Gaming
G2 Esports have shut down the naysayers and proven that they still have what it takes to be champions. Here's how they won the LEC 2022 Spring Playoffs.
G2 Esports have done it again. The kings of EU have raised the trophy in the League of Legends European Championship 2022 Spring Playoffs, silencing any doubters out there. And they pulled this off after an absolutely heroic lower-bracket run that saw them win 12 consecutive games against the toughest teams in the league.
Across a campaign that saw them take down Team Vitality, Misfits Gaming, Fnatic, and Rogue, G2 looked almost unstoppable at every turn, with Rasmus 'caPs' Winther proving once more why he is the greatest midlaner in Europe. It's a testament to the team's strength as players, and G2 founder Carlos 'ocelote' Rodríguez Santiago's desire to "create a team of winners". This is how G2 did it.
The long road
Things didn't get off to a great start for G2, who were knocked into the lower bracket after their first match against Fnatic at the start of the Playoffs. They went down fighting, however, picking up Game 2 in the best-of-five series before ultimately taking their place in the second round against Vitality.
But this early defeat would be their last. G2 immediately found their footing and utterly dominated Vitality with a clean 3-0 sweep. The opposing team didn't go down lightly, forcing a truly gruelling 46-minute game in their final defence in Game 3, but even with former G2 bot-laner Luka 'Perkz' Perković on their side, Vitality simply couldn't stand up against the might of G2.
Next on the hit list were Misfits, who'd surprised fans in the Regular Season with a third-place finish, a best-ever performance in the LEC. But their luck ran out as G2 stormed onto the Summoner's Rift with a commanding performance that never gave Misfits a second to breathe.
The longest game of the series was the very first, which ran for 33 minutes – by Game 3, G2 had whittled that time down to 23 minutes. But it was Game 2 that proved to be their bloodiest, with G2 scoring 24 kills to Misfits' five – Misfits' fifth kill came just before the Nexus fell, when an over-eager Marcin 'Jankos' Jankowski leapt into the enemy fountain as his team finished the game with a 3-0 flourish.
Taking revenge
G2 had now made it to the semi-finals, with Fnatic waiting for them. G2 clearly hadn't forgotten what had happened in their first match of the Playoffs and were determined not to make the same mistakes again.
A beautiful early bot-lane dive from Jankos in the first game saw G2 pick up First Blood in under three minutes and the game stayed in their favour from there. Fnatic tried to edge their way into a better position in a team fight over Baron around 25 minutes in, but G2 pushed them back, picked up the Baron and ended the game at just under 29 minutes with a showboating dive into the fountain. The message was clear – G2 weren't here to play, they were here to win.
Game 2 looked a lot more even for a very long time, with the two teams trading kills for over 25 minutes, before G2 finally managed to break the deadlock in their favour. A decision to focus on drakes paid off, providing G2 an edge when Fnatic tried to start a team fight in the mid-lane at around 28 minutes. After wiping out four of Fnatic's team, G2 picked up the Baron uncontested and rolled into Fnatic's base to take the game at 31 minutes.
With only one game left, G2 looked unstoppable as they built a team composition around team fighting and took the battles to Fnatic as often as possible. It wasn't a build that led to a quick win, as Fnatic managed to hold them off for 40 minutes, but ultimately the team fell as Jankos secured a quadra kill in a late-game team fight that saw Fnatic aced and G2 free to walk straight up to the enemy Nexus and secure their place in the Grand Final.
The final battle
Of course, the Finals weren't going to be a walk in the park. Rogue had finished top of the league in the Regular Season and they'd managed to secure some clutch wins to take their Final place. But they didn't account for a hungry G2 wading into the fray, eager to take the trophy once more as this best-of-five got underway.
Game 1 started out pretty evenly with neither team wanting to overstep and be caught out. It was only at around 29 minutes that either team truly committed to a fight for the fourth drake of the game and after a stunning, bloody battle, it was Jankos and caPs left standing to take another dragon. From there, G2 went looking for a fight and easily won each one they found, picking up a Baron and sweeping through the enemy bot-lane for a 34-minute victory.
With caPs and Jankos proving so powerful in the first game, Rogue set about denying them their Ahri/Jarvan IV combo and forcing them onto other picks to keep caPs working for his trophy. But with all the focus now on the two G2 veterans, it was time for the rookies to shine.
Bot-laner Victor 'Flakked' Lirola and support Raphaël 'Targamas' Crabbé had made contributions to G2's wins, but it was Game 2 against Rogue where they truly shone. The duo kept a tight control over the bot-lane, allowing them to scale up quickly and make Targamas' Renata Glasc an invaluable addition to a team fight, keeping the rest of the team alive and securing win-after-win in these smaller battles.
With one game between them and defeat, Rogue finally stepped up to the mark and started their counterattack, holding firm against G2 in the early minutes of Game 3. But G2 finally broke through at 22 minutes with a clean Baron, and despite Rogue's best efforts, eventually stormed through the mid-lane at 38 minutes to win their ninth LEC title.
It was a truly remarkable victory for G2, and one that will go down in the history books as one of the best Playoffs runs in LEC history. Jankos and caPs proved why they're still so highly valued in the league, and rookie players Targamas and Flakked more than earned their place on the team – and let's not forget Sergen 'Broken Blade' Çelik, the unsung hero of G2, whose incredible skill in the top lane helped the team immeasurably.
One thing is clear – G2 are still the team to beat, and the kings of the LEC. This victory means they'll return to the Mid-Season Invitational this season in Seoul, South Korea, with a chance to prove themselves on the international stage once again – and they have their sights set on taking down LCK champions, T1, on home soil. Can they do it?
