Natus Vincere are one series away from the League of Legends World Championships after beating GIANTX 3-2 in the LEC Summer Playoffs.
LEC Rookie of the Year Enes ‘Rhilech’ Uçan had a remarkable performance, earning MVP for the series after dominating in all five matches.
The defeat means GIANTX’s LoL Worlds hopes are over and they need results to go their way to qualify for the Demacia Cup Global Invitational.
NAVI will now face the winner of Movistar KOI and Team Vitality at the Nice LEC Season Finals, with a spot at Worlds on the line.
GX vs NAVI Game 1 – Rhilech Sets the Tone
| GIANTX | 50.3K | vs | 60.9K | NAVI |
| Oscarinin – Ambessa | 5/3/1 | Top | 4/1/10 | Maynter – Rumble |
| ISMA – Vi | 1/6/6 | Jungle | 2/1/18 | Rhilech – Jarvan IV |
| Jackies – Anivia | 2/4/4 | Mid | 6/2/12 | Poby – Ryze |
| Flakked – Corki | 0/2/4 | Bot | 7/0/7 | SamD – Xayah |
| Jun – Rakan | 0/5/5 | Support | 1/4/17 | Parus – Nautilus |
The first game set the tone for the crucial jungle match-up.
An early gank by Ismaïl ‘ISMA’ Boualem earned him first blood and the top crab. But a smart read by Rhilech punished this, as he snuck into his opponent’s jungle to steal Blue Buff and Gromp while ISMA based.
When ISMA returned, he went to his missing top camps instead of bot crab, and that was enough to set him behind for the rest of the game.
Multiple times, it looked like GX were going to turn a fight around, they but would then overreach and allow NAVI to go even or ahead.
The lead was too much to overcome and NAVI took the first match.
GX vs NAVI Game 2 – GX Respond
| GIANTX | 74.4K | vs | 69.6K | NAVI |
| Oscarinin – Trundle | 4/2/4 | Top | 3/1/7 | Maynter – Olaf |
| ISMA – Xin Zhao | 1/4/12 | Jungle | 6/4/6 | Rhilech – Wukong |
| Jackies – Syndra | 5/4/3 | Mid | 2/3/5 | Poby – Akali |
| Flakked – Ashe | 5/3/3 | Bot | 4/4/5 | SamD – Lucian |
| Jun – Seraphine | 0/2/13 | Support | 0/3/13 | Parus – Millio |
In Game 2, the NAVI mid jungle duo were dominating, but GX had Trundle top with three grubs against a counterpicked Olaf.
Rhilech was the only person playing well on NAVI, and a spectacular Baron steal epitomised that.
Still, it felt like GX were in control of the game until Adam ‘Jackies’ Jeřábek overstepped, ate a Lucian Culling.
From that, NAVI took Jackies down, got Trundle’s shutdown, and put themselves on Dragon Soul Point.
Yoon ‘Poby’ Sung-won got caught before Baron yet again, but NAVI fought won the 4v5 fight. GX turned onto Rhilech, but he continued forward and Wukong ulted while Volodymyr ‘Maynter’ Sorokin’s Olaf flanked and melted the enemy backline.
But then NAVI took another fight outnumbered and lost and with ISMA stealing Drake, the game was still open.
Rhilech won the Smite fight to get his team Dragon Soul, but GX won the fight and finished, rushing the base 4v1.
GX vs NAVI Game 3 – Rhilech vs Jackies
| NAVI | 76.5K | vs | 70.8K | GIANTX |
| Maynter – Renekton | 1/2/9 | Top | 1/5/7 | Oscarinin – Kennen |
| Rhilech – Shyvana | 9/5/8 | Jungle | 2/6/11 | ISMA – Nocturne |
| Poby – Orianna | 4/3/10 | Mid | 10/3/4 | Jackies – Locke |
| SamD – Ezreal | 3/2/6 | Bot | 3/1/8 | Flakked – Jhin |
| Parus – Karma | 0/4/11 | Support | 0/2/12 | Jun – Bard |
Rhilech once again set the tone, this time with a Shyvana triple kill thanks to a great countergank and an excellent Shockwave by Poby.
