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G2 Esports are the LEC Summer Finals champions
After an incredible five-game series in Athens, G2 Esports are the LEC Summer champions following a 3–2 finals victory over Fnatic.
Three teams entered the historical city of Athens, Greece, for the LEC Summer Finals, but only one would walk away victorious. Schalke 04, a team focussed around late-game team fighting, but with some early game issues, had to face Fnatic, the kings of early game League. Fnatic easily dispatched of Schalke 04 and then had to face an unstoppable G2 Esports in the finals.
The series went all the way to five games, but, in the end, G2 Esports managed to take the finals with an incredible 3–2 victory. G2 Esports are your 2019 LEC Summer champions and here's how it happened.
The road to finals
Before we arrived at the G2 vs Fnatic showdown, Fnatic first had to face Schalke 04 in a thrilling semi-final bout. That Saturday showdown saw Fnatic stomp through in convincing fashion, propelling to the finals with a 3–0 victory.
For Schalke to have had an advantage over Fnatic, they needed to not give Fnatic an early lead and win through late-game teamfighting. The problem for Schalke was that in all three games Fnatic were able to do exactly that and launch themselves ahead each time.
Through smart Level 1 and Level 2 invades, Fnatic were able to put Schalke's jungler behind, which meant that Kim 'Trick' Gang-yun wasn't as effective in the early game as Fnatic's jungler Mad 'Broxah' Brock-Pedersen. Every time Broxah set-up a gank, Trick was able to shadow him. Because of the massive gold difference between the two junglers, Broxah came out ahead in every counter-gank scenario.
Fnatic were able to snowball the first game into victory in less than 30 minutes, while the second and third games took them a bit longer. Schalke 04 did manage to take some good fights and even a Baron, but it wasn't enough for them to turn the bad early games around. Fnatic's win put them through to the finals and set them up for a revenge final against G2 Esports.
G2 Esports: Europe's finest
The stage was set for a legendary rematch between the best two teams that Europe has to offer. Just before the finals started, Marcin 'Jankos' Jankowski received the MVP award for the LEC Summer Split. He's shown that even in a star-studded line-up, he still stood out and carried his team to multiple victories over the duration of the Split.
Just last week, G2 Esports were at a 0–2 deficit before fighting back and winning the series with a 3–2 victory. With this miraculous reverse sweep fresh in G2's memory, they entered the first game of what became a legendary series in European League of Legends history.
G2 Esports drafted an early game composition, with little to no scaling elements. This meant that they had to create a massive gold lead in the early game, in order to overcome Fnatic's scaling composition. Fnatic understood what had to be done and dismantled G2's early game plans. Gabriël 'Bwipo' Rau managed to solo-kill Martin 'Wunder' Nordahl Hansen with some great Jax play, which got the snowball rolling in Fnatic's favour. G2 managed to stall the game out, but weren't able to claw their way back into a lead, resulting in a 1–0 lead for Fnatic.
The second game featured a more balanced draft for G2. They picked up the Kai'Sa for Luka 'Perkz' Perković and a more favourable match-up for Wunder's Kled in the top lane. The MVP of the Summer Split showed why he was chosen for the award, with some great Jarvan IV play in the early game. He created a lead for Wunder by ganking him early in the game and stealing Broxah's red buff, setting the Fnatic jungler far behind.
With this lead, Wunder was able to dismantle Fnatic's top laner and start influencing the rest of the map. Perkz had some trouble in the early game, but scaled well enough into the mid-game to have a good impact in team fights. G2's early snowball never stopped and they managed to close the game out before the 30-minute mark.
With a 1–1 scoreline, the next game could set-up either team on matchpoint. Martin 'Rekkles' Larsson was targeted by G2 Esports' bans in the draft and resorted to one of his all-time favourite champions, Tristana. G2 Esports tried making early game plays, but misplayed a few times, giving Fnatic a lead. Fnatic struggled to close the series out, though, and over the course of 10 minutes they had to back-off from the Baron multiple times. This struggle gave G2 Esports the time to scale up. The problem was that Fnatic's composition was still more powerful in the late-game. The third game took 42 minutes, and ended up in a Fnatic victory.
With the championship on the line, G2 Esports had to change up their strategy. They switched to red side, giving them the last counter pick, which could be used to create a better match-up in the botlane. Rasmus 'Caps' Winther had yet to show up in the series. He seemed to struggle in the Sylas vs Akali match-up. In this game however he finally got the early game lead, which allowed him to roam to both the top lane and the bot lane. With Wunder's champion pool pinched by Fnatic's bans, he resorted to an old favourite of his – Irelia.
Throughout the series, the top lane match-ups were carry versus carry, yet this time Bwipo opted in for the Karma. G2 had their target set on Bwipo, camping him and killing him whenever they had the chance. This gave Caps, Wunder and Jankos the gold leads that they needed to carry G2 Esports to a 2–2 scoreline.
Breaking match point
With both teams on match-point, Perkz decided it was time to bring out the Syndra. The G2 ADC did exactly the same thing against SK Telecom T1 during the Mid-Season Invitational in game five. G2 drafted a very early game-focussed pick composition. They had to create a gold lead in the early game, because Fnatic's composition was completely focussed around team fighting. The action started early and Perkz managed to pick-up kill after kill in the botlane.
Fnatic started falling behind fast in all three lanes, granting G2 Esports the lead they needed. The game was on a knife's edge. Fnatic won a team fight around the Baron and started it off. The only G2 members that were still alive were Caps, Jankos and Mihael 'Mikyx' Mehle, versus the full five man squad of Fnatic. However, Mikyx was able to land a key hook on Broxah, peeling Fnatic away from the Baron. Caps stepped up, as he assassinated two Fnatic members, which turned around the fight and gave G2 the much needed Baron to start sieging Fnatic's base.
The siege was difficult, but G2 finally cracked Fnatic's base. Perkz landed a few key stuns, disposing of Fnatic members one-by-one. G2 Esports bulldozed through Fnatic's Nexus turrets and destroyed the Nexus. With a 3–2 series and after incredibly tense games, G2 Esports took the series and are your 2019 LEC Summer champions.
With this victory, G2 Esports secure the first European seed for this year's Worlds, giving them an easier route through groups and a better chance to reach the finals. This G2 line-up has won both LEC splits this year and MSI. They look in incredible form and certainly have a shot at taking Worlds on home turf. Can they go all the way on the world stage? We'll soon find out.
