European Regionals at Gamescom - Day 3 eSports Central

European Regionals at Gamescom - Day 3

by August 18, 2012 @ 10:08am

Day 3

With only 4 teams remaining, any team that won their semi-final match were guarenteed to qualify for the Season 2 World Championships in October, in addition to securing a place in the Season 3 Championship series. Losers of their semi-final bouts were not completely knocked out, but they would have to do battle to earn 3rd place to secure their spot in the aforementioned tournaments.

The games played today were:

m5.BenQ vs FnaticRC

SK Gaming vs CLG.EU

M5.BENQ VS FNATICRC - GAME 1

M5.BENQ BANS

FNATICRC BANS

m5 Alex Ich - - Mid
m5 Gosu Pepper - - Support
m5 Genja - - AD
m5 Diamond - - Jungle
m5 Darien - - Top

Fnatic s0AZ - - Top
Fnatic nRated - - Support
Fnatic Lamia2 - - AD
Fnatic xPeke2 - - Mid
Fnatic Cyanide - - Jungle

This was the first time that we've seen at Gamescom. m5 Alex Ich picked up to further increase the global presence of m5.BenQ's team.

With m5.BenQ staying defensive in their own jungle, FnaticRC took the opportunity to try and score an early kill. As they approached m5.BenQ's tri-bush at bottom lane, they slowly advanced towards the Red Buff camp but halted in the fog of war. Fnatic xPeke2 threw a at the Red Buff brush and stunned m5 Genja , forcing him to to safety.
Fnatic returned to the fog of war between the Red buff and tri-bush and waited. They then invaded the Red Buff camp again and landed a stun onto m5 Diamond , resulting in a first blood kill for Fnatic.

Some very offensive play by Fnatic nRated and Fnatic Lamia2 left m5 Genja very low on health, m5 Alex Ich used his to enter the aid his bottom lane team mates out, and picking up a kill on the retreating Fnatic Lamia2 .

As Fnatic attempted Dragon at 9:00, m5 Alex Ich used to dive in with m5 Darien's protecting him. m5 Gosu Pepper threw a towards Fnatic, forcing them to retreat with a lot of m5.BenQ's ultimates used.

Fnatic s0AZ surprised us all again with the that we had seen in the first game against Curse.EU, killing m5 Diamond in a 1v1 fight.

m5.BenQ secured back-to-back Dragon kills with a few player kills in between, with the score sitting at 7-2 in their favour.

m5 Darien had a tough start against Fnatic s0AZ but after a heavy exchange between the two, he came out on top despite some excellent kiting from his top lane counter-part.

m5 Alex Ich has been excellent throughout the tournament and this game was no exception: After killing both Fnatic nRated and Fnatic Lamia2 , he was sitting at a fantastic score of 6-0-1.
The snowballing m5 Alex Ich finally became godlike at 32 minutes prior to m5.BenQ scoring an ace .
Fnatic's response to the ace was to surrender at just 33:00, wanting to completely forget about Game 1 and focus on Game 2.

M5.BENQ VS FNATICRC - GAME 2

M5.BENQ BANS

FNATICRC BANS

m5 Alex Ich - - Mid
m5 Gosu Pepper - - Support
m5 Genja - - AD
m5 Diamond - - Jungle
m5 Darien - - Top

Fnatic s0AZ - - Top
Fnatic nRated - - Support
Fnatic Lamia2 - - AD
Fnatic xPeke2 - - Mid
Fnatic Cyanide - - Jungle

This was one of the first times we had seen at a LAN event and she offered exactly what Fnatic needed, with their champion picks revolving around huge AoE damage.

Fnatic tried the same invade tactic as the first game but fortunately for their opponents, m5 Diamond was wiser than last game and didn't get caught out. He was cautious, however, and after seeing the enemy team at his Red Buff, he chose to start at his team's Blue buff.

High aggression from both teams resulted with first blood going to m5 Gosu Pepper , shortly before his teammate m5 Genja was killed by a roaming Fnatic xPeke2 .

Fnatic s0AZ had a rough start to the game, getting ganked twice by m5 Diamond at top lane, with the first kill going to the jungler and the second kill being picked up by m5 Alex Ich with .

A very early Dragon was picked up by m5.BenQ, at just 8:00. This was one of the fastest Dragon kills of the tournament, with m5.BenQ really wanting to create a large gold advantage as soon as possible.

m5 Gosu Pepper was charged at by 3 members of Fnatic at his turret but a perfect saved him and ended up killing Fnatic nRated .

Fnatic really wanted to push m5 Diamond out of the game, committing 3 members of their team to gank him at the top turret. He was then caught out again a few minutes later, with Fnatic xPeke landing a kill and assist gold going to 3 of his teammates.

As m5.BenQ looked for a way to take the lead in the game, they searched for the second Dragon kill of the game. This didn't work out for them though, as the incredible AoE burst damage from Fnatic landed them an ace, as well as taking the Dragon away from their opponents.

m5.BenQ wanted to really push Fnatic back but after a surprisingly weak initiation from them, Fnatic won the team fight with a 4-1 exchange in their favour. This continued to be the theme of the game, with m5.BenQ really struggling in the team fights due to the AoE composition that Fnatic had created.

