?Day 1 of the EU LCS Week 3 has been filled to the brim with upsets.
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Kicking off the third week of the EU LCS Summer Split was Meet Your Makers going up against the remade Ninjas in Pajamas. Everybody was curious to see how the replacements would synergize with Bjergsen and Deficio, given that they barely had a week to train with the new lineup. From the picks and bans, NiP new playstyle is obvious, with extinkt getting a high-damage initiator in Diana, and Freeze with an early game aggressor with Draven. MYM, on the other hand, utilized their usual aggressive comp with Czaru's Ahri and his signature Teleport style.
Though extinkt got caught out early on before minions arrived, as well as getting ganked again by three MYM members at top, that didn't seem to put NiP down. In fact, for the rest of the game, the newly-formed NiP looked very impressive lane per lane, utilizing the strong mechanics from the new recruits. Though there was a moment of indecisiveness during mid game, the impact NiP has made in the early game was enough to rattle MYM, who relied on having a good start. With a triple-threat team comp, NiP has silenced its critics for now and grabbed a win on the debut of their revamped squad.
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Fnatic was shook up last week when they were destroyed by ALTERNATE, with Lemondogs not having good matches recently. The rookies went for an all-out, strong-engage assassin comp with Fizz, Lissandra, and Jarvan leading the way for Ezreal and Janna. The veterans, on the other hand, chose a Wombo Combo team of Orianna and Malphite, with Thresh and Udyr peeling for Tristana to destroy her opponents.
The entire 50+ minutes for the game was a messy brawl. Both teams seems to encounter problems executing their strategies, which cost a lot of throws on either side. However, what turned the tide was Zorozero and Nukeduck on Lissandra and Fizz respectively, able to pick off one of Fnatic's members more than the Wombo Combo for xPeke and sOAZ. Add in a bit more misplays by Fnatic, and Lemondogs was able to dismantle Fnatic's base bit by bit, and the last big teamfight securing victory for them.
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Another chapter of the grudge match between ocelote and Araneae, and SK is hungry for revenge. Picks and Bans seemed to not matter, as both teams essentially got all their comfort champions. ATN ended up with a team comp not that far from their "Protect the Vayne" that they used on their LCS debut, while SK formed a strong teamfighting lineup, with ocelote's Orianna as the be all and end all.
While ALTERNATE pulled off their usual out-of-the-gate aggression, SK managed to keep pace with them. Araneae's Lee Sin wasn't able to make as many plays as he wanted to, as it looked like ocelote and his crew has studied ATN team comp well. While Kerp's Shen was effective at split pushing during the early stages of the game, SK's superior positioning and Orianna's effective ball handling forced the ninja to join his comrades. Around 25 minutes, SK's lineup was too potent in teamfights, with ATN being pelted down before they could even engage, until they simply crumbled, evening the score in this Spanish rivalry.
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For the last game of the day, it is the ever-famous bout between Evil Geniuses and Gambit Gaming, the latter playing with a sub because of Darien getting sick. Spontexx, his replacement, mixed things up with a Quinn in mid, forming a duel-heavy team comp with strong single target damage. EG's Froggen managed to get his Jayce, and the insane amount of damage he brings was complemented with Snoopeh and Wickd's tankiness via Nasus and Malphite, respectively.
It was a pretty close match, though around the mid game, one can see how important Darien was to the team. Without his usual tanky, dive-heavy champions, there wasn't enough initiation power for GMB to close in on the enemy. This led to Froggen's Jayce growing exponentially as he bursted champions down with his Acceleration Gate + Shock Blast combo. Add to that a sneaky two-man baron with him and Snoopeh on Nasus around 34 minutes, and EG got the leverage they needed to to take down their (mostly) Russian foes.
