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Game to watch: H2K vs Team Vitality

Week 3 will finally decide which of these teams has the better grip on the top of the mountain in EU.

We shall be over a quarter of the way through the 2016 Spring Split of the European League Championship Series by the time this week's matches end and, honestly, there are only one match to really keep your eye on this week. While G2 Esports vs Fnatic might also be a good one, you should be very invested in the outcome of the final match of January 28th between H2K and Team Vitality. Not only are the teams battling for possession of first place, but also cementing their role as the team to beat heading towards playoffs.

How They Formed

H2K and Team Vitality got into the LCS in very different ways. H2K qualified for their spot through the Challenger Series and debuted on the LCS stage last year. Team Vitality, on the other hand, straight out bought Gambit Gaming's spot during this year's offseason through the open market. However, a common thread between these two young LCS organizations is that their rosters are both filled with veteran professsional players, which offer some interesting insights into this matchup.

H2K's starting roster is currently made up of:

 

Team Vitality's starting roster is currently made up of:

 

Battle for Supremacy by Former Allies

As you can see, not only is this a match between two first place teams, but this is also a first meeting between a slew of former teammates. Hjarnan and kaSing will face their former team and teammate Odoamne for the first time since joining Vitality. Nukeduck will face Jankos and Vander since all three left ROCCAT. And finally, Cabochard will face off against FORG1VEN since both left the ill-fated Gambit Gaming. Drama aside, this will make for quite a few interesting lane matchups.

The key matchup in this game will most likely be between the Top Laners Cabochard and Odoamne. Since Fnatic's former Top Laner Heo "Huni" Seung-hun left for NA's Immortals, the title of Best Top Laner in Europe has been left vacant for quite some time. This will be the first time for these two frontrunners for that accolade to face off since the formation of their new squads and might see who could take the crown for themselves.

Conclusion

Based on the team's past performances, H2K should hold a slight advantage over Team Vitality coming into this game based on an overall cleaner early game execution and ability to snowball leads. But, Vitality has overcome teams that come in underestimating them, including Fnatic who gave H2K their sole loss. H2K will also be without their starting Mid Laner Ryu due to visa issues. So, it will remain to be seen who will come out of this match as the new kings of Europe.

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