The Splyce vs. H2K series kicked off the European League of Legends Championship Series (EU LCS) semifinals in exciting fashion Saturday. The face-off was touted as an even matchup and it live up to the billing.
Both teams had impressive stories. Splyce was a team that needed to qualify out of the spring relegation and made an improbable Summer Split run into the playoffs. H2K struggled throughout the split, but tore through the last few weeks with the aid of former sub Konstantinos "FORG1VEN" Tzortziou.
In the set, both teams traded victories and required a fifth game to determine the winner. When the dust settled, Splyce was the team that made it out to the EU LCS finals, 3-2.
H2K fired the first shot and dictated the overall early pace of the series. Their macro style of play and slower tempo befuddled and frustrated Splyce into silly unforced errors. H2K played well throughout the first three games, despite dropping one game, and looked poised to take the entire set. If it wasn't FORG1VEN that made the smart play, it was Andrei "Odoamne" Pascu who stole the show. Odoamne, with the aid of the jungle, snowballed leads and powered the team's fighting ability.
But then Splyce adapted. Most notably, the duo of top laner Martin "Wunder" Hansen and jungler Jonas "Trashy" Anderson stepped up.
Over the summer split, the story of Splyce revolved around the strong mid lane and superior support play, but it was the top and jungle that wrote the headlines on Saturday. Splyce needed both the talented Wunder and Trashy to carry the latter part of the set and they came through. Wunder's terrific play on the Gnar over the last two games could be summed up with one word: unstoppable. He totaled 17 kills, three deaths and eight assists over the two games and led Splyce to triumph and, next, the finals.
The adaptation was simple: shut down the opposing top and jungle and establish Splyce's jungle ganks and top snowball.
All is not lost for H2K. The team could still potentially make it to the World Championships if G2 Esports takes down the European crown or if H2K mathematically fits in through points. But the story of the day for the EU LCS was Splyce.