EU LCS Season 4 Spring Split Super Week 11 recap
As the last Super Week of the European LCS Spring Split is over, we now know who will head to the playoffs and who will have to play in relegations. While we only know two teams for sure that have to play relegations now, as top 6 teams still have to battle around 6th place and therefore the last team that has to go to relegations, we can still see a trend already who might be more in danger of going there than others.
But in case you missed all the action, or even only some of it, let's take a look at what actually happened in this Super Week that was packed with 16 games!
Tuesday
Fnatic vs. Alliance - Fnatic win at 50:34 - Overall match value: 4 on 5
Best play: At 40:30, Cyanide gets caught by Alliance. He rappels into the air, gets back down, having the backup of his team now. YellOwStaR went in with his ult and Q from Leona, enabling xPeke on LeBlanc to Ult-Distortion into all of Alliance. With all of Alliance being fairly low now, Rekkles was able to dish out a lot of damage on Vayne, giving him a doublekill and getting a total of 3 for 0 in this fight, then being able to pick up a free baron.
MVP: Condemning his enemies into the walls all over Summoners Rift, Rekkles played amazing on Vayne in this match! He was really good at splitpushing and later on taking down his enemies with great positioning and his team preparing kills for him. With Vayne being a late-game shining champion, the game length of 50 minutes really went in favor of Fnatic here!
Roccat vs. Supa Hot Crew - Roccat win at 32:01 - Overall match value: 3,5 on 5
Best play: VandeR landing a hook on SELFIE in the botlane at 30:49, following up with his ult, Jinx' Ult and Renekton going in, just eliminating SELFIE from the map. After this they just took two bot towers and an inhibitor, following up with toplane inhib, and then proceeded to take the victory.
MVP: Jankos on Lee Sin. He stole away a dragon, saved his teammates lives a lot of times and played on the side of no risk, no fun - and it worked out for him and his team. They took a smooth victory and won nearly every teamfight, giving them a lot of play potential with the Lee Sin pick.
SK Gaming vs. Fnatic - SK Gaming win at 38:26 - Overall match value: 3,5 on 5
Best play: YellOwStaR hitting his ultimate Solar Flare onto Jinx and Karma in the toplane at 10:31, after he and Rekkles as well as Cyanide have been waiting in the top tribush for the enemy lane to get back. They first took down Jinx between the two toplane towers, to then moved back towards the middle of the lane, killing nRated in the process. YellOwStaR tanks the tower and gets taken low but manages to stay alive.
MVP: Jesiz on Ziggs, going 10/3/4. Having an insanely strong game, Jesiz has shown yet again that he knows how to play Ziggs. Placing some great ultimates onto the Rift as well as zoning with his Hexplosive Minefield, he was a major factor in his team's path to victory.
Millenium vs. Supa Hot Crew - Millenium win at 35:32 - Overall match value: 3,5 on 5
Best play: SELFIE with a nice Shockwave at 28:30, catching multiple members of Millenium and dealing a nice chunk of damage. However, Jree quickly reacted with casting his own ultimate, Solar Flare, on the SHC members, which then allowed their team to turn the fight around and make it a 2 for 4.
MVP: kev1n on Shyvana, being the big tank and initiator for his team. Being able to isolate members of the enemy team with his ultimate as well as taking all the damage the enemy puts out, he had the incredible stats of 6/1/18.
Copenhagen Wolves vs. Gambit Gaming - Copenhagen Wolves win at 41:33 - Overall match value: 4 on 5
Best play: At 23 minutes into the game, after Alex on Zed tried to kill Unlimited on Karma and got poked down pretty low he tried to escape through the toplane tribush. However Heimerdinger was waiting in the bush, having put a turret in the river. The laserbeam shoots and just a splitsecond before it hits, Alex flashes over it, saving his life and ensuring that his escape works.
MVP: YoungBuck on Heimerdinger with stats of 5/1/5, zoning Gambit Gaming really well with his turrets and poking them down slowly. Playing him in the toplane versus a Ryze, he did really well with his poke and positioning, helping his team secure victory.
Wednesday
Alliance vs. Millenium - Millenium win at 50:04 - Overall match value: 3,5 on 5
Best play: Froggen letting himself get caught at 21:15, using his wild growth on himself immediately, knocking up the enemies around him. Tabbz quickly put down the Flame Chompers behind Froggen, who sped himself up to get out of the big mess. kev1n went after him with Shyvana's ultimate, getting caught in the prepared chompers and giving Alliance a solid kill.
