports v Team Vitality

Tiebreak time! In a decisive match-up for the final semi-finals bye, G2 Esports came out ahead of Team Vitality, sending them to a quarter-finals best-of-five against H2K, while putting themselves one tiebreak against Splyce away from second place…and Copenhagen.

Both sides started the game furiously, trading blows and looking for aggressively plays, with Vitality managing to enter the mid-game marginally ahead. But why trying to splitpush, they got caught out, losing mid inhibitor. G2 however wasn’t able to capitalize further, and for almost 10 minutes, close and indecisive fights followed, dragging out the game.

After a little over half an hour however, it seemed that Vitality was going to break the deadlock, after taking themselves Baron, put their push was halted, keeping the game close and far from being decided.

But then suddenly, the fiesta began: in one of the most prolonged and messiest fights I have seen in a long time, the teams exchanged several blows, while G2 coming out ahead, taking for themselves a very important 3-stack Elder Dragon, which they used efficiently, taking down all 3 inhibitors. Vitality replied by quickly taking down the Baron, but were caught out while trying to escape.

And G2 Esports didn’t miss the opportunity: they manage to chase down their opponents, acing Vitality in order to put an end to a highly entertaining, albeit very messy, contest.

Notable Performance: Hjärnan (12/1/10) on Kog’Maw. The big carry G2 needed, especially in such a close content, Hjärnan truly delivered as Kog’Maw with the valuable help from his team, who for once, played around botlane, giving him all the resources needed to pop off and destroy Vitality in the late game.


Fnatic v Schalke 04

Fnatic destroyed the Nexus, but ROCCAT are the true winners of this game! With a methodical but effective performance, the leaders took town Giants Gaming to cement their spot at the top with a 14-4 to close out the regular season, while the Spanish team will be forced to watch how the playoffs unfold from home.

Another one sided game, Fnatic didn’t need to shine, displaying another pragmatic and yet effective performance to easily take down and eliminate Schalke from the playoffs. Despite some mistakes shown in the early game, where they gifted away easy kills to their opposition, the 5-time European Champions opened up a considerable gold lead in order to control the map.

With Schalke’s vision removed from the Rift, they had no chance but to facecheck Fnatic while they were on Baron. But unfortunately for the German team, they arrived too late, and by losing the subsequent fight, left the path open for Fnatic to take down their base, and the game.

Notable Performance: Rekkles (6/0/3) on Tristana. Who will be able to stop the Swedish superstar on his quest for his second MVP Award in a row? With another vintage performance – including inhibitor turret dives at 11 minutes – Rekkles showed why he is the one of the best ADCs in the world, doing his job effectively and effortlessly to help his team coming out with yet another win.


Tiebreak for 2nd: Splyce v G2 Esports

Despite Splyce entering the Rift as favorites taken their recent performances, G2 Esports found themselves in the right moment, and with their best performance in several weeks, took down their opposition to claim second place.

The first minutes were however marked by Xerxe being all around the map, who, according to the words of Vedius, was “schooling Jankos”, creating plays and situations to put Splyce ahead – especially Kobbe’s Tristana.

However, once the full 5-on-5s began, it was all about G2 and their superior teamfighting: with PerkZ willing to carry after some shaky displays lately, Splyce were caught several times out of position, with the current Champions having a relatively easy job to clean house and open a big gold advantage.

And after easily securing the second Baron of the game, it was simple for G2 to make good use of their lead, as they handily defeated Splyce in the final teamfight of the regular season, taking down the Nexus and the game in 32 minutes.

At the end, the “First Blood King” had his revenge, and G2, despite the shaky split, showed why they are still the true Kings of Europe, booking their ticket to Copenhagen and cementing themselves as the main candidates to contest Fnatic’s dominance this split in Europe.

Notable Performance: PerkZ (6/0/6) on Azir. The last couple of weeks haven’t been easy for G2 Esports’ captain, culminating in a near disastrous performance against the Unicorns of Love on Friday, where, despite the win, he went 1-5 as Taliyah. But great players always manage the find their way back, and PerkZ made sure that everybody remembered that, with a flawless and clean performance on Azir to take down Splyce.


And that’s all for the 2018 EU LCS Spring Split Regular Season! But after a short break, the really fun part will begin, culminating, in a little less than 3 weeks from now, with the coronation of a new European Champions in Copenhagen.

I will be doing an analysis of every team coming to playoffs, and more, so watch out for it in the upcoming days!


2018 EU LCS Spring Split Quarter-Finals Matches:

Splyce v ROCCAT - 23rd March – 10am PDT / 6pm CET

Team Vitality v H2K - 24th March - 9am PDT / 5pm CET


Final Standings of the 2018 EU LCS Spring Split Regular Season:

1- Fnatic  14W 4L

2- G2 Esports  11W 7L

3- Splyce  11W 7L

4- Team Vitality  10W 8L

5- H2K  8W 8L

6- ROCCAT  8W 8L

7- Misfits  8W 8L

8- Schalke 04  7W 9L

9- Giants  7W 9L

10- Unicorns of Love  6W 8L

(Photos courtesy of Riot Games)