Europe LCS Week One Recap GIANTS! v. Gambit Gaming
The most exciting game of the weekend came mid-way through Sunday. Gambit Gaming beat Fnatic earlier in the day, a team that had easily handled the GIANTS! on Saturday. Therefore, the odds of GIANTS! winning against GG in week one weren't good, but the Spaniards had more up their sleeves than they let on.
GIANTS! Gaming
Picks:
Samux -- Top: Olaf
Morden -- Jungle: Dr. Mundo
Exterminare -- Mid: Ryze
JimB0wnz -- ADC: Kennen
Babeta -- Support: Zyra
Bans: Xin Zhao, Kog'Maw, Shen
Gambit Gaming
Picks:
Alex Ich -- Mid: Twisted Fate
Edward -- Support: Sona
Darien -- Top: Renekton
Genja -- ADC: Ezreal
Diamondprox -- Jungle: Volibear
Bans: Kassadin, Elise, Kha'Zix
Level One:
Both teams kept their hands to themselves and placed defensive wards around their blue buffs. Gambit lane swapped with top to try to shut down the indefatigable Olaf for as long as possible.
Early Advantage:
Some early pressure by Diamondprox on Volibear gave every Gambit lane a slight CS advantage by the five minute mark, but GIANTS! disregarded the setback and continued to focus on pushing down the bottom turret. Mundo was able to score two very successful ganks in a row, killing the vulnerable Twisted Fate. GIANTS! finally took the bottom turret and discovered that they were much stronger than Gambit’s duo; they quickly killed Genja’s Ezreal after rotating to push top. Samux was the only GIANTS! member that struggled as he tried to lane against an early game Renekton with a CS lead. A three-man gank put Renekton in check, which opened up the map for GIANTS! to take the first dragon and two free kills off the back of it.
Mid Game Progression:
Olaf then picked up a Sunfire Cape and applied more pressure in the bottom lane than Renekton could handle alone. Gambit had no choice but to focus their attention on him, allowing the rest of GIANTS! to take a stranglehold on the map. GIANTS! capitalized on this by taking turret after turret, finding easy ambushes in the jungle, and taking an uncontested second dragon. GIANTS! found themselves 5k gold ahead against Gambit Gaming at the 20 minute mark.
Big Plays:
Olaf made a huge nuisance of himself by running past minion waves and Renekton. He got the attention that he hoped for and his team finished a three man Baron before Gambit could do anything to stop it. Despite Olaf’s cheekiness, even he was able to get away with a sliver of health as a Ryze teleport saved the day and killed Renekton with a flash Q.
Loss of Control:
Gambit rushed straight up mid to counter-push as fast as they could, but only managed to take the outer turret while Ryze continued to push bot and Kennen took a bot inhibitor turret. Although they scored a few kills, Gambit could not get very far out of their base as their gold deficit increased to 10k.
Game Closeout:
GIANTS! hiccuped as they continued to split push all three lanes. Homeguard was mostly responsible for Gambit’s ability to clean up four kills, but the damage had been done. Their top inhibitor had been taken and their remaining inhibitors had no turrets to protect them. GIANTS! seized the Baron comfortably when it respawned. They finally grouped up to destroy the last two inhibitors and were hardly slowed down by anything Gambit could throw at them. The Nexus fell just moments later, completing the major upset.
- Written by Joel Maliskas from 10 Second Guides
- Edited by Marissa Moody Kuo
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