G2 and Vitality secured crucial wins as the European LCS approaches the end of its Summer Split.
Ninjas in Pyjamas made game one difficult for G2 Esports, playing to the strengths of their scaling team composition and even stealing a Baron. The early game was very uneventful, which was theoretically good for NiP, though first tower gold did give G2 a small lead. In fact, three towers went down before a single player died. The game was kill-free until almost 20 minutes in, with three in quick succession for G2 at the cost of a single death and suddenly G2 looked to be pulling away. But the aforementioned Baron stemmed the bleeding and it seemed as though NiP might be stabilizing. They even took the kill lead soon afterwards, but never quite evened up the gold. It all turned back in G2’s favour almost immediately after the buff wore off. G2 aced a team fight in the middle lane, re-asserting their dominance. The next baron was the beginning of the end. G2 secured it and took another ace as NiP tried to contest the buff. With only Sprattel alive on Rakan, NiP had to watch as their nexus was destroyed.
Game two started with a simple first blood for G2 thanks to an easy gank from Trick’s Zac just four minutes in. The repeat gank in the middle lane just a couple of minutes later extended the lead and G2 never looked back. It was all NiP could do to keep the kill score and gold lead close, but even that was beyond them. The lead was over 5k by 15 minutes in and G2 showed no signs of letting up. They grabbed themselves a delayed ace as the clock hit 20 and secured an Infernal Drake to go with it, on top of a 12k gold lead. The Baron was next in G2’s sights, which they secured with ease, and took down the enemy nexus just as easily.
Earlier in the day, Vitality won an important battle in the war of avoiding relegation. They defeated fellow strugglers, Mysterious Monkeys, in a real slugfest. Game one was slow, with only a handful of kills in the opening 20 minutes. Perhaps both teams were nervous, as they both seemed to be avoiding mistakes rather than trying to make plays. Vitality played the map better than their opponents, though, taking a gold lead thanks to a well-earned tower lead. A kill on Amazing’s Sejuani allowed them to secure the Baron buff and they used that to grow an unassailable lead.
Game two was similarly tentative, with a similarly small lead for Vitality after the opening exchanges. After 25 minutes with only a single kill, the game suddenly exploded, with three kills for Vitality allowing them to take another game-changing Baron. The game was over within five minutes of the Baron going down, leaving Vitality breathing a sigh of relief.