Fnatic were really ahead at this stage of the game, doubling the amount of kills that the Russian team had registered (16-8) in addition to maintaining a 6.5k gold lead.

m5.BenQ were unable to beat a very strong Fnatic team and with countless lost team fights, they looked unlikely to stage any form of comeback as Fnatic Lamia2 sat comfortably at 5-1 with no sign of slowing down.

The last two team fights of the game yielded 4 kills for Fnatic Lamia2 and Fnatic was outclassing m5.BenQ in most team fights.

Fnatic eventually became too powerful and they destroyed their opponent's nexus, sending the series to the first game 3 of the tournament.

M5.BENQ VS FNATICRC - GAME 3

M5.BENQ BANS

FNATICRC BANS

m5 Alex Ich - - Mid
m5 Gosu Pepper - - Support
m5 Genja - - AD
m5 Diamond - - Jungle
m5 Darien - - Top

Fnatic s0AZ - - Top
Fnatic nRated - - Support
Fnatic Lamia2 - - AD
Fnatic xPeke2 - - Mid
Fnatic Cyanide - - Jungle

m5 Alex Ich chose not to take , which was rather surprising considering the incredible success it brought in game 1. m5 Alex Ich was clearly more focussed on winning his lane and he got a great start after a good gank from m5 Diamond landed him first blood on Fnatic xPeke2 .

m5 Alex Ich continued to get kills as he killed the severely underleveled Fnatic Cyanide before dying to Fnatic Lamia2 who had strolled up to middle lane.

Fnatic tried to gather some steam by initiating a two man tower dive at top lane. This proved to be a bad idea however, as m5 Darien escaped with minimal health, and Fnatic xPeke2 died to a counter-gank by m5 Alex Ich and m5 Diamond .

m5.BenQ continued to put immense pressure on the mid lane, with Fnatic xPeke2 getting killed again, thanks to the aggressive usage of the summoner spell that m5.BenQ became famous for.

A 3-1 exchange for m5.BenQ gave a double kill to m5 Genja , further pushing him ahead of Fnatic Lamia2 who was already 75 minion kills behind.

m5.BenQ finally fought Baron Nashor at 30:00 but a heroic Fnatic Cyanide stole the kill with , although the buff was short-lived as he and two other Fnatic members died immediately afterwards.

As m5 Gosu Pepper collapsed to a strong lane gank by Fnatic Cyanide , m5.BenQ pushed the two remaining top turrets and the inhibitor. m5.BenQ then grouped up in mid lane and despite an excellent and combo from Fnatic, the damage was lacking and m5.BenQ went on to win the team fight, with m5 Alex Ich picking up a triple kill.

m5.BenQ pushed further their opponent's base, destroying their nexus and ending the series with a 2-1 scoreline in favour of the Russian giants. This made them the first team to be guarenteed to qualify for Season 2's World Championship as well as the Season 3 Championship series.

SK GAMING VS CLG.EU - GAME 1

SK GAMING BANS

CLG.EU BANS

CLG Krepo - - Support
CLG yellowpere - - AD
CLG Froggen - - Mid
CLG Snoopeh - - Jungle
CLG Wickd - - Top

SK Araneae - - Jungle
SK YellOwStar - - AD
SK Kev1n - - Top
SK Nyph - - Support
SK ocelote - - Mid

We've seen a lot of 2v1 combinations at top and bottom lane, but both teams forced their bot lane duo to take the top lane.

SK Araneae started the game off with a wonderful smite steal on Blue Buff from CLG Snoopeh . At the same time, SK kev1n took his team's Blue Buff, while SK YellOwStar took his team's Red Buff.
The heavy counter jungling tactic by SK continued as CLG Snoopeh tried to take his Red Buff, only for SK kev1n to come and take it away from him with the help of SK Araneae .
As soon as CLG's Blue Buff respawned, SK Araneae took it with his to further deny CLG Snoopeh any of the 5 buffs that had been present in the game.

SK continued their incredibly aggressive start to the game with a 4-man push on CLG.EU's mid turret causing it to fall at a very early 10:30.

Shortly after SK YellOwStar took his team's Red Buff for the second time in the game, SK moved towards their opponent's Blue Buff and stole it again, meaning that CLG had not taken a single Blue Buff in the first 15 minutes of the game.

First blood came after a lane gank by SK Araneae on CLG Froggen . CLG Wickd used his to join the fight but SK kev1n used his to land the first kill of the game for SK Ocelote onto CLG Snoopeh .

CLG Froggen attempted to take his team's Blue Buff but again was denied by SK, with SK kev1n using his onto a ward at the camp, forcing the low mana to retreat.

SK continued to ruin CLG Snoopeh's game by 3-man diving him at his second turret in top lane. Shortly after, SK finally took the first Dragon of the game. At 21:00, it's one of the latest first Dragon kills we've seen at the tournament.