MVP: Kerp on Ziggs with a nearly perfect score of 7/1/17. Why you do not ban Ziggs when playing against Kerp, I do not understand. Yet again he has shown his skill on the Hexplosives Expert, showing us what is possible with this champion when put in the right hands. He had a really good focus this game, playing it to his absolute best!
Gambit Gaming vs. Roccat - Gambit Gaming win at 24:49 - Overall match value: 3 on 5
Best play: After a big teamfight around minute 19 when Gambit took down the mid inhibitor, Darien is at 109 hp. Jankos lands his Q on him, jumps, but Gambit are quick to react and pick up the kill on him with the help of Genja on Caitlyn, saving Darien's life who was then able to recall to base.
MVP: Diamond on Kha'Zix with a perfect score of 7/0/1. This has just shown again why you should ban Kha'Zix when playing against Gambit Gaming. A beast in both Alex's and Diamond's hands, it was Diamond who dominated the game with him this time. Chasing down low-health targets to assassinate them, he was a huge factor as to why and how Gambit won this game.
Supa Hot Crew vs. SK Gaming - SK Gaming win at 41:40 - Overall match value: 3,5 on 5
Best play: Ahri landing a charm on SELFIE's Nidalee at 25:42. They force out Lulu's Wild Growth but SELFIE still goes down after which the teamfight goes in an unfavorable way for SHC, making it a 3 for 1 for SK Gaming that resulted in them taking down two midlane turrets.
MVP: CandyPanda on Jinx, dealing an immense amount of damage, picking himself up a triple kill and having great zoning potential with his flame chompers. He just shredded the towers as well as the enemy team and finished the game with stats of 6/1/4.
Millenium vs. ROCCAT - ROCCAT win at 29:38 - Overall match value: 3 on 5
Best play: After an unsuccessful Baron contest at 25:10, Kerp managed to zone himself out behind the pit. Overpow and Jankos smelled blood and chased down the lost Lulu. The chase went from Baron pit, through upper golems, inner ROCCAT turret and all the way to bot lane Wight, before Overpow was able to dispose of Lulu.
MVP: Although no one actually shone in this game, Jankos delivered a very stable performance throughout the match. Ensuring first blood by punishing Kev1n's overextension on top was just the beginning for the Pole. Racking up objectives and kills wherever he goes, Jankos finished the game with a 2-0-6 score and added a very important victory to his team's record.
SK Gaming vs. Copenhagen Wolves - SK win at 28:55 - Overall match value: 3,5 on 5
Best play: SK manged to assert their dominance quite early in this match. At around 17:05, they initiated a mid turret dive onto the Wolves and quickly grabbed a kill. Unfortunately, CandyPanda attracted turret aggro and was left incredibly low. Seeing the opportunity, Amazing quickly flashed after the bleeding AD Carry, but a split-second reaction from both Jesiz's Kayle and nRated's Leona saved CandyPanda who walked away with a sliver of health. A sigh of relief from AD Carries everywhere!
MVP: Without a doubt the MVP for this match is nRated. The sheer amount of Leona ultimates he successfully landed and E, Q combos he hit was staggering. Being a force to be reckoned with during the 2v2 phase, he quickly transitioned to roaming and again caught players from the Wolves time after time, ensuring picks, objectives and the gold lead for his team.
Gambit Gaming vs. Fnatic - Fnatic win at 43:11 - Overall match value: 4 on 5
Best play: Being on the back foot ever since the beginning, Gambit were always looking for a window of opportunity to put a wrench in Fnatic's wheels. Around 35:17, Fnatic confidently besieged Baron Nashor and while two people from their front line managed to hold Gambit at bay, EdWard stole the Baron with a perfect Leona ult. Despite this incredible play, Gambit still wasn't strong enough and eventually fell to Fnatic's monstrous composition.
MVP: Rekkles continues his dominating run through the EU LCS. This time, the youngster not only managed to secure more tower takedowns and more kills, but outfarmed Genja by more than 100 CS for the majority of the game. Outclassing his counterpart in every single aspect, the Swede was a key component in the victory against the Russians.
