Melany M. May 19, 2019
G2 Esports is on a roll at the Mid-Season Invitational, as the European squad took down SK Telecom T1 and is moving forward to the final.
For the first time in competitive League of Legends, North America and Europe will be disputing the MSI trophy in the final. G2 made it possible with a victory over LCK representative SKT. The series that went to five games was a League of Legends masterclass. Each of the ten players had a chance to shine and make their regions proud.
In game one, G2 locked in Sona and Taric. While other teams approached this strategy with the threat of burst damage, SKT went for strong lane presence. Park “Teddy” Jin-seong picked his signature Ezreal, while support Cho “Mata” Se-hyeong played Karma. The first set was a win for SKT.
G2 tried a different approach in game two with burst damage in every lane. Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski spent most of the laning phase in the bottom lane protecting Luka “Perkz” Perković and Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle. The European squad snowballed an advantage and rolled over SKT after a pentakill by the hands of Rasmus “Caps” Winther.
Game three was all about jungler Kim “Clid” Tae-min. Considered the best jungler in the tournament, Clid took over the game just a couple of minutes in. The jungler secured one pick after another and put fear in G2’s hearts. Clid on Rek’Sai was an unstoppable force and responsible for SKT’s second win.
Facing match point, G2 decided to slow down the frantic pace of the series. Jankos locked in Skarner, the pick that gave Team Liquid its final victory on Friday. Just like Jake “Xmithie” Puchero did, Jankos put G2 ahead thanks to this unique pick.
G2 neutralized Teddy and Mata. G2 then grouped as five and hit hard. SKT couldn’t do anything in response until Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok decided to step forward. On his third Sylas game, Faker kept SKT in the running through his assertive playmaking.
The game would end with a sneaky back door. While SKT tried to secure a baron, Caps and Martin “Wunder” Hansen ran for the newly exposed nexus.
In game five, G2 showed its final trick, a Syndra pick in the bottom lane and the return of top lane Pyke. Kim “Khan” Dong-ha was prepared for the matchup this time. G2’s plan was clear: fight their way to the enemy nexus.
The bloody early game favored G2. SKT got some punches in, but nothing strong enough to throw G2 off balance. SKT slowly got back in the game and even aced G2 at 25 minutes. The final moments of the game were decided in a team fight around the baron pit.
SKT forced the attempt even though their members were low in health after the previous skirmish. One by one, the G2 players revived and ran to the pit. The team fight was fast and G2 was relentless. The ensuing ace was enough to win the game for G2.
G2 is moving forward to face Team Liquid in the final.