SK Araneae inititaed a fight by landing a beautiful on 4 members of CLG.EU, followed by an awesome from SK Ocelote . With the damage not as high as SK had hoped, SK Araneae attempted to return back to his turret, but a fantastic from CLG Krepo caught SK Nyph out of position, leading to a kill for CLG.
CLG Snoopeh , however, registered another death for his team, with SK kev1n finishing him off with shortly after the fight had ended.

CLG were determined to push their second turret of the game, but as their members were positioned between the first and second turret in middle lane, SK kev1n entered the fray with his , giving chase to CLG with the support of his team, ultimately gaining two more kills for the cause.

The second Dragon of the game was killed by SK, whose objective control had been exceptional all game.

SK kev1n continued to power through the enemy team, killing CLG Froggen with the help from a magnificant from SK YellOwStar . Having the advantage in numbers, SK took the first Baron Nashor of the game and proceeded to destroy CLG.EU's top turret and inhibitor, with no defensive pressure from their opponents.

The gold advantage between the two teams rose to a huge 15k after SK took the 3rd Dragon of the game.

SK shifted their focus to the bottom lane, with minions pushing into CLG.EU's base from top lane. SK Ocelote and SK kev1n initiated on SK yellowpete , taking him from 70% to 0 and with victory in sight for the SK players, they pushed their advantage hard and ended the game after 45 minutes of pure dominance by SK.

It's hard to stress how important SK kev1n has been for his team throughout the entire tournament. Without a doubt he has been SK's MVP and has definitely been player of the tournament for me.

SK GAMING VS CLG.EU - GAME 2

SK GAMING BANS

CLG.EU BANS

CLG Krepo - - Support
CLG yellowpete - - AD
CLG Froggen - - Mid
CLG Snoopeh - - Jungle
CLG Wickd - - Top

SK Araneae - - Jungle
SK YellOwStar - - AD
SK Kev1n - - Top
SK Nyph - - Support
SK ocelote - - Mid

It was CLG.EU that was the more offensive team this time, with a 5 man invade killing SK Araneae before Blue Buff had spawned, with the first blood gold going to CLG yellowpete .

SK kev1n was gifted Blue Buff by his team again, SK clearly wanting to give their star player the best laning phase possible. Both the top laners took bottom lane again and CLG.EU tried to 3-man gank SK kev1n , but with no success.

An offensive play by CLG Froggen and CLG Snoopeh took SK Ocelote to low health and forced him to use and to survive, but as SK Araneae tried to turn the tide of the fight, a wild CLG Krepo appeared and shut him down, with CLG Froggen securing the kill on the flailing jungler.

CLG.EU committed 3 of their members to turret dive SK ocelote but things didn't go quite as planned as once the kill had been secured, CLG Snoopeh was picked off by SK kev1n's .

CLG.EU picked up back to back Dragon kills to try and give them the advantage over a visibly pumped SK team. At 24:00, the difference between the two teams was just 2 kills and 1.5k gold.

A fight at the dragon pit erupted with SK Araneae falling quickly, but fantastic ball control from SK ocelote ripped CLG.EU apart, resulting in a triple kill for him and the momentum for SK to take the first Baron Nashor of the game.

CLG seeked to close the gold gap by taking Dragon, but SK ocelote showed up again and scored his second triple kill of the game. Two more kills on CLG Froggen and CLG Snoopeh shortly followed before finally being shut down by CLG yellowpete .

SK destroyed CLG.EU's middle inhibitor with no response. The second Baron Nashor was quickly picked up by SK and a team fight started immediately after, with SK YellOwStar falling almost immediately. Once again, SK ocelote dealt tons of damage, forcing CLG.EU to retreat with low health. SK took this opportunity to gather their forces and push their enemy's bot lane inhibitor.

CLG.EU were forced to play defensive with only 1 inhibitor remaining, and SK attempted to fight but lost two members without being able to kill a single member of CLG.EU. This fight actually proved beneficial for SK though, as the mass of super minions pushed into CLG.EU's base, destroying one of the nexus turrets and forcing CLG.EU to return to their nexus while SK destroyed the final inhibitor.

CLG.EU's base was completely empty, with the exception of one nexus turret. You could feel the tension as SK pushed closer and closer to their opponent's nexus and the tension finally became too much, as they found the courage to go all in and end the game, destroying CLG.EU's nexus and ending the series 2-0 to SK Gaming.

A 2-0 win for SK Gaming was a surprise for everyone: Their new roster has rejuvenated them and their current form is very reminiscent of m5.BenQ at IEM Kiev.

To recap, as today's report was quite lengthy:

m5.BenQ 2 - 1 FnaticRC

SK Gaming 2 - 0 CLG.EU

SK Gaming and m5.BenQ, having both qualified, will battle it out tomorrow to determine the winners of the tournament. All eyes will be on the battle for 3rd place, however: CLG.EU have massively underperformed by their own standards and will almost be expected to beat FnaticRC, which will not be an easy task. The loser of this game will not make it to the World Championship Series.

Stay tuned for more news on the European Regionals. My name is Revwood, thank you for reading.

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