esports
After tasting defeat in the first round of the 2020 LEC Spring Playoffs, G2 Esports had to bounce back and prove they’re still the best team in Europe against Origen.
G2 came into this week of the 2020 LEC Spring Split playoffs with something to prove. Would the loss to MAD Lions in the first round affect them? Would Rasmus 'Caps' Winther step up after coming under criticism the week before? Of course, history was on their side in this match-up. The last time G2 took on Origen in a best-of-five, it was the fastest demolition in LEC history. The last time Origen even took a game off G2 in a series was in 2016. G2 slipped up against MAD Lions, but this time there would be no messing around.
Game 1
G2 got to work early, with Luka 'Perkz' Perkovic picking up first blood on Leblanc with some help from his jungler Marcin 'Jankos' Jankowski on Trundle, the ignite ticking away on Erlend 'Nukeduck' Våtevik Holm’s Azir. It didn’t take long for Jankos to return and help his mid laner shut down the Azir again, and then Perkz rotated up to the top lane for an easy kill on Barney 'Alphari' Morris’ Aatrox, giving G2 a healthy lead.
Origen did pick up the Rift Herald though, but after some excellent patience and teamplay from G2, poking from far away while Jankos tanked up all the damage, they picked up four kills to extend their advantage.
With Perkz already far ahead on Leblanc, he and Caps’ Ezreal were able to jump around the map, poking from over walls, and earning time for Jankos to pick up an uncontested dragon. It wasn’t long before G2 were able to pick up a Baron without much difficulty.
OG managed to get a desperate pick onto Jankos up in the top lane soon after, but G2 were too powerful, chasing them down despite the numbers disadvantage.
G2 took three inhibitors, although did stick around too long, getting a bit greedy and allowing Origen to hold them off for a few more minutes.
However, the combination of poke, mobility, pick potential and healing from Yuumi proved to be too much, and Caps put to bed any doubting of his abilities, picking up a pentakill before taking down the Nexus to go 1-0 in the series.
Game 2
Origen got first blood after an ill-advised dive from G2, Mihael 'Mikyx' Mehle’s Thresh falling foul of chain crowd control. They tried it again a minute later and got a few kills out of it this time, with Perkz roaming down from mid lane. More roams a couple of minutes later and G2 got another couple of kills, with Jankos throwing out the tent emote as he set up camp in the bottom lane.
Caps got caught out a couple of times, however, in a top-lane skirmish, but Perkz kept him alive with the Zilean ult and then he got his own ult off for huge damage, almost melting the entire Origen team, a precursor of what was to come later in the game.
Origen built up a huge frontline, with Sett, Maokai and Nautilus able to walk up and tank all the damage while the team got the damage in from behind them. They then picked up Baron and the mid lane outer turret to pick up a gold lead and pushed their advantage to break down a couple more turrets too.
G2 desperately fought for the Ocean soul, and it was an incredibly close fight, but Origen came out with the Dragon and the ace, with just two of their members remaining in critical condition.
Origen played patiently, picking up the important objectives and sieging down G2’s base, but in the end they took too long. G2 managed to find a couple of picks and grabbed a Baron of their own, and suddenly Caps’s late-game Aphelios came online, dancing through team fights and picking apart Origen, nearly picking up a second pentakill on the way, to take the come-from-behind victory and set up match point.
Game 3
This time it was G2 to get first blood, Jankos once again making the first move and taking Mitchell 'Destiny' Shaw down on the bottom side of the map, with Caps getting out with a sliver of life left.
However, it was Origen who would come out of the early game with a lead, catching out a few players thanks to Nukeduck giving G2 a taste of their own Leblanc-flavoured medicine and grabbing a good number of turret plates in the process.
Both teams were then able to trade towers and objectives, G2 picking up a couple of dragons, Origen with the Rift Herald, with skirmishes all over the map.
OG had the lead, but some clever play from Martin 'Wunder' Hansen delayed their progress, sneaking around the back on Aatrox and allowing G2 to get a pick and pull back some of that gold deficit. Origen looked to be dallying on pushing their advantage once again, but eventually found the fight they wanted, and were able to pick up a Baron buff.
G2 stayed in the game, though, and picked up an Infernal Dragon Soul as they looked for more mistakes from Origen. They forced Origen away from Baron, still stalling for time while they stacked up on items, with the Elder Dragon looming.
Unfortunately for G2, the gold lead appeared to be too much, as Origen got a couple of kills, and turned around to pick up both Baron and the Elder Dragon and, eventually, the Nexus.
Game 4
They were hoping for a clean sweep, but Origen forced G2 to play another, so back onto Summoner’s Rift they went.
Nukeduck grabbed first blood, stunning Perkz under the tower with his ultimate, but it wasn’t long before both of G2’s solo laners got kills of their own to even the scores.
Perkz died to a gank in the top lane, but it allowed G2 to take a couple of middle lane towers with help from Rift Herald in order to maintain their slight gold edge. From there, the two teams traded kills and objectives to set up an exciting finish.
Nukeduck was dangerous on the Cassiopeia, but G2 did a great job of either picking him off or negating his damage in teamfights. A messy skirmish turned into a Baron for G2 after 24 minutes, but couldn’t quite break open the base with it, losing a few members in the siege.
They picked up the second Baron too, and with Origen failing in their attempts to stall them out, G2 picked up the base, and the series victory.
Next week, they’ll be up against MAD Lions once again, where they’ll be out for revenge and carrying forward the momentum of this win. Can they overcome the Lions this time and then head on to the finals to face off against old foes Fnatic? We’ll find out next weekend.
