With the game moving more towards tank top laners, carry junglers, and teleport mage mid laners, it seems as though the meta is playing right into G2 Esports’ hands. Mateusz "Kikis" Szkudlarek has been at his best this season while on tanks, and his play in the semifinals was better than during the regular season. In the regular season, Kikis was stable in the top lane and, although he wouldn’t win lane, he would not give up free kills or large leads. In the playoffs, however, due to the tank tops in the meta, he has looked much better and has had a larger impact in games. His percentage of team damage has shot up from 19.1% to 25.4%. Against Fnatic in the semifinals, his Trundle looked quite formidable, and he showed he could play Ekko which is arguably the strongest champion in the game currently.
Kim "Trick" Gang-yun has been the best jungler in EU this spring and his dominant form has continued into the playoffs. He has been great on damage carry junglers like Nidalee and Graves all season, and even looked good on Kindred when he played it for the first time in the semifinal. He continues to have a major impact in games and has been a consistent threat. Along with Luka "PerkZ" Perkovi?, who has also continued his outstanding play, Trick has been able to dominate the opposing jungle-mid duo freeing them up to roam the map and cause havoc. PerkZ has been the main carry on the team and the meta shift in the playoffs has not changed that fact. He has picked up Ryze in the playoffs and has been just as effective. The usage of double teleport compositions makes it even easier for him to impact other areas of the map with Trick as they tower dive the enemy team and rack up the kills.
Origen has also been the beneficiary of the playoff meta shift as Paul "sOAZ" Boyer, Maurice "Amazing" Stückenschneider, and Tristan "PowerOfEvil" Schrage have all been much better. sOAZ looks much more comfortable playing the current tank tops like Poppy and Maokai than he did playing the carry champions like Quinn and Fiora. There were times during the season where sOAZ looked lost as he tried to split push and was constantly getting himself killed by overextending. Now, sOAZ is able to jump into the enemy team and cause havoc while playing champions with much more survivability making him much more impactful.
Much like the team itself, Amazing’s play in the jungle was quite up and down in the regular season. In the playoffs, however, he has found some consistency and has multiple wins on his Gragas. He has been able to make the pick work for him despite the meta favoring carry champions. His Kindred has also looked decent giving him another option. PowerOfEvil has also been rejuvenated in these playoffs after a very lackluster season. His damage per minute has jumped from 530 to 621 and his damage percentage on the team has gone from 26.7% to 29.4%. He was known for his play on control mages and the meta shift has allowed him to make an impact on his Orianna. Enrique "xPeke" Cedeño Martínez has been subbed in for one game in the playoffs, but I doubt he will play in the finals unless PowerOfEvil heavily underperforms.
Jesper "Zven" Svenningsen has been the best AD carry EU this season and that has remained true into the playoffs. During the regular season he was the only consistent performer on Origen and was carrying the team on his back almost singlehandedly. His form in the playoffs has actually gotten even better as he has increased his damage numbers somehow. He is not as dominant in lane due to the constant lane swapping that takes place, but he is still huge in team fights. He went head to head with Konstantinos "FORG1VEN" Tzortziou-Napoleon and H2k in the semifinal but in my opinion was more impactful and came out on top.
Both G2 and Origen have some flaws and have shown them throughout the season. However, G2 has been the most dominant team in EU despite their flaws, while Origen have struggled for most of the season. G2 often gets over aggressive and tries to push their advantages too far. They end up prolonging games for themselves by overextending, or fall behind due to risky tower dives. Origen has had problems with coordination and decision making all season. Even in the quarterfinals against Unicorns of Love, they would build up huge leads but still took a very long time closing out games due to bad rotations and poor decisions. Individual play from certain players was a problem in the regular season but they have overcome that in the playoffs. Although they have looked better, they still struggle in certain situations with shot calling and decision making.
Origen should have the advantage in the bottom lane as Zven is the best at the AD carry position while Kim "Emperor" Jin-hyun on G2 has been steady but not as impressive. Amazing and PowerOfEvil have looked better, but I believe the Trick and PerkZ combo is going to be too much for them to handle. History shows that sOAZ lives for the postseason and that has held true. But even with the playoff buff I feel that he will not be able to build a large enough advantage over Kikis to make a difference, due in part to the meta. Both Alfonso "mithy" Aguirre Rodriguez and Glenn "Hybrid" Doornenbal have been good over the season, and can both play tanky supports that fit into the meta. G2 has shown better decision making this season and I feel that will be a large deciding factor. I am picking G2 to win a very close five game series 3-2.
Statistics and Match Histories from oracleselixir.com and lol.esportspedia.com
Images from Riot esports on flickr.com
