G2 Esports take down MAD Lions to kick off the Spring Split

The opening best-of-one of the League of Legends European Championship saw G2 Esports face off against MAD Lions and emerge victorious.

After reigning World Champions FPX suffered disappointing losses to Invictus Gaming in the LPL, G2 were hoping for a better start with Luka "Perkz" Perković returned to his mid lane kingdom and Rasmus "Caps" Winther in the bot lane as the ADC for Spring.

Draft

The initial bans from G2 Esports were Irelia, Rumble and Pantheon and MAD Lions banned Akali, Yasuo and Diana.

While the LEC is playing on Patch 10.1, Akali is set for nerfs in 10.3. Sett is also permabanned for balance reasons alongside Syndra and Lux who are suffering from bug issues.

G2 picked Qiyana, Elise and Senna first as MAD Lions secured Aphelios, Lee Sin and Mordekaiser.

Second Ban Phase saw MAD Lions ban Kayle and Rakan and G2 take LeBlanc and Thresh off the table.

MAD Lions chose Braum for Kaiser with Ornn as their final pick while G2 picked Aatrox while Nautilus will be Mikyx's champion

Match

Outnumbered by Orome and Shadow, Wunder was slain by Shadow, quickly followed by two more kills by Carzzy and Kaiser on Mikyx and Jankos, securing the first three LEC kills of the decade in the eighth minute.

Mikyx was caught out once again by Aphelios and Wunder was killed for a second time following another 1v2 in the top lane, allowing Shadow to take the Rift Herald and reduce the first tower to its last plate.

Caps was able to get G2 on the board as the four players together took down Humanoid, shutting Shadow out from the fight.

The Infernal changes hit the Rift as MAD Lions took the second drake,  Humanoid was killed once again as G2 seized the opportunity to dive the top tower but a subsequent team fight went the way of MAD Lions.

G2 were able to steal away the second Rift Herald of the game, bringing her to the mid lane after a successful fight that turned the brawl into a 5v3 and taking the Infernal Drake. Caps was able to make an impressive escape despite the prowling Lions on his tail.

As the game began to even out, a battle for the second Infernal Drake saw G2 earn a team ace and their second drake. A valiant attempt to steal Baron by Humanoid failed, with G2 earning the Baron buff.

G2 were able to pick up the pace, showing exactly why they were the best team in Europe over 2019, turning the kill total in their favour, gaining a 6000 gold lead and saw themselves on the verge of victory in the 30th minute.

MAD Lions were able to defend their territory as G2 claimed a third Infernal Drake and were able to shut out the opposition in a team fight, taking the Nexus in 34 minutes.

The LEC now has its own Twitch channel where all of the European League of Legends action can be found for the entire Season.