Fnatic harness their IEM success to find a win against a struggling ROCCAT and SK’s win puts them at the top of the table to close out day one of the EU LCS Week 9

The third match of the evening was between a Fnatic squad looking to surge after a solid performance at the IEM World Championships and a falling ROCCAT team who are 1-5 in their last six games.

The game started in ROCCAT’s favor after a successful lane swap which gave them a tower and farm advantage early. However, an aggressive jungle invade by Jankos was spotted by a ward, allowing Fnatic to collapse and Cyanide to Grand Skyfall in for first blood and the first Dragon of the game immediately after.

The mid-game was all Fnatic, who used superior vision control and Cyanide’s global pressure to find pick-offs all over the map and turn those kills into objectives, taking multiple Dragons and towers. Every move which looked positive for ROCCAT would somehow swing into Fnatic’s favor – for example, around 25 minutes ROCCAT capitalized on poor positioning to secure mid-tower, but smart play by Fnatic earned them both towers in the top lane in exchange. Thanks to their superior rotations and objective control, Fnatic had amassed a significant gold lead by 30 minutes.

At one point ROCCAT showed some signs of life, landing an excellent Dragon’s Rage-Last Breath combo onto Rekkles to start a fight off right, but they chased too greedily and sOAZ punished them, flying in from the side and turning the fight around for Fnatic.

A skirmish at Baron was the final nail in the coffin, as ROCCAT trickled in one by one leading to several kills for Fnatic and two inhibitors to boot.

Facing a near-insurmountable deficit, ROCCAT’s all-in AD composition couldn’t deal with Fnatic’s more balanced picks and massive gold lead, and it was only a matter of time before Fnatic closed out the game.

The fourth and final match of the first day of EU LCS Week 9 was between an SK looking to secure first place atop the ladder and a Copenhagen Wolves squad hungry for wins to move themselves out of a relegation spot.

The game was action-packed from the get-go, with the Copenhagen Wolves electing to do their traditional lane-swap and early push with Amazing roaming top to secure the tower as well as first blood in a dive onto Freddy122. However, SK was prepared an answered in kind, taking both towers in bottom lane as Copenhagen Wolves did the same in the top lane. But SK’s duo lane placement near the bottom of the map allowed them to take the first Dragon as well as a kill onto Amazing as he attempted to steal it away.

Pushing too aggressively, Forg1ven and Unlimited were punished thanks to a gank by Svenskeren, leveling the gold which has been slightly in the Wolves’ favor. At 12 minutes a near-catch onto Svenskeren looked good for the Wolves, but a Shockwave by Jesiz forced them back, leading to another Dragon for SK as well as the middle lane turret.

That really was the story of the game for the Wolves: every time they thought they had an advantage, SK would manage to gain the upper hand and turn it into objectives. While few kills were on the board, every time the Wolves returned to base SK would capitalize, leading to a 3k gold lead at 20 minutes and a significant tower and map vision advantage.

Around the half-hour mark, a kill onto Freddy lead to an attempted Baron by the Wolves, but SK out-played them in a frantic 4v5 fight. While no kills were secured thanks to great kiting by both teams, the Wolves came out the worse for wear and were forced to retreat with health bars blinking red. This allowed SK to secure the Baron and cement their lead in terms of gold and pressure.

The game ended as abruptly and aggressively as it started, as one again the Wolves over-committed on a near-catch on Svenskeren, allowing SK to collapse and pick up three kills onto crucial members including Forg1ven and Amazing. From there a rapid push down middle lane slammed the door in the Wolves’ face as SK now sits firmly in first place with an impressive and decisive win.