Later, a bold Baron rush worked out for NAVI, with Rhilech showing excellent patience. He ulted in with Orianna ult to set up some kills before flashing back into the pit to win yet another Smite fight.
NAVI were pushing into the base, but Jackies wrapped around and sniped Polat ‘Parus’ Furkan Çiçek with Locke ult to win the fight and bring his team back into the game.
It looked like Jackies was going to find another great fight, but Maynter did very well to zone him out of the fight and peel for his teammates.
The series really was Rhilech vs Jackies and the latter was on the verge of saving the game again, but Rhilech’s Shyvana was too fed. He burst him down and took NAVI to a 2-1 lead.
GX vs NAVI Game 4 – Sivir Win Condition Forces Silver Scrapes
| GIANTX | 74.5K | vs | 71.6K | NAVI |
| Oscarinin – Yorick | 3/3/6 | Top | 4/3/2 | Maynter – Gwen |
| ISMA – Skarner | 1/2/7 | Jungle | 6/3/3 | Rhilech – Naafiri |
| Jackies – Taliyah | 1/3/9 | Mid | 1/4/7 | Poby – Annie |
| Flakked – Sivir | 9/3/4 | Bot | 2/3/6 | SamD – Varus |
| Jun – Alistar | 1/2/11 | Support | 0/2/7 | Parus – Rell |
In Game 4 GX found themselves in a good position, but again were throwing away their advantages.
After claiming the top tower, Jackies overstayed top and got caught, and shortly after he was caught again at Dragon by Parus’ good Rell engage. After a good series, it felt like he was trying to do too much.
GX were struggling to get on the same page, which allowed NAVI to find even more picks and take firm control of the match.
Rhilech’s Naafiri was 6/0/1, but when he failed to get onto Víctor ‘Flakked’ Lirola Tortosa’s Sivir at a Dragon fight, Jackies picked up crucial shutdown gold and gave his team a flicker of hope.
Later into the game, Rhilech managed yet another Baron steal, but GX picked up four kills for nothing as Flakked’s Sivir made fights unplayable for Navi.
GX rushed the base and forced a fifth and final match, eventually, after a tense dance around the Nexus.
Game 5 – Heartbreak for Oscarinin
| NAVI | 75.7K | vs | 70.0K | GIANTX |
| Maynter – Jax | 2/0/4 | Top | 2/2/1 | Oscarinin – Gangplank |
| Rhilech – Aatrox | 7/2/6 | Jungle | 1/4/3 | ISMA – Sejuani |
| Poby – Viktor | 3/1/8 | Mid | 2/3/2 | Jackies – Azir |
| SamD – Ziggs | 4/1/7 | Bot | 1/4/4 | Flakked – Caitlyn |
| Parus – Leona | 1/2/12 | Support | 0/4/5 | Jun – Braum |
In a tense Game 5, small mistakes were always going to decide the series.
GX were in a phenomenal position, they picked up two Drakes and a composition that wanted to scale.
They didn’t need to do anything but wait. However, Jackies went for a hero play onto Rhilech, but his opponent flashed out of the Azir ult.
That donated two kills to NAVI then Rhilech rushed top and found another kill.
Later, Rhilech was spotted in the river so GX went for a dive top onto Poby, but traded unevenly as they got collapsed on afterwards. Then Rhilech on his own caught Flakked and killed Yoon ‘Jun’ Se-jun too for good measure before securing Baron.
Rhilech was very strong again but he got chunked low and eventually killed by Flakked’s Caitlyn ult, earning him a huge shutdown and GX a chance.
Yet, the series ended when Óscar ‘Oscarinin’ Muñoz Jiménez got caught and failed to flash over the wall, then NAVI got more picks and ended the game to win the series.
Who out of NAVI, Vitality, and MKOI will claim the LEC’s last Worlds spot? Share your predictions with us in the Insider Gaming Discord.
Meanwhile, Riot has suspended jungler Tatu from CBLOL Playoffs for squaring up to an opponent mid-series. And for even more Insider Gaming delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter.
Comments