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H2K advances to EU LCS semis with sweep of Fnatic

It’s a playoff win for Forg1ven, and an excellent day for Jankos.

By Pete Volk
Riot Games

Well, it was worth the wait — for H2K, at least. After audio issues this weekend forced the delay of Europe’s 4 vs. 5 quarterfinal to Tuesday, H2K looked as good as it has all split in a 3-0 sweep of Fnatic.

H2K now moves on to face No. 2 Splyce in the semifinals, while Fnatic moves on to the Gauntlet. With the result, G2 Esports has also qualified for Worlds based on Championship Points.

It was an excellent series for H2K jungler Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski, who showed exactly why he’s earned the title of “First Blood King.” He earned First Blood in all three games, taking early advantages for his team with aggressive jungle play and build off of those leads for the sweep. Over the full season in 39 games, Jankos has been involved in First Blood a staggering 27 times (12 kills, nine assists, six deaths).

He finished the series 20/2/18, with one game each on Elise, Nidalee and Hecarim.

It was also the first ever playoff series win for H2K AD Carry Konstantinos “Forg1ven” Tzortziou.

Early game mistakes by Fnatic and a poor draft came back to bite them in Game 1. With losing lanes top (Gangplank into Ekko) and mid (Lissandra into Vladimir), Fnatic’s best chance was gaining a lead in the duo lane, with Sivir and Braum into H2K’s unconventional duo of Tristana and Taric.

But Jankos did not let that happen. He spent a large portion of the early game babysitting his duo lane, taking advantage of some Fnatic errors (including poor Spell Shields from Martin “Rekkles” Larsson) to help his weakest lane get a lead.

H2K built on that, with a huge lead in the top lane for Andrei “Odoamne” Pascu, who was routinely able to solo-kill Kikis.

H2K won the game 13-2 in 37 minutes.

Game 2 started with yet another Jankos first blood, and H2K was soon up 10-0.

This one ended 18-2 in 34 minutes.

Game 3 was a much stronger effort from Fnatic, even with another Jankos First Blood and a ton of pressure in the duo lane from H2K’s entire team.

Fnatic was able to hold a gold lead with a better focus on objectives, taking more towers than H2K in the early game and the game’s first Baron. But a team fight near Baron went disastrously for Fnatic, picking up an ace for H2K and the win at 18-4 in 35 minutes.

H2K will play Splyce Saturday, August 20 at 11 a.m. ET.

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