G2 Esports defeated Misfits in the first match of the 2018 League of Legends EU LCS Spring Split to kick off their title defense in style.
Both teams were fielding new rosters for the 2018 Spring Split after a busy offseason, and fans were eager to see what these new-look sides were capable of.
Going into the match, both teams knew that a win today could be a huge statement to the rest of the EU LCS. Misfits and G2 were favorites for the EU LCS title this year going into the matchup, and looked to pick up a vital first victory in the race for the crown.
Both sides started off the first five minutes of the game slowly. After that the game really came alive.
Misfits concentrated all of their efforts onto the bot lane and picked up a couple of kills. G2, however, answered back swiftly to pick a kill up for themselves, keeping things even in the early stages of the game.
As Misfits continued to aggressively target the bottom lane, G2 invested their own efforts into getting the mid and top lane ahead to create a small gold lead. G2 used this lead to grab themselves the Rift Herald just before the 20-minute mark to crack open Misfits’ outer towers.
Misfits found fights in the mid game that could have helped them get back into the matchup. G2 had other plans, however, as they capitalized on a string of poor communication errors from Misfits to give themselves all the resources they needed to turn around fight and keep their steady gold lead growing.
Even a late Baron steal from Misfits wasn’t enough for them to get back into the game. G2’s team composition of Sejuani, Cho’Gath, and Tahm Kench was just too tanky for Misfits to deal with. As G2 pushed forward, they kept their damage dealers away from harm in the backline and slowly chipped away at Misfits’ base.
G2 needed to get a second Baron at the 40-minute mark to finally break apart the enemy inhibitor towers and secure themselves the first win of the season.
G2 face off against Roccat tomorrow for a chance to double their victory total in the first week of the EU LCS. Misfits, on the other hand, face off against returning EU LCS team Schalke 04 in the final match of the day.
