The inaugural franchised 2019 Spring Split has finally concluded, so let’s do a somewhat quick LEC finals recap in order to go over one of the quickest and most dominant finals in the region’s history.

The Setup

In the end, we got a pretty unexpected conclusion to the Spring Split. Unexpected primarily because no one thought that the defending champions Fnatic wouldn’t be able to — at the very least — reach the finals to potentially defend their throne. Instead, we got a match-up that seemed underwhelming at face value, especially after witnessing the first 3-0 blowout in favor of G2 Esports in the Spring Split playoff quarterfinals.

But Origen’s first playoff loss to G2 Esports was somewhat strange. They were extremely passive and indecisive — something that was completely absent in their series against Fnatic. They improved and worked on their flaws, so much so that they were able to demolish the defending champs across the board. They were faster on the Rift, in-sync and commanding in all facets of play. They looked like a completely different team, one that simply had an “off” day when they faced G2.

So, coming into the finals, there was a fair bit of hype all-around. Even though Origen was dismantled in 3-0 fashion a week prior, they worked on their issues and looked completely rejuvenated. Many wondered — could they pull off the impossible? Could they get revenge after getting outclassed to such a degree? Will they be able to go blow-for-blow with such an immensely talented team like G2 Esports? There were many questions flying around, and they made the final Best of 5 fairly exciting.

But all that hype came crashing down in a matter of minutes.

The Payoff

It was a one-sided beat down. It was so one-sided that it didn’t even make sense. Origen looked like a team of randomly assembled solo queue randoms, whereas G2 Esports looked like an unbeatable giant that was without equal. On paper, it was a clash between the number one and two teams in the region — and yet the games we got looked nothing like a clash between two equals.

The first game started off with a banger of a draft. G2 Esports went for the feared Sona and Taric bottom lane duo, but they were able to do so only because Origen pigeonholed themselves with a Galio support first pick. Both teams had a lot of tools to work with team comp-wise, but it was G2 that had more oomph, at least on paper. With Irelia in the top lane and Olaf in the jungle, they had more than enough damage for the mid and late game in order to go blow-for-blow with Origen.

The early-game was incredibly close, with both teams going back-and-forth, trading blows across the map. For a moment, it looked like Origen had an upper hand, but then again, they had the better early game team comp. G2 was able to stay close in both gold and objectives and eventually their stellar mid game got online. Once that happened, there was no going back. They simply had too much damage, along with a disgusting amount of healing from Sona and Taric.

Once Sona built a couple of items, Origen couldn’t mount an offensive. They simply didn’t have the tools that were necessary in order to compete with G2’s incredible damage output, and even when they did land a couple of abilities, G2 was topped up to full in a matter of seconds. A clean five-for-zero allowed G2 to push out through the bottom lane and get the lead in the series.

Even though game one wasn’t particularly competitive, it seemed like Origen could adapt and come up with a counterplan. But that was just wishful thinking.

Game Two Blues

Game two was absolute insanity. G2 Esports went for a funneling team comp. Now, this was meta at one point in time, but that was all the way back in 2018 Summer Split. G2 pulling it out now was a moment of sheer madness, but also brilliance and bravado. They knew they could pull it off, but it was a risky decision regardless. They put Luka “Perkz” Perković on Xayah and gave him both the mid lane farm as well as the jungle. That meant Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski and Rasmus “Caps” Winther went to the bottom lane with an incredibly strong bottom lane comp consisting of Morgana and Pyke — the ultimate kill lane.

In other words, the only guy that played his role and did what was expected was Martin “Wunder” Hansen.

Origen was getting run around the map, and they simply couldn’t match G2’s aggression and pace of the game. With a four thousand gold lead at the fifteen-minute mark, they were poised to win in spectacular fashion.

They pushed out all lanes, took every neutral objective that was available, and eventually closed things out “by the book.” It was yet another statement game, and things were looking grim for the Origen squad.

G2 Pushes Their Advantage

With two games up, everyone was expecting G2 to go a step further and be even more unhinged, both in the draft as well as in-game. Fortunately, they didn’t disappoint. Far from it. While their game three draft wasn’t as insane as the one preceding it, they opted to draft Ryze, Jayce, and Neeko, along with a Tahm Kench for additional protection. A disgusting team comp in every regard. They had poke for days, along with a ton of engage from Jankos’ Jarvan. If things went awry, they always had the Kench to fall back on.

The early game was pretty competitive, all things considered. But after the ten-minute mark, G2 was simply too strong individually. They were running circles around Origen and their seven thousand gold lead before the fifteen-minute mark was insurmountable. They were playing with their food, and Origen couldn’t do anything about it.

Game three was the fastest win in EU LCS/LEC history. Eighteen minutes and thirty-one seconds. They needed less than twenty minutes in order to completely obliterate Origen — a team that had four grizzled veterans and a promising young AD carry. The same team that outclassed Fnatic just a day prior in stellar 3-1 fashion.

What was an incredible statement across the region for G2 Esports was like another day at the office. They came in confidently and proceeded to blow Origen out of the water like they were a bunch of bronze players with no business playing in the big leagues. To be fair, Origen had to fight tooth and nail in order to get to where they were. They had to overcome numerous complex obstacles in order to reach the finals — and yet they were so much weaker. G2 Esports is really in a league all its own, and it could be a long while before someone even attempts to join them, let alone succeeds.

The Aftermath

G2 is so strong in every conceivable way that it’s perhaps even unfair to their opposition. There’s nothing their opponents can do, nothing they can come up with in order to have a chance. Maybe they can take a game, but anything more than that would be overly optimistic. And even when G2 does lose, you can be sure that they were experimenting and fooling around. They always have a plan and they’re not a team that will redline without reason. They play with the big picture in mind, and it’s only the destination that ultimately matters — how they get there is less important.

As it stands, they’ve reclaimed their long-lost “kings of Europe” status and are showing no signs of weakness. To make matters even more interesting, they’ve only been playing as a five-man unit for five months or so. That’s a staggeringly short amount of time and yet they’ve already reached incredible heights. One can only imagine how high they will eventually climb, and how big of an impact they will leave on the international stage. Fortunately, they’ll have a chance to prove their worth in less than a month’s time against the likes of SKT T1, Team Liquid and Invictus Gaming.

That’s it for our LEC finals recap! The inaugural franchised LEC Spring Split has been an absolute blast, and it is a great sign of the things to come. Finally, if you want to know how we got to this point, you can check our quarterfinal, and semifinal recaps.

Fortunately, if you’re a fan of top-tier high octane League of Legends, you won’t have to wait for long before the competitive season continues — the 2019 Mid-Season Invitational is right around the corner!