G2 Esports wins back-to-back LEC titles by defeating Fnatic

William Davis Published 08/09/2019

G2 Esports is the 2019 LEC Summer champion!

G2 took down Fnatic after five intense games. The back-to-back champion-winning team is now heading to the 2019 League of Legends World Championship as the number one seed of the LEC.

Fnatic is off to a great start

The series got off to an explosive start, with both teams looking for a fight early.

It all began with Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle and Zdravets “Hylissang” Iliev Galabov going head-to-head at level two. Mikyx thought he had control of the fight and was surprised when Hylissang decided to punch back. The play turned into a chaotic team fight that burned multiple TPs and ended with deaths on both sides.

Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski and Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen spent the early game in the bottom lane, capitalizing on the chaos. The frantic pace of the game favored Fnatic and set them up to start snowballing early

Instead of regrouping or trying to slow down the pace of the game, G2 decided to just keep on fighting. That suited Fnatic just fine as they kept on swinging, and rolled over G2 for a convincing win in game one.

Better jungling ties the series for G2

G2 jumped into game two with a new plan to shut down Broxah. Jankos started by invading the jungle and stealing as many camps as possible. The jungler transitioned to the top lane and assisted Martin “Wunder” Nordahl Hansen so he could get ahead.

Without pressure from Broxah and Gabriël “Bwipo” Rau, Fnatic had to play a slow, defensive game. G2 took over the map and was able to execute better rotations, with Jankos finding kills in each lane as Jarvan IV.

Jankos and Luka “Perkz” Perković both secured the 1,000th kill of their careers. Fnatic still found picks around the map when the G2 players overextended, but it wasn’t enough to close the gap. G2 kept the pressure on until the last minute and tied the series.

Fnatic punishes G2

Fnatic went for a delayed invade at level one, but G2 countered by chasing Broxah through the jungle for first blood.

The early advantage should’ve been enough to get G2 ahead of the enemy. Instead, they overextended in meaningless fights and wound up behind. Their only option was to force fights, but Fnatic stayed poised and built up their lead.

The squad didn’t do the best job of capitalizing on those advantages as G2 managed to drag the game out. Fnatic finally sealed the deal with the second baron buff. They grew tired of G2’s stalling and pulled the trigger once they took down the inhibitors.

That set the team up with match point.

Caps unleashed

At match point, it was time for Rasmus “Caps” Winther to show up and carry G2. The mid laner struggled in the previous games and was punished for his over aggression. This time, as soon as he got a kill to his name, he was fully online and ready to rumble.

Fnatic didn’t have an answer to Caps, and things didn’t go any better in the top lane. Wunder on Irelia had a stronger presence and Bwipo couldn’t match him.

G2 was in the driver’s seat.

26 minutes into the game, G2 scored a baron buff and barreled down the lanes one by one, knocking down Fnatic’s structures. G2 found the win and took the series to game five.

Perkz shows his best mid lane champion

It all came down to game five.

G2 pulled a rabbit out of its hat in the form of Perkz’s Syndra, the pick that gave G2 the victory over SK Telecom T1 in the Mid-Season Invitational.

G2 started the game strong, taking control of the lanes and chasing Broxah out of his jungle. G2 overestimated their advantage and once again committed too hard to team fights. Fnatic punished their greediness and got back in the game.

That resulted in Fnatic making the same mistake, jumping on G2 when they thought they had the advantage. G2 was able to group faster and gained a numbers advantage in skirmishes. Every member of G2 did their part, with Perkz and Mikyx shining brightly.

Fnatic was not out of the game yet, though. The squad found the perfect team fight in the top lane to chase G2 out of their jungle. Fnatic took down two enemies, but it wasn’t enough to take full control of the baron pit.

G2 returned to the jungle, not willing to give up the buff. They successfully repelled Fnatic and got the buff for themselves, but still couldn’t break the base with it.

The game was decided around the infernal dragon. Jankos was soloing the dragon when Bwipo and Hylissang came around to contest. Fnatic stole it and tried to run, but G2 once again proved to be quicker to respond to fights and killed them on the spot.

G2 converted those kills into two inhibitors and went back to the baron buff for good measure. Fnatic battled back but G2 was just too far ahead at that point. G2 went all-in to take the nexus and the LEC summer title.

William Davis

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