Friday
Millenium vs. SK Gaming - SK win at 28:24 - Overall match value: 3,5 on 5
Best play: Once again, the spotlight is at nRated's Leona. After an engage onto the duo lane of Millenium at 10:20, the SK players had a nasty surprise from Kottenx who was lingering in the bush, waiting for a good opportunity. Regardless, nRated managed to hold three people long enough by perfectly chaining his CC and allowed CandyPanda to secure a kill before his comrade fell.
MVP: While many would put CandyPanda as the MVP given his incredible Twitch performance, we cannot simply neglect fredy122's monstrous Trundle. The troll not only devastated Kev1n, but became a brick wall once the teamfights came. At times tanking up to four enemies, fredy showcased not only his mastery of the anti-tank, but also an aggressive play style which left Millenium wondering whether the troll would ever die.
Copenhagen Wolves vs. Supa Hot Crew - CW win at 35:48 - Overall match value: 3 on 5
Best play: After a safe disengage, the Wolves found themselves in a rather sticky situation - four people from the Crew were chasing while Selfie was trying to flank. Everyone was waiting for a second fight and it was Migxaa's amazing hook which made it happen. At 18:40, the French player flashed and managed to catch Amazing despite his team being clumped up.
MVP: YoungBuck rarely gets the chance to shine with people like Amazing and Forg1ven racking up kill after kill. This time, however, Joey silenced everyone and once again brought out Heimerdinger. For the second time in a row, YoungBuck outfarmed and completely outplayed his opponent, making sure to engage at the right time and pushed his pick to the limits. An absolutely deserved MVP.
Alliance vs. Gambit Gaming - Alliance win at 36:46 - Overall match value: 4 on 5
Best play: Alliance were beating Gambit to the ground after the early game went disastrous for the Russians. Near the end, Darien got caught by 4 people from Alliance. As EdWard threw his Thresh lantern in a desperate attempt to save his teammate, Nyph landed a crucial bubble denying the Russian and securing the kill. The subsequent fail flash by Darien only added insult to injury.
MVP: Although the game was more or less a one-sided affair, Nyph showcased amazing plays and ensured that Tabzz is not only safe, but also fed. Turning the tides of battle multiple times during the course of the game, the German finished with an impressive score of 0-0-11. This is a return to the Nyph we are used to seeing after the rather poor performance during the first seven weeks. Things have started "clicking" for Alliance and we should definitely expect them to be playoff monsters.
Fnatic vs. ROCCAT - Fnatic win at 36:49 - Overall match value: 4 on 5
Best play: Near 31:00, Overpow saw an opening and immediately enaged onto xPeke's Ziggs on bot lane. A quick reaction by Yellowstar left the Talon exhausted, but the play was not over yet. sOAZ's Lee Sin was just around the corner and managed to predict and hit a blind Q onto an invisible Overpow. Immediately after, the Frenchman proceeded with a R into second Q combo and finished the job with an E to the round of applause from the crowd.
MVP: Cyanide's Kha'Zix was on another level this game. Pressuring all key spots on the map, the Finn left no window of opportunity for the Polish who struggled all game. Protecting xPeke from the pesky Talon pick of Overpow, Lauri was both the silent guardian of mid and the phantom menace of both top and bottom.
Alliance vs. Copenhagen Wolves - Alliance win at 45:03 - Overall match value: 3,5 on 5
Best play: Near 23:50, the Wolves engaged Dragon with the task of dispatching the beast quickly enough so Alliance could not retaliate. As they acknowledged the position of four enemy members, Froggen came out the back and with a perfect combo from Zed managed to steal the Dragon right under the Wolves' nose.
MVP: Wickd showcased his Irelia and was instrumental in the full map dominance of his team. Using his teleport every chance he got, the Dane was pressuring both top and bottom with great success. He and Froggen formed a bit of a duo for a good part of the game, assassinating targets all over the map and securing objectives shortly afterwards. We can safely say that trademark champions are always a threat.
Champion of the week: Ziggs
The Hexplosive Expert is still a hotly contested pick as seen in Week 11. His incredible poke, great late game scaling, zoning potential and global ultimate are a kit which can bring great pain to the enemy. Many of the pros this week were quite successful on the little Yordle, especially xPeke who went against an assassin - Overpow's Talon. Despite getting a little help from Cyanide, Peke showed the effectiveness of Ziggs and his kill potential in the right hands.
