Another week, another loss for Ninjas in Pyjamas, who were swept Saturday this time by H2K-Gaming in Berlin to close out Week 4 of the European League of Legends Championship Series.
The first game of the series wasn't fully decided until the late game, with NiP's lack of experience rearing its ugly head in the end. NiP (0-5, 0-10 match record) drafted a siege composition against the teamfight composition of H2K, but neither team got any sort of advantage early. The teams simply traded kills and towers back and forth until things were dead even, with H2K (4-2, 9-4 match record) eventually breaking the tie by picking up a Baron at the 33-minute mark. Despite losing the buff, NiP fired back with three quick kills, keeping the game within striking distance. H2K bided its time until it secured a kill in the top lane, allowing it a large enough window to go for the Elder Dragon at 40 minutes. With that buff in tow, H2K quickly went for the Baron and used both buffs to decimate NiP in a 5-for-0 ace to finally close out the 43-minute win.
NiP slipped up in a major way during the pick-ban phase by allowing H2K to draft a plethora of power picks including Camille, Zac, Syndra, and Twitch. While NiP did manage to come up with the first blood - its ninth in a row - it was only a matter of time before H2K's power picks opened up the game. At the 19-minute mark, H2K came up with a 3-for-0 teamfight that was made possible by the initiation of jungler Marcin "Jankos" Jankowski's Zac and the incredible damage of AD carry Shin "Nuclear" Jung-hyun's Twitch. H2K continued to win teamfight after teamfight from that point on, giving not even an inch of space for NiP to squeeze back into the game. Nuclear was an absolute monster and the main factor driving H2K to the victory, finishing the 30-minute win with a 15/4/5 KDA (kills/deaths/assists), which ended up being the most kills in an EU LCS game thus far in the Summer Split.
Ninjas in Pyjamas will hope to finally get a win against the winless Mysterious Monkeys on Thursday at 11 a.m. ET, while H2K will take on Misfits on Friday a 2 p.m. ET.