In Day 1 Week 3 of the European LCS, we see Alliance finally stepping up its game, while Roccat added more fuel to its hype train.

FNC vs ALL

At this point, almost everybody expected a stomp from Fnatic. Even though they lost against Gambit last week, the underwhelming performance of Alliance still stood as an indicator as to how the game would proceed. In a welcome surprise, everyone in Alliance played arguably their best since the beginning of the split.

After a failed invade by Fnatic, the game turned into a bit of a farmfest. Only the lane of Rekkles and Yellowstar had a considerable lead versus Tabzz and Nyph. However, Shook, after all the hype backlash due to his poor performances, really stepped up his game when his Pantheon hit 6. A Grand Skyfall in the midlane took down xPeke, and that wouldn't be the only time. Fnatic's team comp relied on winning the early game hard, due to its double AP nature. Alliance was not only willing to farm it out with their dive comp, but Shook enabling his lanes to get ahead with his ults made them way too powerful when grouped as a unit.

In what looked like Fnatic's worst game so far, xPeke and Cyanide were definitely not on point. With over 5 deaths each,  their Orianna and Lee Sin were continuously getting caught out. Alliance played the map excellently, taking down each objective one by one. Their team comp was so tanky and had such great engagement potential that Fnatic, with all their mobility, were simply unable to make the picks that they wanted. With their opponents's entire base destroyed, Alliance secured an impressive victory over the leader of the pack.

MIL vs ROC

While Millennium won IEM Sao Paulo, it didn't translate well in the EU LCS, especially when one sees the team's performance in this tournament. ROCCAT, with the hype train still going strong, is out to continuously prove that they are top team material with their picks... and in this game, item choices.

While the laning phase started off even, it wasn't without action. Ganks by Araneae at top and Jankos at bot got a lot of their targets low, but no deaths. First blood occurred when Kerp managed to outplay Overpow between the two ROCCAT mid towers. What's noteable, though, was Overpow buying Spirit of the Spectral Wraith as his first item. Though questionable at first, the midlaner getting the wraiths and wolves, plus Vander with a Relic Shield, allowed ROC to maintain a gold lead, even with a 4-1 start plus a dragon for MIL.

This gold lead helped ROCCAT get the advantage the Poles needed, as beyond the laning phase they simply beat Millennium in teamfights. ROC's coordination was superb as always, while the weaknesses of MIL's mid-late game were shown once more. Though starting with a Spectral Wraith, the gold Overpow accrued actually led to him being item-locked way before Kerp, and his teammates, with all the global gold they took from dragons and barons, slowly steamrolled their way to a win.