The second round of the Esports World Cup qualifiers for EMEA League of Legends teams has concluded with the rest of the LEC joining the fray.
The top four from LEC Versus played their first matches of the qualifiers as teams try to qualify for the lucrative $2m LoL tournament in Riyadh later this Summer.
There was a lot of action, including a massive comeback for Movistar KOI versus Team Vitality and a great showing from G2 Esports.
Here’s how the second round of the EMEA LoL Esports World Cup Qualifiers played out.
G2 Esports Get Revenge on Fnatic
G2 Esports got off to winning ways in the Esports World Cup with a strong 2-0 win over Fnatic.
Game 1 was all about the mid jungle duos, as the game opened up with both teams trading successive mid ganks.
However, in the long run, it was Rasmus ‘Caps’ Winther who came out on top.
Just 15 minutes in, G2 managed to find an ace, which took Caps’ Ahri to a 1.8k gold lead over Vladimiros ‘Vladi’ Kourtidis.
G2 took that first game, but Fnatic’s Iván ‘Razork’ Martín Díaz was still showing excellent form.
The Spanish jungler was smurfing on Naafiri, finding multiple kills early to give Fnatic a lead in Game 2.
G2 managed to respond by sneaking the third Drake to take away Soul Point, and they made it out for free as Park ‘Lospa’ Joon-hyeong’s Bard ultimate was too late for the Dragon and only trapped Razork.
Fnatic were playing skirmishes well, but G2’s macro play was much better. The reigning LEC champions played the map beautifully to corner Fnatic and win the series 2-0.
Naak Nako vs Movistar KOI
Team Vitality have been in fine form in the LEC, but against MKOI the team showed that they still have a lot to work on.
Most of the series came down to the entirety of MKOI versus Vitality’s in-form top laner, Kaan ‘Naak Nako’ Okan.
Naak Nako was stomping top, solokilling Alex ‘Myrwn’ Villarejo twice in lane in the first match and three times early into the second.
MKOI were still able to win the first match, as Javier ‘Elyoya’ Prades’ Pantheon took advantage of his jungle opponent AFK farming early on.
Then in Game 2, Elyoya and Joseph ‘Jojopyun’ Pyun were still causing Vitality issues, but Naak Nako and Matyáš ‘Carzzy’ Orság were too far ahead, and the damage from the dual ADCs in Vayne and Lucian was too much to handle.
The last match was then a ridiculous 40+ minute battle.
Jojopyun was 6/1/2 on Anivia and 2k up over Marek ‘Humanoid’ Brázda, but the rest of MKOI were behind their positional countreparts.
Yet, it looked like MKOI were about to get Soul and find a way back, but then allowed Linas “Lyncas” Nauncikas to Smite steal it away.
Vitality then aced the next team fight with Carzzy’s Corki dealing ridiculous damage, and it looked like the series was over.
However, despite Vitality’s 12k gold lead, an overstep by Humanoid allowed MKOI to win a team fight then take both Baron and Soul.
MKOI were trying to end and complete a remarkable comeback, but Vitality were able to hold their base and remain 7k gold up.
41 minutes into the game, Vitality rushed Baron and barely secured it, but David ‘Supa’ García solo’d Elder which allowed his team to pick off Vitality’s players and finally end the game.
NAVI remain undefeated
Natus Vincere (NAVI) has still not dropped a game in the Esports World Cup Qualifiers.
After sweeping Galions the day before, NAVI were just as dominant versus GIANTX.
NAVI ADC Lee ‘SamD’ Jae-hoon had struggled against Galions’ bot lane a day prior, but responded perfectly against GIANTX.
He finished the first game with a KDA of 11/2/5 and 12k gold up on Oh ‘Noah’ Hyeon-taek.
Afterwards, GIANTX found themselves 2.5k gold down just seven minutes into the game as NAVI fully found their rhythm.
Unlike previous weeks, NAVI had no trouble finishing the game and recorded another 2-0.
Karmine Corp Sweep SK Gaming
Karmine Corp eased past SK Gaming 2-0 to progress through the upper bracket.
The first game was a total stomp as KCorp were almost 5k gold up with 3 Drakes by the 20 minute-mark.
However, SK Gaming and new midlaner Seo ‘SlowQ’ Ye-bit held their own in Game 2.
SK were seven kills up to three, but KCorp were leading in gold solely because Kim ‘Canna’ Chang-dong was 3k up over Martin ‘Wunder’ Hansen.
KCorp eventually took control of the game and picked up a 6k gold lead, yet SK secured Infernal Soul with a steal to make a possible comeback.
However, SK still couldn’t find a way to win fights and dropped down into the Lower Bracket.
The Next Matches
The LoL EWC EMEA bracket now looks like this:
- Upper Bracket
- G2 vs NAVI
- KCorp vs MKOI
- Lower Bracket (elimination games)
- Team Vitality vs Shifters
- SK Gaming vs Galions
- GIANTX vs Team Heretics
- Fnatic vs Solary
Who is the strongest LoL team in EMEA right now? Share your opinions with us on the Insider Gaming Discord.
Meanwhile, outside of the EWC Qualifiers, NAVI and KCorp have qualified for the LEC Spring Playoffs.
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