Day 1 served as a short and sweet summary of the LCS super week with one key difference in the games. Opening with NiP and Fnatic playing a game best forgotten by fans and players alike, the next set of games with MYM and aTN were watched with keen eyes. MYM dispatched EG with the same style they showed last week - holding off EG’s attempted counter-aggression with some brilliant individual play from Kubon’s Elise holding off the top-lane ganks and scoring multiple 1v2 kills. EG looked decent, but ultimately the game went the way of MYM after a fun and exciting scrap - which could’ve been the featured match, had it not been for the last game of the day... Closing out the day, however, we saw the red-hot aTn team and the crowd favourites Gambit in a fun game that was a blast to watch. Despite ForellenLord and Kerrp not looking their normal selves, the match makes worthwhile viewing

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Bans:       

17        aTn        62.3K
vs.
32        Gambit        78.7K

Bans:       

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The last game of Day 1 was an explosive affair for the Russian audience. It was the home crowd favourites going up against the undefeated Alternate and the two teams played out an amazing match. Diamondprox continued to be a beast with Xin Zhao and he got the crowd pumped with a quick first blood on ForellenLord. The action didn't stop as the teams had many extended fights throughout the game contesting for Dragon and Baron control. Even though Alternate tended to get the upper hand early in every fight, Gambit always had the answer and turned things around to win the engagements.

The biggest factors for Gambit's victories in the team fights were the spectacular plays from Alex Ich and Genja. They survived seemingly impossible situations on multiple occasions and came back into the fight to take down the remaining Alternate members. In contrast, their counterpart on Alternate ForellenLord and Creaton played below the level they showed in Week 1 - ForellenLord missed several crucial ultimates and Creaton's incredible >25 KDA from Week 1 was set back down to below 10 from this game alone. Also, the constant fighting meant that Krep could split push and farm up on Shen. Even though it was one of his best champions, he could not get going to carry the team on his back.

After a shortened Day 1 due to Tabzz's late arrival, the EU LCS resumed with five games on Day 2. This meant both SK and Lemondogs had to prepare for two games while everyone else only had to deal with one. This had an especially large impact on SK since they came out flat on their feet and were crushed by Lemondogs to start the day and Gambit to finish it off. It was a thoroughly disappointing day that even their manager tweeted that something was off. However, all was not lost for SK as their performance had improved from their game against Lemondogs to the one against Gambit. They just needed a little push to turn things around and get some wins.

Another team in a similar situation to SK would be Evil Geniuses. They got off to a poor start to the week and fell further down with another loss to Fnatic. But just like SK, EG played well and kept it close for a good part of the game. Their biggest downfalls were the early dragon fights and Fnatic took that advantage and gradually snowballed to victory.

All in all, there were some very good games from Day 2 of the Moscow event. The game between Lemondogs and NiP was only one upset of the day going by the teams' records from Week 1 but that wasn't too surprising considering Lemondogs' lack of preparation. The lack of upsets meant that the teams had started to settle from the tight travel schedule and the elevation of the players' skills from the first day was a testament to their ability to adapt quickly to a new environment.

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Bans:       

34        aTn        75.4K
vs.
18        MYM        61.1K

Bans:       

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The most anticipated match of Day 2 was probably the rematch of the top 2 teams from Week 1. MYM looked to take revenge from suffering their first loss at the hands of Alternate while Alternate hoped to bounce back after being dominated by Gambit. Even before the game started, the expected highlight matchup was ForellenLord and Czaru playing against each other in Mid. And once the picks and bans were over, it was apparent that the two wanted to show off their abilities with Ahri and Syndra, two skillshot dependent champions.

MYM and Czaru decided that their loss from Week 1 was due to poor objective and map control and so they went into the game with two Teleports. This placed them in a poor position during the laning phase when they had to go up against Alternate's battle focused Summoner Spells. However, MYM played and farmed well in during the laning phase to come out ahead in both minion kills and towers. But things started to fall apart soon after that when the teams started roaming around the map and contesting for Dragons and Barons. One of MYM's biggest problem seemed to be their lack of awareness once they've committed to an objective. They would tunnel all their attention and effort to the target and either allow Alternate to set up a good flank or take multiple objectives on the other side of the map. This set MYM behind and rendered their two Teleports relatively useless since they had no chance to split push properly since they could not defeat Ahri or Shen in the 1vs1 situations.

