The impressive debut of the 3 freshly promoted teams was the story of the first day of European LCS competition in the Summer Split. Meet Your Makers, Lemondogs and Alternate ATTAX all notched victories against LCS veterans and the games weren't even that close. Gambit, Ninjas in Pyjamas and SK Gaming had the poorest showings, all going 0-2 to start the Split despite playoff finishes in the Spring. The bar had undoubtedly been raised in Europe, and time will tell whether or not the veteran teams can rise to the new challenge after this setback. The first match kicked off with a tired looking Gambit Gaming falling behind to Fnatic while playing an unusual (Fiddle, Malph, AP Yi!) composition and unable to come back. Fnatic pressured down turrets early and once Gambit lost a crucial teamfight midgame, Fnatic was too far ahead. MYM started the string of debuts, with Czaru's Ahri leading an opportunistic MYM comp over a very passive SK Gaming. Lemondogs defeated Ninjas in Pyjamas next, holding an early lead that allowed Tabzz' Vayne and nukeduck's Vladamir to get unhindered to their late game power. Alternate took an early lead against Evil Geniuses and snowballed the advantage way beyond what even Froggen's Anivia could stall. Fnatic ran up their 19th consecutive win over SK Gaming, and unlike their first meeting in the Spring, this one was no nail-biter. Evil Geniuses rebounded from their earlier loss with a defeat of Gambit who looked very lost in their first day of competitive play after the departure of their All-Star support EDward. MYM capped off the day with an absolute thrashing of Ninjas in Pyjamas, winning in a rare no-death shutout just 22 minutes in.

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Bans:       

22        aTn        54.9K
vs.
7        EG        39.9

Bans:       

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Altnernate left Froggen's signature champion open and built a strong enough trap to snag a win from Evil Geniuses after dangling the Cryophoenix as irresistible bait. On aTn's side, Vayne and Nami put in a 2nd appearance in the league's first four games, played in a 2v1 lane to ensure safety. ForellenLord gave new champion Lissandra her LCS debut, showcasing the Ice Witch's deadly combination of mobility and crowd control from the Mid Lane. EG went for a classic EG style stall composition with Top Lane Ryze stolen from the Korean All-Star team's playbook as a late game threat, pinning their hopes on Anivia's stalling power to actually last that long. Both teams invaded the oppositions Red buff at the start, although Alternate collected double Golems for their duo lane and Wickd used Teleport to get to lane at the start. The symmetric aggression continued as both sides prepared for 3:30 dives on the 1v2 laners. EG misplayed theirs horribly, allowing a great taunt from Kerp to catch Varus and dodge Jarvan's knockup combo. The tower three-shot yellowpete to give Kerp First Blood in a 1v3 situation. Meanwhile, Wickd was forced off of his turret top lane and aTn took the first tower four minutes in. Without the safety, Wickd got picked off a couple times and the pressure allowed Alternate an early Dragon. From here EG doubled down on their late game gamble, taking Tear of the Goddess and Catalyst (for an eventual Rod of the Ages) on both Mid and Top Laners, hoping they could buy enough time for the items to charge to their full potential before it was too late. The decision to let Froggen get Anivia looked questionable as Froggen picked up an assist and two kills and in short order with slick play.

Fifteen minutes in it looked as if Evil Geniuses had staunched the bleeding and got Froggen rolling, but a fantastic engagement from ForellenLord with Kerp riding piggy back helped Alternate take down the last Outer turret. Froggen earned cheers from the crowd with a legendary escape via Krepo's Lantern after EG snuck in a Dragon to narrow the lead. EG collapsed after a series of bad fight, the crucial turning point coming when EG attempted to engage on Araneae and ended up getting caught in a fantastic Tidal Wave from Jree. This 3-0 fight resulted in Baron, a 2-1 exchange and Dragon for Alternate, and the lead was blown open wide enough that Evil Geniuses couldn't stall out and recover. EG was caught with sloppy defense on their bottom inhibitor tower, giving Alternate multiple kills and both the bottom and middle inhibitors. A desperate last stand at the top inner turret resulted in a predictable ace and a free Nexus for Alternate, wrapping up their LCS debut with a 32nd minute victory.

