Predicted to be a clash of styles hinging on a perceived Jungler mismatch our first Semi-Final was to be decided in the early game. Could 
clean up their act and dispatch a
team on a late season upswing that had secured them second place in regular season? After a shaky quarter finals against 
in which relied on their late game, the question was, could they survive and their formidable early game? Let’s find out in this weeks EU LCS Playoff recap.
Game One:
- Top: Maokai. Jungle: Skarner. Mid: Cassiopeia. Bot: Ezreal. Support: Shen.
- Top: Kled. Jungle: Trundle. Mid: Galio. Bot: Varus. Support: Poppy.
The draft lived up to expectation. drafting three winning lanes and a champion for Kikis that would allow him to pressure and counter jungle Amazing and drafting scaling lanes and team fight. Deviating from the script however Amazing was able to keep up with Kikis in the early game with successful ganks of his own. After a hotly contested early game in which Kikis secured Rift Herald and Infernal Drake, made a critical mistake. Whilst attempting to escort Rift Herald to the mid lane inner turret of , Jactroll was caught out by Skarner sparking the decisive team fight. Cabochard’s Kled ult was blocked dragging him under mid turret where Upset and Vizicsacsi killed him easily. A few seconds later a flank from Nukeduck’s Cassio secured them two further kills onto Attila and Jactroll. From here it was an easy transition to Baron. Despite attempted smite steal, the Baron was secured by Amazing. From here with their scaling advantage and cleaner team-fighting it was only a formality for to secure game one.
Game Two:
- Top: Rumble Jungle: Skarner Mid: Irelia Bot: Ezreal Support: Shen
- Top: Orrn Jungle: Trundle Mid: Taliyah Bot: Varus Support: Poppy
With comfortably securing a one game lead the pressure was on for . Could Kikis return to his dominant form and lead to victory? Sadly for Kikis game two began with a failed four man tower dive bot-lane. With Nukeduck and Vizicsacsi securing early leads steamrolled for a two game lead. Now on match point it was looking likely that would clean sweep unless they could fix the poor team fighting and mid game shot calling that had plagued them in the first two games.
Game Three:
- Top: Cho Gath Jungle: Poppy Mid: Irelia Bot: Kai’sa Support: Alistar
- Top: Sion Jungle: Kindred Mid: Galio Bot: Draven Support: Braum
With on the verge of a clean sweep drafted for early game team-fights putting Attila on the Draven that they found success with at the end of the regular season. The game began with Kikis returning to form and pressuring Amazing early. With Skarner banned Amazing’s impact on Poppy was negligible resulting in a strong lead for . A twenty minute pick on Amazing gifted the Baron and an nine thousand gold lead. From here cleanly secured bot and mid inhibitors as watched. then looked for the third and final inhibitor and crushed in a team fight resulting in a Quadrakill for Attila. In a bid to secure the Pentakill Vitality ignored the open and damaged nexus and attempted the fountain dive. Despite failing to secure the Pentakill when respawned they closed the game out with ease for their first win of the series.
Game Four:
- Top: Poppy Jungle: Trundle Mid: Leblanc Bot: Jhin Support: Alistar
- Top: Jarvan Jungle: Graves Mid: Galio Bot: Draven Support: Braum
With securing a win it was important to see respond positively bouncing against a reinvigorated . started by drafting Nukeduck Leblanc and putting Amazing on Trundle for early pressure. In this game Amazing successfully ganked top to shut down the Jarvan and secured early kills for Nukeduck and Upset. With a 9k gold lead and a Baron seemed to have shaken off the sloppy play that had begun to creep into the game. When won a teamfight at their botlane inhibitor the comeback was on. Slowly but surely began to claw the lead back. When Amazing got caught and died in the river fans began to sweat as eyed the Baron. The four man unit of delayed the Baron long enough for Amazing to respawn and rush to the fight as committed to the play. Although Kikis secured the Baron the ensuing fight was disastrous for who were aced and had to watch as locked their place for the organisations first ever EU-LCS Final.
Congratulations to on their first finals. It seems that the Hype Train has well and truly left the station, destination Madrid.
Post written by: Hugh Mccormick
