The European Challenger Series is filled with talented players who were on display this week, with some teams winning their first games and others still having yet to lose one. Fnatic Academy took on FC Schalke 04 while using a substitute top laner, Millenium played Team Kinguin, and Paris Saint-Germain took on Misfits Academy to close out the day. Here’s how it all went down.
(1-0-2) Fnatic Academy 0-2 FC Schalke 04 (3-0-0)
Fnatic got off to a strong start through their substitute top laner Benjamin “Zhergoth” Sánchez, but Schalke responded quickly by taking First Tower and grabbing the gold lead. The teams kept fairly even due to their similar team compositions, but the game turned as Fnatic chose a poor team fight that Schalke cleaned up to further cement their lead. Schalke took the game by the horns from there and systematically took down objectives to win the first game.
Daniel “Dan” Hockley, Fnatic’s jungler, got bullied hard in the early part of the second game as Jean-Victor “loulex” Burgevin took his red buff with no reply. Dan then tried to gank the top lane, but was forced to burn his flash top after Lennart “Smittyj” Warkus turned the gank around. Fnatic attempted to take First Blood in a bot lane dive, but due to the Shen ultimate and the roam by Taliyah, Schalke took two kills and lost none. Despite one drake taken by Fnatic, Schalke had a perfect game going at 15 minutes being up nine kills and four turrets. Fnatic had an abysmal showing, as Schalke wholly dismantled them and controlled the game. Because of the massive advantage Schalke had, Fnatic surrendered the game at the 22-minute mark.
(1-1-1) Millenium 1-1 Team Kinguin (1-1-1)
Millenium grabbed the early lead when a fight in the bot lane went very close and Moon “Steal” Geon-yeong was close enough to make the fight a three-on-two and get two kills for his team. Soon after, another fight in the bot lane broke out, but this time it was a teleport by Marcin “IceBeasto” Lebuda that turned the fight for Kinguin and they took three kills for one. Yet another fight took place bot lane after Millenium grabbed the turret, with Steal taking two more kills for the French side. Millenium took a while to close the game, but they did so in commanding fashion to take the game one victory.
In the second match, Millenium took another slim early lead with Team Kinguin fighting back for control of the game. Kinguin stayed in the game and took the lead away from Millenium, however, as they took kills and pushed down turrets. Kinguin did not let their lead go to waste and they took the game two victory to tie up the series and take a point.
(0-1-2) Paris Saint-Germain 1-1 Misfits Academy (1-1-1)
PSG started off the game with fantastic macro play, taking four turrets before Misfits managed to take one and earning control over the map and a gold lead. Despite their impressive start, PSG allowed Misfits back into the game and lost their lead. Misfits would eventually win the game after punishing PSG for multiple mistakes.
PSG began the game on the front-foot again, taking a kill and turret advantage over Misfits equating to a 3k gold lead. PSG continued to win fights, but looked as if they would take the game slow at first and go for a late win. Due to their success in team fights and picks, however, PSG took the Baron and accelerated the pace of the game to take their first win the EU CS and tie the series.
Do you think Schalke will drop a game this split and if so who will be the team to take them down? Tweet us your thoughts @GAMURScom.
