Splyce came into the 2018 EU LCS Summer Split with high hopes. They finished the Spring Split in strong form, and if they continued to play well, they could improve on their semifinals appearance in the playoffs.
Instead, they lost game after game, falling to last place. But just like last split, they’ve found their footing after a rough start and gotten back into the playoff conversation. Their latest triumph came over Vitality, one of the stronger teams in the region with playoff aspirations of their own.
Led by mid laner Daniele “Jiizuke” di Mauro’s Irelia, Vitality hope to stomp the early game with three winning lanes. It’s a formula that’s worked wonders for them in the past.
Splyce’s only hope seemed to be if their own mid, Yacin “Nisqy” Dincer, could find some traction against Jiizuke. They boldly picked Zoe, one of Jiizuke’s pocket champions, to go against the Irelia.
The early lane phase went like most would expect: Vitality smashed in CS and experience. That could have been it for Splyce. But it’s a good thing there’s one other position Vitality seemed to forget: Jungle.
Splyce jugler Andrei “Xerxe” Dragomir has had trouble this split supporting his weaker lanes. But he found his footing early against Vitality, pulling off successful ganks all over the map. It was actually Vitality who made the first move on a top lane dive, but all of Splyce collapsed to get three kills in return.
Xerxe and the rest of the team never looked back. Kill after kill went to their side, mostly in skirmishes around mid lane. But they also had side lane priority, which gave them freedom to ARAM.
By the time Vitality tried teamfighting, they were too far behind. Splyce patiently set up the map for key neutral objectives and rolled through their opponent’s base with a Baron buff.
This is the type of performance that Splyce fans have been waiting all split for: Strong jungle play and clean, patient macro. They gave up only a couple of kills to one of the region’s most bloodthirsty teams. With the win, they’re right back in playoff contention again.
