G2 Esports completed a spectacular comeback, turning around a 9k gold deficit to reverse sweep Movistar KOI in the LEC Spring Playoffs.
This was the first time that the MKOI brand has ever been reverse-swept in a series.
G2 Esports have now secured their place in the LEC Spring finals and are guaranteed a spot at both MSI and the Esports World Cup.
And it has been confirmed that G2 will bootcamp in Korea at T1’s offices ahead of the international tournaments.
Here is how the spectacular five-game series, which secured G2 their fifth consecutive MSI qualification, unfolded.
An Explosive Game 1
The first match was a series of huge individual plays with the big personalities of both teams creating a back-and-forth match that was great to watch.
With Joseph Joon ‘Jojopyun’ Pyun’s amazing form, all eyes were on how he would perform against Rasums ‘Caps’ Winther.
An early gank meant MKOI secured first blood on Caps, but he solokilled Jojopyun at the same time as the Cassiopeia poison ticked down.
Though after 12 minutes, Caps was almost 1k gold up individually after some excellent counterganks by his teammates.
However, David ‘Supa’ Martínez García was the strongest player on the Rift, with his Kai’Sa 1.7k gold up 15 minutes in after three kills.
Though a massive engage by Rudy ‘SkewMond’ Semaan found all five members of MKOI in his Jarvan ult and allowed G2 to bounce back.
Yet, Supa was still a monster. G2 got caught trying to ward, which led to a triple kill for Supa’s Kai’Sa and put MKOI back in the driver’s seat with Baron Buff.
But then in the next twist, Supa was soloing Dragon but accidentally allowed Steven ‘Hans Sama’ Liv’s Ezreal ult to steal it and put G2 back on Soul point.
Next, a great flank by Jojopyun stopped G2 from getting Soul and extended MKOI’s gold lead to 6k.
And in a rare misjudgement, G2 impatiently tried to fight again, which allowed Supa to get a quadra to end the game with a 10/1/3 KDA.
Caps Hands MKOI Series Point
The second game saw more missplays by G2, specifically a very uncharacteristically bad game from Caps.
The match essentially started and ended with Caps being solokilled by Jojopyun.
Jojopyun solokilled Caps in lane with some fantastic Ryze play, yet it was G2 who gathered an early lead.
The Skarner and Yasuo combo was getting G2 very far ahead as they repeatedly found huge picks.
After pushing with Baron buff, G2 went into a Drake fight on Soul point and 5k gold up. Yet, Caps hopped the wrong side off of his Taliyah wall and threw the fight.
Then, a few minutes later, Caps inted again. He ulted into Jojo on a sidelane and quickly got deleted.
This then allowed MKOI to engage mid 5v4 and win the game after struggling for most of the match.
G2 Wake Up For Game 3
G2 needed to respond, and they did so in emphatic fashion.
Once again, G2 won the early game and snowballed hard as Hans Sama’s Xayah was untouchable.
G2 were 5k gold up, reached Soul point, and rushed Baron after a couple of picks, yet Supa’s Zeri flank found both Skewmond and Hans to stop them.
Yet, G2 won the next team fight to secure Soul, extended their lead to 10k, and put themselves in a position where they couldn’t throw.
MKOI Couldn’t Stop G2’s Tempo
The next game, G2 found an excellent draft with a lot of mobility in Twisted Fate, Aurora, and Bard.
Lampros ‘Labrov’ Papoutsakis’ Bard was a menace at first, killing Jojopyun under tower for First Blood before forcing Supa out of lane to put him behind.
But, Labrov got overconfident and was caught out twice by MKOI, giving two kills to Javier ‘Elyoya’ Prades Batalla’s Lee Sin.
Labrov continued to get caught repeatedly throughout the game, but his top side was saving him.
A great roam by Caps meant a third early death for Alex ‘Myrwn’ Pastor Villarejo, allowing Sergen ‘BrokenBlade’ Çelik to go 3k gold up individually.
Caps was making up for the Taliyah game, finding pick after pick along with BB’s TF. G2’s sololaners were a combined 5k gold up 25 minutes in.
G2 were pressuring Baron so TF could split push then ult away, but BrokenBlade ulted mid with everyone else and allowed Jojopyun’s Akali to follow and pick him off.
Luckily for G2, MKOI didn’t have the damage to rush Baron with their resulting numbers advantage.
G2 continued to get picks, which earned them Baron and eventually the win as MKOI could not deal with the mobility and tempo of their opponent’s comp.
G2 Complete The Comeback With a Comeback
As if the series was intense enough, Game 5 was a rollercoaster.
Jojopyun solokilled Caps in lane again after the G2 midlaner got greedy for a ward.
And then the series appeared to be in MKOI’s hands as they picked up a clean ace because G2 made an absolute mess of another Dragon fight.
BB got caught out alone and missed his Malphite ult rather than disengaging.
Caps then used his stolen Azir ult to try and find a kill, but pushed the opponents into his teammates, instead of disengaging.
All while G2 fought a Drake when they didn’t need to — MKOI hadn’t stacked a single Drake, and G2’s Hans Sama was 2-0 on Jinx and working towards an Infinity Edge.
G2 defending base got some shutdowns and Jinx passive up, but Elyoya tanked the damage with Zaahen to stop him.
However, Caps respawned on his own and not only defended base, but set up more shutdowns as Skewmond followed shortly after with Pantheon ult.
Still, G2 were 7k gold down and faced an uphill struggle to successfully scale with Hans Sama’s powerful Jinx.
But they were slowly doing it. G2 managed to sneak Drake to reach Soul point and then found a pick onto Myrwyn to secure Baron.
The game then ended in ridiculous fashion. Jojopyun looked untouchable, with Flash up and Zhonyas.
Yet, a Flash silence by Labrov’s Soraka barely caught Jojopyun on the very edge of the ability, which set up a Flash Malphite ult from BB to win G2 the game.
Who do you think will join G2 in the LEC Spring Playoff finals and at MSI? Let us know on the Insider Gaming Discord.
Meanwhile, T1 and Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok have qualified for the Esports World Cup after a comeback of their own.
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