Origen Outlasts H2K in Marathon EU LCS Semifinal Series
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Origen and H2K clashed in a knockdown, drag out match, with Origen emerging victorious. The five-game series lasted almost six hours, as both teams played their hearts out for a shot at the EU LCS split championship and a spot at MSI. The crowd had a clear favorite, as a thunderous Origen chant heralded the start of every single game.
Game One hinged on the play of Ryu “Ryu” Sang-wook on Kassadin. The H2K midlaner counter-picked Tristan “PowerOfEvil” Schrage’s Lissandra with the final pick of the opening draft. The game opened with a protracted lane swap, with the teams trading two towers apiece right off the bat. PowerOfEvil struck first, holding Ryu in place with his Ultimate, Frozen Tomb, while jungler Maurice “Amazing” Stückenschneider grabbed First Blood on a gank through the river with Kindred. Amazing helped Origen build up a solid early lead, turning an awkward confrontation in the river into three kills with the help of his team’s double teleport composition. However, even as Origen was taking teamfights and objectives, Ryu grew ever more threatening on Kassadin, completing a Rod of Ages and teleporting into opportunities here and there to help turn engagements for H2K. Origen missed their opportunity to close out a mid-game victory, as item inventories grew on both sides, including a notable Thornmail on Andrie “Odoamme” Pascu’s Ekko. A huge Baron fight in the 51st minute appeared to be going Origen’s way as Amazing grabbed the contested Baron and Ryu was blown up early in the fight. But the damage output by H2K AD Carry Konstantinos “FORG1VEN” Tzortziou proved too much for Origen to bear, as H2K emerged victorious with a 4-3 teamfight result. Minutes later, a respawned Ryu helped H2K fend off a final desperation push by Origen and chased down straggling Origen team members to clear the way to the nexus, bringing H2K to a one game lead in the series.
Origen’s loss in the opening game brought on the inevitable discussion of an Enrique Cedeño “xPeke” Martínez substitution by the Riot hosts between games, but the team elected to stand fast with PowerOfEvil. Their decision paid off, as PowerOfEvil ended up playing a masterful Game Two on Karma. The game opened with a 2v2 lane match-up in the top lane between FORG1VEN and support Oskar “Vander” Bogdan (on Bard) and Origen’s Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen and Alfonso Aguirre “Mithy” Rodriguez. The lane looked even, but a botched tower dive by H2K jungler Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski gave Origen an advantage as Zven and crew came out ahead 3-2 on traded kills. Origen kept the pressure on by following a Vander Magical Journey deep behind H2K’s top turret and throwing down a timely Kindred Ult to grab an unexpected kill. PowerOfEvil used his Teleport to great effect to stymie H2K dives, and kited expertly in drawn out fights, helping Origen secure an early Baron. A hectic chase down mid, fueled by Mantra’d Karma shields, ended in a win for Origen.
Bans got personal in the third draft of the series, as H2K nixed PowerOfEvil’s Karma and decided to take Amazing off his Kindred. Origen banned Thresh for a third straight game, wanting to avoid any hooks from Vander on the chain warden. Game Three saw AD/Support duos back at it in the top lane, and both pairs played a careful, calculated lane, trading ability and Summoner Spell cooldowns on Vander’s Alistar and Mithy’s Braum without any over-commitment. A Ryu Teleport to a hidden bush ward top on Lissandra gave first blood to H2K. Odoamme on Ekko bullied sOAZ’s Maokai from minute two, leading to an eventual solo kill. H2K successively took Rift Herald, two towers, and a Dragon and another tower to give themselves a strong mid-game lead. I five-man push toplane ended in double kills for both Ryu and FORG1VEN, as H2K snowballed on to Baron, a pair of Inhibitors, and the win. H2K took the lead back with a 12-0 team KDA.
Murmurs in the crowd audible in the broadcast turned into cheers as, backs to the wall, Origen made the midlane swap. The broadcast took a break as xPeke took his seat at the center of his Origen teammates and adjusted his set-up. The midlane change meant a change in H2K’s approach to the draft, banning out their own previously successful Kassadin pick to deny the veteran Spaniard his signature champion. xPeke ended up on an effective if not terribly exciting champion in Lulu, which he piloted in a serviceable manner. H2K went back to the lane swap plan, and with an early Rift Herald taken by Jankos’ Elise, attempted to take down Origen’s inhibitor turret at minute seven. Their push was ultimately rebuffed, and game fell into a heavy stalemate. FORG1VEN was caught out in a rare misposition, and Mithy made a big save with an Unbreakable wall, but mostly the two teams farmed up to a deadlocked gold draw. SOAZ spoiled an eventual H2K engage midlane on Ekko, and Zven, in his fourth series game on Lucian, cleaned up the fight to give Origen a lead and a Baron. H2K fought back with several good engages, but Origen proved too tanky even when caught off guard. Origen eventually closed out the marathon game to thunderous cheers, after 50+ minutes 500+ CS numbers on both AD Carries.
LCS caster Quickshot called out to “queue the Silver Scrapes,” as the traditional marker of a Game Five blared on the broadcast. Settling on a preference for control mages, Origen brought PowerOfEvil back for the deciding match, giving him a comfort pick in Orianna. Ryu on Leblanc and Odoamme on Ekko broke up a slow lane swap start by roaming for First Blood. However, Amazing was able to slow the Leblanc ramp-up by controlling both jungles on his Gragas and stealing two Blue Buffs away from Ryu. A big PowerOfEvil shockwave and an impenetrable Braum wall by Mithy left space for Zven to output Tons of Damage™, grabbing a double kill and 4-1 fight overall for Origen. Origen turned the advantage into an Inhibitor and a Baron. Seven minutes later, Amazing secured a second contested Baron, and Mithy cleared the way for Zven to keep Origen’s push going. Origen’s slow and steady encroachment finally broke through to a second Inhibitor, and shortly after the Nexus to give them the game and the series win.
Origen now moves on to face the winner of Fnatic and G2 Esports’ match tomorrow. Can the “scripted” EU LCS final of Origen vs. Fnatic become a reality? Origen will have to show up at the top of their game next week no matter whom they end up playing, but they showed signs of greatness today that could carry them through to MSI.
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