G2 has added another LEC shield to its trophy cabinet. At the weekend, the team from Berlin also won the second split of the current season
During the regular season, it looked as if there might be a changing of the guard in European League of Legends eSport, at least for a short time. Four teams had finished at the top of the table with identical records and entered the play-offs. These included Team Vitality and Fnatic, two organizations that had managed to beat last year’s finals champions, who were also surprisingly defeated by Rogue.
Almost flawless run to the final
However, G2 was back on top form just in time for the “home game” in Berlin’s Riot Games Arena. In the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the Upper Bracket, they made short work of the Worlds perennial favorites with a 2-0 win, only conceding a single game in the third match. Even when Team BDS equalized in the best-of-five, the team led by German top laner Sergen ‘BrokenBlade’ Celik was not thrown off course. With a commanding 3:1 after games, G2 secured their second title opportunity after the victorious Winter Split at the end of January
The opponent in the final was the British organization Fnatic. In the semi-finals of the Upper Bracket, the quintet lost 2-0 to G2, but secured their chance for revenge in the Lower Bracket – with a spectacular comeback against BDS. The former ‘Rekkles’ team was already 2-0 down, but then conjured up a reverse sweep to produce the most spectacular match of the play-offs.
After dream comeback: ‘Caps’ pull the plug on Fnatic
At first, it looked as if the Brits, led by eye-catching support Hyeon-Taek ‘Noah’ Oh, would be able to carry the momentum from their hussar performance into their next clash with G2. The team took a 1:0 lead before G2 flipped the switch and never looked back. The organization secured three straight games and won the best-of-five 3-1 led by MVP Rasmus ‘Caps’ Winther.
G2 had already secured qualification for the Mid-Season Invitational and the LEC Finals (August 30 to September 1 in the Olympiahalle München) through the Winter Split, but pocketed an additional 40,000 euros in prize money. Still not enough for the dominator of European LoL eSports: “2/4”, Celik and jungler Martin ‘Yike’ Sundelin tweeted in unison after the title and added a trophy emoji to their posts. So despite rising temperatures, the competition can still dress warmly for the Summer Split and the Season Finals