Top of the week: Fnatic sOAZ (KDA Ratio: 10.5)
The Frenchman was on fire this week. Accumulating a KDA Ratio of 10.5, Paul was in the zone as his dream came true - he played his trademark Yorick and wreaked havoc among the back line of Gambit Gaming. He showcased such excellent play, that at a certain point in the match, he was tanking four Gambit members at once. He also spiced it up with a highly successful Lee Sin pick and reminded the critics once again that the best top laner in Europe is far from gone.
Jungler of the week: Alliance Shook (KDA Ratio: 6)
Illyes had a stellar week, mostly bringing out Kha'Zix and pushing the Voidreaver to the limit. Always on point, the Dutchman spearheaded his team in the lead on more than one occasion. Correcting his overaggressive approach from earlier this season, Shook has slowly regained his former prowess and has established himself as a threat in all phases of the game.
Mid of the week: Alliance Froggen (KDA Ratio: 11)
The Froggen show continues in full swing! Bringing out Zed, he disposed of every enemy that stood in Alliance's path despite the two slip-ups on days one and two. Considered the best mid laner at this point in Europe, the Dane helped his team to a third place finish in the regular season, a feat which many deemed impossible after the disappointing start to the team's LCS campaign in January.
Bot lane of the week: SK CandyPanda & SK nRated (KDA Ratio: 2.4 and 1.9, respectively)
Although on paper, those two don't seem that impressive, their performance during the week secured SK Gaming the number one spot in the European LCS Spring split. During Week 11, nRated's textbook Leona ultimates made CandyPanda's job a piece of cake. The "German efficiency" bot lane managed to outplay even the Wolves' bot lane on many occasions, leaving Forg1ven and Unlimited with no response after the stunlock from nRated and subsequent pummeling from CandyPanda. Hopfully, we will be see an even better show from both of them once the playoffs hit.
Summary of the week:
What an incredible week! Having talked about possible tie-breakers last week, we now have clear standings and no tie-breakers had to be played. A big surprise this week was Supa Hot Crew, going 0-4 in their games which allowed the Copenhagen Wolves to secure the 6th spot in the playoffs early on. SK Gaming is on the top of the table at the moment, and while in general Europe doesn't seem too happy about this as they seem to prefer having Alliance or Fnatic over there, I am sure SK Gaming will represent Europe just fine at the AllStars if they can keep that spot during the playoffs.
Now...what was the best this week? It would be easy to pick one of the actual matches so I'll just throw in the URF Game here that took place at the end of Day 1 before the challenger series hit off. With TSM facing Cloud 9 and the game being casted by both EU and NA casters, this was arguably one of the best ideas Riot ever had. They did "in the face" interviews a.k.a. interviewing the players while they were playing, the casting got switched between the regions and all the fans really liked this. Two thumbs up to Riot for the idea!
Now let's take a look at the playoffs, giving you a rough overview of what you can expect when the games hit in two weeks from now!
With SK Gaming and Fnatic being in the top 2 of the standings, they can skip the quarterfinals and go straight to the semifinals. However, not all teams are that lucky! Alliance will have to face Copenhagen Wolves again, this will be like a rematch of Day 3 Super Week. Let's see if Alliance will be able to take down the Wolves again or if the Wolves come up with a new strategy to beat Alliance and secure a spot in next season's LCS. The same can be said about the Roccat vs. Gambit Gaming match. The losers of these two matches will face in a match for 5th spot, with the loser of this match having to play in relegations alongside Supa Hot Crew and Millenium. But while the losers have to play there, the winners will advance to the semifinals were they will face Fnatic and SK Gaming. The winners of this will battle for the championship and thus the spot to represent Europe in the All-Stars matches in Paris which take place Thursday, May 8 to Sunday, May 11. The losers of the aforementioned matches will fight for third and fourth spot.
Just looking at the current standings, it is highly likely to see SK Gaming and Fnatic actually meeting each other in the grand finale, both having been playing really solid the past few weeks. However, this is the European LCS and we have witnessed more than just one surprise so far!
Who would you like to represent Europe at All-Stars? And what are your predictions for the playoffs, with all the teams being so close to each other? Tell us in the comments and don't forget to vote for your three personal All-Star favorites to send them to Paris here. Voting continues till the 12th of April, currently being led by Rekkles, xPeke and Diamond.
