Misfits shed its underdog status with a big 2-1 series win against G2 Esports on Friday during Week 3, Day 2 of the European League of Legends Championship Series in Berlin.
Kicking off what would be a phenomenal personal series, Misfits jungler Nubar "Maxlore" Sarafian got Misfits (3-1, 6-4 match record) ahead as Lee Sin, giving first blood over to mid laner Tristan "PowerOfEvil" Schrage's Orianna at three minutes. Maxlore continued to pressure the map throughout the early game, helping Misfits pick up kills, but G2 Esports stayed even in gold thanks to CS (creep score) leads in the solo lanes. Misfits neutral objective control gave it the edge it needed, as two Infernal Drakes helped Maxlore pick up a triple kill at 26 minutes, leading to a free Baron kill. G2 was powerless to stop Misfits since it drafted few initiation tools, allowing Misfits aggressive pick comp to thoroughly dissect it. Methodically breaking down G2's defenses, Misfits finished Game 1 off with a powerful teamfight from PowerOfEvil, picking up a quadra kill as MSF aced G2 at 35 minutes.
G2 Esports (2-2, 6-5 match record) wasn't humbled by its previous loss, coming into Game 2 with a fierce determination. After helping secure first blood at four minutes, G2 jungler Kim "Trick" Gang-yun's Kha'Zix put the upstart Maxlore in his place, picking up early kills to snowball G2's tanky teamfighting composition. Misfits' strategy of relying on picks from support Lee "IgNar" Dong-geun's Blitzcrank didn't pan out as G2 Esports set a blistering pace in the midgame, going up by 5,000 gold at 17 minutes. After securing a Baron kill a few minutes later, and taking its third Elemental Drake, G2 Esports had a 10,000-gold lead at 23 minutes, pummeling Misfits as the entire team shined in a 24-minute Game 2 win.
Standing by its tried-and-true pick oriented playstyle, it was Misfits' turn to jump out to a significant early lead when it won a 4-vs-5 teamfight at five minutes, taking it 3-for-1 and getting Maxlore's Lee Sin another early game lead. Misfits snowballed heavily, taking first tower gold at 12 minutes and then starving G2 Esports' heavy AD composition of vital resources through the midgame. With a huge 4-for-0 teamfight giving Misfits a free Baron kill, G2 Esports went down by as much as 10,900 gold at 25 minutes, the biggest deficit in the club's EU LCS history. Taking its time to close out the series, Misfits secured a second Baron at 29 minutes, using the buff to push into G2's base and take Game 3 in 36 minutes of dominance.
Misfits will look to maintain its momentum into its matchup against Team Vitality on Thursday at 11 a.m. ET, while G2 Esports prepare for a showdown with the Unicorns of Love at 2 p.m. ET on Friday.