G2 Esports and Fnatic entered today’s match knowing that the winner would secure control over second place in the EU LCS and get one step closer to the top spot.
The victor could even finish the day tied for first place if Schalke beat Misfits, which would result in two teams sitting at 10-4.
At the start of the match, G2 attempted not one, but two early invades into Fnatic’s jungle to suffocate Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen. But Fnatic anticipated the invade and stopped Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski from getting a meaningful lead to slow down the tempo in their favor.
After the initial drama, the match remained quiet during the early game with G2 deciding to focus their attention on pushing lanes to get a small lead. G2 had a chance to get ahead with a huge teamfight in the mid lane, but a poor Orianna ultimate from Luka “Perkz” Perković gave Fnatic the means to escape.
And then Fnatic constantly forced fights with G2 wherever the team went. This all came down to Fnatic’s stand-in ADC Gabriël “Bwipo” Rau, who used Swain’s early power spike to dominate G2.
Even with Fnatic finding several successful fights, G2 stayed in the game through their top laner Martin “Wunder” Hansen. His constant splitpush in the bot lane got G2 to the inhibitor by the 23-minute mark. This was all for naught, however, since Fnatic finally ended the deadlock by securing a Baron around the same timeframe and using it to close out the game.
With the win under their belts, Fnatic take sole position of second place in the EU LCS and could even end the week tied for first. Fnatic return to action on Aug. 10 against Giants, while G2 will look to climb the standings when they face Unicorns of Love on the same day.
