LEC Spring Split 2020 W1D2 Recap: Fnatic With the Fastest Win so Far

The second day of LEC action has come and gone. If you missed any European League of Legends this weekend, we’ve got you covered with a recap of the games.

Ten new rosters face-off, ten long games get played, and in the end, G2 Esports win. This has been the story of the last twelve months in the LEC and it doesn’t look like stopping any time soon. No surprises that G2 head into Week 2 with a 2-0 record and once again look like Europe’s strongest team.

Joining them at the top of the table are Origen and Rogue who both impressed in their first week back on the LEC stage.

Meanwhile, rosters heaving with rookies struggled to adjust to the step up to Europe’s top division as Misfits and Vitality sit dead last in the table. And it wasn’t the dream return to EU that FORG1VEN was hoping for as he and Schalke also end Week 1 with an 0-2 record

Miss any Day 2 action? Here’s our recap:

Team Vitality 0 – 1 MAD Lions

Player of the Game: Matyáš “Carzzy” Orság

Team Vitality had the upper-hand in the early game with some intelligent recall timings and Teleport advantages which allowed the team to pick up a Rift Herald and tower first blood without response. This advantage was extended as Skeanz and Saken combined to find picks and secure further objectives.

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Nevertheless, Vitality never really looked to be in the driver’s seat; poor wave management and macro set-up gave MAD Lions full control of the Baron area which they used to wipe the floor with their opponents in a vital team fight (Carzzy’s Bullet Time being a huge factor) and grab Nashor for themselves.

From there, the MAD roster closed the game by the books, albeit a little impatient at times which will undoubtedly be refined as this talented group of rookies adjusts to the LEC stage.

Excel Esports 0 – 1 Rogue

Player of the Game: Finn “Finn” Wiestål

For the second day in a row, an uncharacteristic Expect mistake handed his lane opponent a gold lead in the early stages of the game. Fortunately, Excel responded on this occasion with a heads up TP play from Patrik to put Aphelios in the lead.

This continued through to the mid game as every proactive Rogue play was followed by a swift Excel reply.

When the roles were reversed, however, Rogue failed to respond as Excel charged down the top lane with Rift Herald to take an inhibitor before the 20-minute mark. This allowed the Excel line-up to open up the map, destroying tower after tower, and establishing a large gold lead.

From this position it should have been an easy victory for Excel, but Rogue had other plans and set up an excellent TP flank play for Finn to win a team fight, pick up a Baron, and turn the game on its head. This led to panic from the Excel roster and a disastrous forced fight allowed Rogue to stroll down the mid lane and close the game out.

Origen 1 – 0 Schalke 04

Player of the Game: Elias “Upset” Lipp

While Schalke looked towards the top lane to craft out an early game advantage, Origen opted to target Abbedagge’s vulnerable Ryze with Nukeduck’s LeBlanc and well-timed roams from Destiny. This worked to great effect, with the Schalke mid laner 0/4/0 at 23 minutes, creating a 3k gold lead for Origen to control the tempo with.

It may have been slow-paced, but Origen were cruising from the mid game onwards. Reminiscent of 2019 Spring Split Origen, the squad maintained full vision control around key objectives and slowly choked Schalke out without needing to force too many fights.

Schalke made attempts to force fights and squeeze their way back into the game, but Origen didn’t budge and were much too far ahead thanks to Nukeduck’s early dominance and Upset’s insane Senna damage output.

Fnatic 1 – 0 Misfits Gaming

Player of the Game: Martin “Rekkles” Larsson

The fastest game of the Spring Split so far (20:01) came in what could hardly be described as a contest between Fnatic and Misfits Gaming.

A rookie-filled Misfits roster may have shown some signs of promise during their clash with Rogue on Day 1, but those signs have promptly disappeared as Febiven seems to be the only player worthy of the LEC stage. It really was that bad.

No game plan, no cohesion, no reasonable attempts to turn the game back around. And let’s not even mention Dan Dan’s awful Nocturne top pick.

By no means did Fnatic play well, they just happily accepted the gift-wrapped win that Misfits seemed content to pass their way. Both teams, but especially Misfits, need to majorly step up their game over the next few weeks if they want to achieve their Spring Split goals.

SK Gaming 0 – 1 G2 Esports

Player of the Game: Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski

Yet again G2 weren’t in the mood to give 100% during the laning phase and allowed SK to take an early game lead. That was until the G2 team were allowed to group up and team fight at which point they regained full control of the Rift.

Obviously, it wasn’t flawless from there; it never is with G2. SK occasionally found picks to delay the snowball, but ultimately there’s not much you can do once the defending LEC champions get going.

The LEC returns next week on Friday 31 January. Check out the broadcast on the LEC Twitch channel or LoL Esports YouTube channel!