After the surprise of the first day, many people began to explain and understand the results and came into Day 2 with their original expectations. MYM, Lemondogs and aTn must’ve caught the top teams napping and all would return to normal… Well, not quite. A lack of strategy and team play was apparent when watching the returning teams and if a returning team won, it was either against another returning team, or merely by experience. Compare this to the highly mobile lineups, co-ordinated ganks and focus on the Mid & AD from aTn and MYM, and it’s easy to understand why Day 2 went the same way as day one.

aTn kicked off the day with a win over Lemondogs, with superior team-work building to a large advantage that was carried home by Creaton’s Vayne and ForellenLord’s Orianna. NiP continued to look like a blunt weapon in their loss against a very standard Gambit (well, as standard as AP Yi can be). An early 4 for 1 in EG’s favour revitalised their play in their win over Fnatic. Xpeke never got his farm and an aggressively built lineup of Jayce, Varus & Zac crushed through Fnatic. Lemondogs showed that they still lack teamplay after being outclassed by MyM’s focus on map objectives and SK attempted an early mid tower push in their match against aTn but it was shut down perfectly. SK made some good plays and came back but after getting caught out, lost towers and ground. Kerrp had an incredible game on Vladimir and even after some suspect play from ForellenLord, he and Creaton were able to clean up in a final fight.

A valiant effort from EG almost stalled out a possible stomp and almost showed a comeback against Lemondogs, but the early advantage was too much and a late-game Baron steal and team-fight ace netted Lemondogs their second win. aTn made NiP look like they were standing still in their matchup. After shutting down Bjergsen, the highly mobile aTn lineup tore NiP to shreds. SK were back to their old selves in their game against Gambit. Starting off the game well, they caught up to Gambit’s lead thanks to some brilliant split pushing and solo play from Kevin’s Zed. However, SK couldn’t turn the pressure Kevin created into objectives and after split-pushing a little too long, a great set of team-fights were started by Darien’s Lissandra, instantly killing Kevin and cleaning up SK. MYM and Fnatic became a textbook example of the new vs. old games of the weekend. If you can only watch one game, this one will explain all: Aggressive play from MYM forced Fnatic back in the early game and MYM grabbed multiple map objectives. Despite this, Fnatic’s experience showed with some great defence and farm kept themselves in the game. After stalling out, Peke and Yellowstar getting caught snowballed the map objectives. Despite close farm and kills, the 6-1 turret advantage was too much. Czaru’s Kha’zix dived in and cleared up in the final fight, putting MYM at 4-0. Finally, Gambit looked a little more passionate in their final win against Lemondogs. In what was essentially the only match that went as expected, an overwhelmed Lemondogs lacked the co-ordination required to hold strong and confirmed a 3-2 record for Gambit and 2-3 record for week 1. This game would become the only win out of nine games by a returning team over a new one for the entire weekend.

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When MYM and Fnatic faced off, it was like watching a revolution for the second time. When Rock Solid burst onto the scene we saw games like this one: old line-ups of good players that couldn't match the objectives of their opponents and lost regardless of their farm and impressive team-fighting. The difference here is that Fnatic should know better. MYM vs. Fnatic was the clearest example of the importance of objectives that we can think of. Add this to some clutch saves, smart Teleports and brilliant team-fights and you’ve got yourself a game worth looking at.

The game started with no aggression and a simple AD/Support swap by Fnatic to the top lane to attempt an early turret. Xpeke pushed Czaru out of the lane early, but his omnipresent Teleport reduced the significance of it and Czaru was able to sustain his way in the lane from then on. The early aggression on Mid and Bot Lanes from MYM burnt xPeke’s flash and sOAZ’s passive before the 5 minute mark. Makler and Libik are pushing in the Bot Lane while Yellowstar barely survives a Top Lane gank thanks to great play from nRated. At 6:55, MYM take the first turret at botlane while their top turret is still quite healthy due to Kubon and Mokatte shutting out the AD/Support of Fnatic. The game starts to settle and a close call for Libik fizzles out unspectacularly before MYM comfortably take a dragon. At the same time however, we see the first of two fake Teleportss from Czaru. As Fnatic push the top tower, Czaru begins to Teleport to the Top turret but cancels as Fnatic runs away. This perceived map presence scared off a rather safe Fnatic and paid dividends for MYM – all the effect of Teleporting without the full cooldown or the movement required.

