After the rest of this announcement
Team Vitality vs SK Gaming: Vitality is feared but Photon is
The first BO3 of these playoffs shows an improvement over the Winter Split, opposing vitality and SK in trouble.
The first draft of this encounter marks Azir’s return to the meta (disabled in previous patches due to a bug). Vitality brings innovation from the very first matchup with Yasuo/Sena facing a very classic Zeri/Rakan on the botlane.
The game starts with a vitality advantage that dominates top and bottom. Vetheo is in trouble thanks to some good ganks from Isma that punish the French midlaner’s aggression well. SK gathers the dragon, but the vitality drains away from the gold and creates a fairly significant gap. The turning point of the match comes when Vitality forces the bot to attack SK’s t2, the problem, Irrelevant and waits in the bush near his k’saint tower. Karzi gets lost under the tower, SK arrives as reinforcements, Vitality loses 3 players in the action. The vitality advantage disappears and the dragon race grinds to a halt. After that, and despite the theft from Douglas on Baron Nashor, All team fights below are for SK. K’santé is disorganized and Azir/Zeri have reached their scaling. The SK composition is very strong, with two tanks protecting two carries, all aided by a very mobile Rakan. SK won the first match in 31 minutes of play.
During match 2, Vitality changes tactics and decides to press hard on his toplaner. Photon is on his jace, and like any self-respecting Korean, he’s pretty strong on it. Thanks for the support Douglas, Photons pass through, but all of them are well controlled by the repetitive appearance of SK (Except Exacic). The match turns into a bit of a clown party, The two teams alternate between good and less good. Once a photon gets in on the action, in its wake, everything is unlocked, Vitality took the lead to win on 38 minutes. The victory was long, and after many twists and turns, the vigor settled down.
The third match is much less close. Doss dies 5 times in 10 minutes, and this time Photon is not controlled, he destroys the game with his twisted fate. Vitality progressed quietly until BO3 ended on a backdoor from Photon in the 29th minute.
Thanks for this victory, Vitality continues its journey into the winner’s bracket. for its part, SK no longer has a Joker, and will have to advance throughout the lower bracket to continue its adventure this Spring Split.
Fnatic vs GiantX: Fnatic wins against the brave GiantX
The second BO3 of this first day of Spring Split Playoffs pits Fnatic who took first place in the regular season against GiantX who are on a 3 win streak (in BO1).
Besides Jackie’s Akali on Midlane, The first draft is a classic. The opening game is balanced between the two teams. Fnatic calmly manages its lane phase, but GiantX doesn’t give up. They find some good moves here and there that keep them in the match. The pace of the game is calm, we think Fnatic is in control. LEC leaders have better macros than their opponents, And this is perfectly visible when Fnatic decides to accelerate on the topplane. Fnatic punishes GiantX for poor placement as they try to defend their t2 top (24th minute of the game). Fnatic makes it 4 for 1 and continues with Baron Nashor. Fnatic ended the match in the 29th minute with a clean Nashor push. Despite a formation that relied heavily on split pushing (Twisted Fate and Akali), GiantX never managed to establish this, making it difficult to win against the controlling Fnatic.
The first minutes of the second leg of the match are quiet. Once again, GiantX offers good things during the early game, They even go a little further. However, it is The situation worsens during a team fight. Fnatic is better in this part of the game. They have better preparation, better placement and better mechanics. Noah is excellent and offers a masterclass on his jinxes that are royal in all team fights. This contrasts greatly with Odoamne’s performance which makes a GiantX victory impossible. After an ace in the midlane in the 27th minute of the game, Fnatic won this BO3 2-0.
While Fnatic qualified for Round 2 where the odds are higher (G2 or MAD Lions), GiantX for its part will play the rest of its season in the lower bracket.