The featured matchup between the Mid players had a clear winner: ForellenLord. Even though Ahri was one of Czaru’s signature champions, ForellenLord outplayed him in almost all 1vs1 situations. And in cases where Czaru looked to have the advantage, Lee Sin was always there at the perfect time to save ForellenLord and get the turnaround kill on Syndra. One of the most interesting aspects of ForellenLord’s Ahri was his choice to build the Hextech Gunblade. It is an underappreciated item on Ahri with it’s spellvamp to complement her Essence Theft and an AP scaling active to help her burst down a target. As shown in the picture below, it was used to great effect when ForellenLord took 100% of Czaru’s health in one combo.


This was a game where MYM came in with a plan and got going with an early lead but their inexperience allowed Alternate to get back into the game. The LCS is the perfect place for MYM to gain better decision making skills and develop into a proper top 3 team in the European scene.

Sunday saw a series of lopsided matches where the losers could gain no traction. Every losing side was held to six kills or fewer, though the victories came with a wide range of style points. SK Gaming led off with a win over Ninjas in Pyjamas, building an early lead off of a 4 minute Dragon enabled by the teams trading early turrets in 2v1 swapped lanes. SK got every subsequent Dragon and the better of the teamfights in midgame as well. Froggen's 6/0/8 Morgana led the way for Evil Geniuses to take revenge for last week's defeat to Lemondogs. The game was classic (and some might say boring) EG play as a crucial positioning error from Tabzz' Vayne led to a 5-0 Ace and bottom inhibitor for EG, a lead they never relinquished. and controlling every subsequent spawn. Gambit capped off the weekend in front of their ecstatic home crowd, siezing control from the start when Genja and Darker took down top tower in a 2v1 and came bottom to stop MYM taking theirs. The uncharacteristicly early tower let Gambit get an early Dragon with all five available while Kubon was pinned deep in his own territory farming. Genja on Ashe landed several key Enchanted Crystal Arrows while his counterpart Makler missed Chains of Corruption on Varus, providing the key edge at several points as Gambit bounced back into 2nd place after a rough start to the season.

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Bans:       

24        aTn        56.4K
vs.
6        Fnatic        40.2

Bans:       

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Alternate vs. Fnatic was wild from the start, both teams meeting near Alternate's Blue buff before the minions had spawned. Kerp helped Alternate secure first blood by tying up 4 members of Fnatic with a great taunt and nine flashes were burned as Fnatic collectively leapt over the wall by Blue buff then Alternate flashed over as a team in pursuit. When the dust settled Alternate were up 3-1 with two kills onto Creaton's Varus. Araneae dominated the early game with effective ganks, seemingly always in the right place at the right time for his team. The teams grouped early and often with many teamfights and skirmishes breaking out all across the map, exemplified by the sequence beginning at 14:45. Alternate took five kills for one over the course of a couple minutes with constant fighting in multiple lanes, two tower dives and a number of ballsy escapes. Cyanide was having a very off day on Nunu as he allowed two Dragons to be stolen from Fnatic despite Nunu's über-smite in Consume. Every attempt to get back in the match by Fnatic was futile and Alternate took Baron in the 30th minute then closed the match out shortly thereafter.

After what feels like forever, the LCS returns home to Cologne for the first “normal” week of the summer split. A return to normal practice schedules and playing condition for most teams we could start the see the playing field even out as the teams get a chance to return to their former glory. In a unique twist for the LCS, Week 3 consists of the top four playing the bottom four only.

All eyes will also be on the new Ninjas in Pyjamas lineup with their AD Carry, Top Laner and Jungler replaced for week 3. NeeGodbro and TheTess were benched for poor performance, and Svenskeren decided to voluntarily step down rather than play without Godbro as a teammate. Replacing them are two EU scene veterans in extinkt (now playing Top instead of his old midlane competitive role) and former DragonBorns jungler Malunoo. Replacing TheTess is Freeze, a much heralded Czech AD Carry who will play alongside the returning manager/support Delficio. The new lineup will be faced with tough matches off the bat against 3rd place MYM on Saturday and 2nd place Gambit Gaming on Sunday.