From here, the pace picks up, sOAZ and Peke get first blood at Mid Lane while the second lucky escape from Yellowstar ends with another tower for MYM. At 13:45, the first misplay from Fnatic allows MYM to catch sOAZ and forces Cyanide to engage and get taken out. Miss-positioning from Peke lets Kubon’s Elise catch him with Cocoon which means 3 kills and the third turret for MYM at Mid Lane. However, some of the most exciting moments came out of no-where: A last-moment Rappel dodges Peke’s shockwave and the second fake TP stalls Fnatic for a second while Czaru, in fact, pincers in from the back. Fnatic didn’t panic and another set of brilliant Nami play from nRated prevents Fnatic losing more than two players. MYM take the dragon off the back of the fight. At this point, Fnatic are staying in the game and are showing really good play, but they just aren’t turning it into objectives. The gold is close, but they don’t have the same level of map control. This is showcased when MYM push Fnatic off their own blue, although Fnatic take it back with a kill of Mokatte shortly afterward.

In the final phase of the game, Fnatic’s team fight starts to kick in, as does MYM’s poke. Despite MYM pushing Peke back while he defends midlane. MYM dodge Zac but Peke returns and hits a massive shockwave to push back MYM. However, Czaru is now able to split push and the map control for MYM powers up. A third dragon for MYM is traded with Mid turret (courtesy of minions, Fnatic were too scared to get out there) but shortly afterwards, Fnatic make their second big error as Peke and Yellowstar get surprised and caught by MYM and Czaru’s TP. This allows MYM to push down to Fnatic’s base and take the inhibitor. Fnatic are down, but not out. sOAZ and Peke are still a factor in team fights, as demonstrated with a brilliant engage as sOAZ leaps into the fight, then flashes over MYM to use Let’s Bounce to knock them into his team ready for a huge Shockwave from Peke. With Kubon barely sneaking out, Fnatic get the 3 for 2 exchange leaving them 3k behind in gold, despite the 1-5 turret deficit.

Therein laid the problem. Being so far ahead in turrets granted MYM so much map control that they were able to take baron at 27:30 before Fnatic could even contest it. Fnatic showed up in time to kill LIbik, but Czaru diving in to grab Peke and Cyanide before leaping back out to safety. MYM use the baron perfectly and take all the out turrets to be 7-1 up before locking Fnatic into their base with their poke and pressure. Eventually a Cocoon catches Fnatic and a desperate Fnatic engage. It starts 1 for 1 but then the resets kick in and Czaru gets a brilliant triple kill with a mere 100 health left. Fnatic are forced to surrender.

The complete map dominance that MYM was able to put out negated the strong team-fight potential of Fnatic. This allowed any positioning errors to be pounced on immediately and shut Fnatic away inside their base. Fnatic couldn’t convert kills into objectives and just ended up caged in and unable to do much more than defend as MYM relentlessly pushed in all game.

Seventeen matches and two days later, the first EU LCS Super Week concluded with three very important matches. SK and NiP entered the last day with a dismal 0-4 record and both had to get a win to avoid falling too far behind. Fortunately for SK and NiP, they were able to pull out the victories they needed to keep pace with the pack. The first game of the day had NiP go up against the struggling Spring Split Champion, Fnatic. It was the only game of the weekend where Bjergsen got free reign and he played brilliantly on Kennen to bring NiP out of their losing streak. NeeGodBro also returned to form with a stellar performance on Nasus. He shut down sOAZ's Kha'Zix with ease in their 1vs1 lane and eventually became an unstoppable force that could tank through everything Fnatic threw at him. On the other hand, SK's victory was sort of a mixed bag. Frankly speaking, EG made more mistakes over several team fights and that compounded until SK was sieging down Mid lane right onto EG's nexus. SK simply played solid and outplayed EG to get the win but none of them really stood above the rest to carry the team on his back.

