After 9 exciting weeks, filled with excitement and great displays from the very best European League of Legends has to offer, the 2018 EU LCS Spring Split Regular Season is history, and now, the hour of twilight is upon us.

This weekend in Berlin, four teams will fight for the final two semi-final spots – which automatically means a trip to Copenhagen next month – so I decided to write a quick summary of how their season has been going so far, alongside an overview of their main strengths and weaknesses.


Splyce

With a strong showing during the second half of the split, going 6-3 and being agonizing close to even secure a bye directly to the semi-finals – reigning Champions G2 Esports stopped them at the decisive tiebreaker for second place last week – Splyce will arrive highly motivated to tomorrow’s quarter-final match against ROCCAT.

Entering the Rift as big favorites against a struggling opponent, they have in jungler Andrei "Xerxe" Dragomir their best player so far this year: a worthy candidate for MVP of the Spring Split thanks to his exceptional performances, the former Unicorns of Love playmaker is the main responsible for the turn in Splyce’s fortunes, showing a very dominant style of jungling, especially during the early stages, helping to solidify his team's situation during the transition to the more teamfighted-oriented phase, where he is likewise effective and dangerous to the opposition, being responsible for several objective steals that brought back Splyce from the brink of defeat.

Overall, the side coached by Peter Dun is a very solid one, who is able to play smartly throughout the map, putting themselves into an advantageous position to close out games – at least when they are ahead. Moreover, Splyce are filled with experienced players, which is always an important factor to be considered when the subject is a single and often very long and tiresome best-of-5.

Strengths: Xerxe’s aggressiveness in the early game helps his team leaving the lane phase ahead. KaSing’s playmaking abilities during fights always go handy. Odoamne, despite a rough start of the split, is a mirror of consistency in the top lane.

Weaknesses: If Xerxe is shut down early, the team have problems to comeback, which shows in their shaky performances in games they hold a gold deficit. Midlaner Nisqy is sometimes not the big carry Splyce needs, and can be the weakest link in a long series.


Team Vitality

It looked for some time that Team Vitality were undisputedly the best team in Europe: jungler Erberk "Gilius" Demir was outplaying his counterparts, the botlane was demonstrating an unparalleled synergy, and of course, with Daniele "Jiizuke" di Mauro in the midlane, they had not only an exceptional rookie, but a player who was able to outperform and school more seasoned midlaners – becoming thus the newest contender to continue Europe’s renowned lineage of legendary mid players.

But then patch 8.4 hit and with that, the entire magic surrounding the squad vanished. With Vitality failing to adapt themselves to the new meta – and relying way too much on Jiizuke - the team went through a disastrous couple of weeks in the middle of the split, and despite showing signs of improvement towards the final leg of the regular season to finish fourth, will arrive perhaps as underdogs against a revitalized H2K.

The main problem perhaps for them and the biggest question I have is regarding their mental fortitude: in a team where some members are known for being perhaps a bit too emotional at times, how can they react if they fall one or two games behind against H2K on Saturday?

Strengths: Loads of raw talent: they have in Cabochard, Jiizuke and Minitroupax a strong trio of carries, who are able to support each other even if the other(s) are having a relatively bad game. Vitality’s unpredictability also plays a role, with the team having the change to show something completely new, perhaps catching their opponents off guard.

Weaknesses: Gilius is an extremely inconstant player, prone both to genius plays as well as catastrophic mistakes that may very well cost them a game – or even a series. Meanwhile Jiizuke isn’t able to properly shine unless a good part of the team’s resources are directed to him.


H2K

Similar to Splyce, H2K had a great second half of the split, with the roster swaps – midlaner Marcin "Selfie" Wolski and jungler Ilyas "Shook" Hartsema for Marc "Caedrel" Robert Lamont and Lucas "Santorin" Tao Kilmer Larsen, respectively – being the catalyst needed in order to recover from a catastrophic start to the season, where they went 1-7 in the first four weeks.

Arriving to the final weeks with low chances to reach the playoffs, they clinched their spot following a flawless week 9 with convincing wins over Schalke 04 and ROCCAT, and now find themselves just one series away from reaching Copenhagen – something absolutely unimaginable halfway through the regular season.

A team that relies on their strong teamfighting composition to close out games, rookie ADC Patrik "Sheriff" Jírů is the shining star of this line-up without big names, being decisive in clutch situations especially on late-game champions such as Caitlyn, and more recently, Jinx. However, with Shook being well known for his passive playstyle, it opens gaps for H2K’s opposition to exploit their relatively weak early game, which could be dangerous on Saturday, as Vitality have on Gilius a jungler willing to take risks to see his team coming out ahead.

Strengths: The late game is where H2K shines the most, as they are an all-around decent team whose many strength is their teamplay, giving them an edge during pivotal brawls. They also have on Selfie and Sheriff two ideal carries that are a reliable source of damage, even when behind in gold.

Weaknesses: On the other hand, H2K struggle in the early game, especially against aggressive teams, which can be a problem against Vitality. Their overreliance on late teamfights can also be dangerous, especially if those are decided by a lucky pick or an objective steal.


ROCCAT

Finally, closing out the “Fantastic Four”, we have ROCCAT, who more or less struggled their way into the playoffs. Another team without many big names, they have in former SK Telecom T1 substitute Kim "Profit" Jun-hyung and jungler Jonas "Memento" Elmarghichi their most reliable members. 

A rather “hit-or-miss” team throughout the entire split, they can quickly alternate great games with poor performances, as shown for instance just last week, where just one day after a flawless show against contenders Misfits, they were dominated by a much more decisive H2K line-up. And in a best-of-5 scenario, especially against an uprising team such as Splyce, they can be terribly punished for that lack of continuity, which can transform into a quick 3-0 if they fail to fix their mistakes between games.

However, despite arriving as underdogs, ROCCAT are not completely out of hope, even if they definitely need to show improvements – especially in the lower half of the map – in case they want to contest Splyce’s favoritism tomorrow. 

Strengths: ROCCAT’s top side with Profit and Memento can open good situations for their team, even if they are facing in Odoamne and Xerxe one of the best top-jungle duos in the league. When ahead, ROCCAT are able to push their advantage well, transforming it in vision and objective control throughout the entire map.

Weaknesses: They show signs of pure cluelessness when behind, being unable to find openings to comeback following early disadvantages. In HeaQ and Norskeren they have a decent bot lane, but that can’t be enough when facing stronger duos. Finally, ROCCAT’s instability can come back to haunt them tomorrow.

To close it out, here are my predictions for this weekend’s quarter-finals matches in the EU LCS:

Splyce 3-1 ROCCAT

Team Vitality 2-3 H2K


Do you agree with them? What would you change? Let me know in the comments below!

(Photos courtesy of Riot Games)