Which LCS team would manage to keep their spot and which one would be forced to fight on? Let's find out.?
Many thought that, coming into this promotional/relegation match between two LCS squads, the eighth-place Danes of Splyce would easily triumph over the last-place Giants Gaming with little incident. This would simply not be the case, as the series turned into a barn burner that would see a multitude of off-kilter champion picks and complete team throws.
Game 1
In the first game, Giants looked to have made a serious error in the pick and ban phase, possibly running a Corki into a bad matchup against Chres "Sencux" Laursen's Azir. But, the team managed to pivot into a poke comp with Isaac "xPePii" Flores pulling out a pocket Varus pick. Splyce would pick up an early advantage, but would go on to give it right back to Giants at an awkward fight at Giant's bottom inhibitor turret. The arrows from xPePii's Varus proved to be too much for Splyce to handle as some clutch Chains of Corruption turned a back-and-forth game into Giants' favor.
Winner: Giants Gaming
Game 2
Splyce looked to run a similar strategy against Giants' gameplan and this time banned out xPePii's Varus. But, xPePii would pull out an old favorite in the form of Xerath. Coupled with long range damage from Son "Sonstar" Seung-ik's Jhin, xPePii looked to once again clip the wings off Splyce. In the early game, besides a few ganks on Xerath, everything seemed to go the way of Giants. But key flank teleports by Martin "Wunderwear" Hansen's Fiora on overaggressive Giants pushes would turn the game back on its heels and transform Wunderwear's Fiora into the late game split-pushing monster she can be.
Winner: Splyce
Game 3
Instead of Giants pulling out the oddball picks, it would be Splyce this time around with Splyce's Wunderwear pulling out the Fizz alongside Sencux's Zed against a more standard teamfighting/siege composition from Giants. Sencux would find the kills to pull away early from xPePii's Azir, but couldn't do enough in his efforts to split-push as too many other members of Splyce would find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Zed would then find himself not being able to do nearly enough against the pure teamfighting power and CC coming out of the Giants' ability pool.
Winner: Giants Gaming
Game 4
Game 4 would see even more off-meta picks with Splyce running Sejuani on Jonas "Trashy" Andersen and Vel'Koz on Sencux. Giants' Lennart "SmittyJ" Warkus would respond by pulling out a Gangplank. But that pick would end up being completely outplayed and heavily abused by Wunderwear's Poppy. Splyce's Kasper "Kobbe" Kobberup would also pull out to an huge lead on Lucian off an awkward early fight in the top lane, which ultimately signed the death warrant for Giants.
Winner: Splyce
Game 5
In the finale between these two teams, it would not disappoint as it continued the back-and-forth trends of the entire series. Splyce would gain a quick advantage off a poor Giants lane-swap and poorly coordinated rotations, but Giants would manage to turn it around on some picture-perfect Gragas ultimates by Kim "Wisdom" Tae-wan. Giants looked to have the game in hand with Splyce's base in tatters, but SmittyJ would prove to make the deciding errors when overaggressively diving onto Splyce as a Fiora multiple times without any support from his team. Splyce would go onto win a decisive fight at Baron and close out the incredibly tight series.
Winner: Splyce
Both teams came away from this series breathing heavily. Splyce emerged sighing in relief as they dodged a bullet. But, the team has much to improve looking ahead towards the Summer Split, especially if they hope to not have to repeat this performance. Giants Gaming, on the other hand, have got to be steaming frustration. The team had multiple moments to close out the series and secure their return spot in the LCS, only to squander all of them. Having to face Huma in their last chance to redeem themselves, Giants will have to pick themselves back up quickly if they hope to return to the LCS alongside Splyce and ROCCAT.