The final match of Day 3 was the one that received the most attention since it was the fight for first place and a 5-0 record to start the season. No one could have expected this before the season started but here we are with Alternate and MYM as the two top teams of Europe after one week. It was an exciting match where Alternate took an early advantage with first blood gold for Vayne before minions even spawned. They never relinquishing their lead and finished the match in spectacular fashion with a perfect Frozen Tomb from Lissandra comboed with the rest of Alternate's AoE damage.

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Bans:       

9        MYM        43.0K
vs.
24        aTn        56.0K

Bans:       

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With both teams entering the match at 4-0, only one team would have the opportunity to boast the flawless 5-0 at the end of the week. aTn's level 1 play was simultaneously safe and flawlessly executed. Given vision by the rest of his team, Jree's Flash/Death Sentence spelled certain death and first blood for Czaru. Despite ahead in turrets very early on in the game, MYM lagged behind in kills until a patiently laid out trap by Kubon, Libik, and Czaru Teleporting in secured a kill on Creaton to put MYM on the board. Early game played out relatively close between both teams as they traded turrets, Dragons, and kills. MYM looked to pull out ahead after they decided to group earlier create a turret advantage and Czaru utilized his Destiny very well to create picks and kills on lone aTn players. However, any advantage MYM had built up during early game completely dissipated after three MYM players got caught out of position, starting with Mokaette. That one misstep was all aTn needed to get back into the game and begin demonstrate superb team fighting skills. Off of ForellenLord's masterful Lissandra initiation, aTn finished off the Mid Inner turret and turned immediately for an uncontested Baron. Mere minutes later, MYM thought they saw an opening to make a play but the results for devastating for them after Jree suddenly turned around to land a Death Sentence in the heart of MYM's lineup and cast a perfect The Box on MYM's backline. With MYM's front and back line splintered in half, aTn cleaned up off Jree's sacrifice and continued to finish the game unchallenged and found themselves at the top of the rankings at the end of an arduous week.

After the most surprising week of the LCS since the Spring Qualifiers, Week 2 has become a pressure cooker of revolution and revenge as teams do war to fend off the old leaders and take down the new usurpers. A clash of rematches and new conquests comes to pass in Moscow, a city that’s no stranger to coups and vengeance, in a bumper week for 12 games in the EU LCS.

In week 1 NiP scored their only win against Fnatic and seek to do the same in the opening match of Day 1. SK match up against Lemondogs for the first time, both teams united with their victories over EG. Speaking of which, the tour of the returning teams continues for MYM and aTn as they face off against Evil Geniuses and Gambit respectively.

Day 2 sees Fnatic and NiP fight for revenge against EG and LD. Crushing defeats in Week 1 has lit a fire under the two and there’s no better time to return to power or risk losing face, until the rematch at least. Gambit will seek to impress the home crowd against SK but the big story here is that of the table leaders: aTn and MYM. A rematch for first place anchors their weekend in the third time-slot. Last time aTn overwhelmed MYM with boisterous team play but MYM will be keen to take that first position.

Day 3 is a true clash of old and new: SK face NiP, in what hopes to be a return to form for both teams. Next up is the massive rematch between Lemondogs and EG. EG almost showed the power of experience in their near-comeback but they ultimately couldn’t shut down the young solo-queue powerhouses. Will Lemondogs learn from their mistakes and put EG away early, or can the veteran team change the pace entirely with a victory of their own? Finally, the current table leaders take on their respective positions from Spring as aTn play Fnatic and MYM play Gambit for the first time in the most high-level example of old vs. new we’ve seen yet.

It’s Week 2 of the Summer Split, where revenge is best served scorching hot. Game on.