Time to burst the bubble: EG was already out of the tournament before this match started. SK on the other side needed to win to have a chance for the third spot in Group B.

In this match report we will focus on picks in detail, since both teams know each other better than themselves, and we will discuss about how the game panned out in the end.

LCS EU Week #1:

Evil Geniuses	vs.	SK Gaming
Snoopeh Wickd yellowpete Krepo Froggen		hyrqBot Kev1n Nyph CandyPanda Ocelote

Going through the picks, one thing already stands out: Froggen on Singed. SK most likely thought the Singed will be top and Zed would be mid, but Wickd went against Orianna and tried to catch Ocelote off guard.

Both teams decided to force a 2v1 lane, and we all know how that is going to go: They met top-lane; Kog'Maw and Sona against Varus and Zyra. Two ranged supports, two carries with decent wave-clearing after 6, so you could assume the outgoing of this matchup already.

Mid- and bot-lane however were the two things to take a closer look on. Both Ocelote and Kev1in seemed to adjust their runes. Otherwise the two matchups of Orianna/Zed and Shen/Singed would have ended in a total disaster in the early game already. Another thing that helped mid-lane was the first blood on Orianna. However, she was still behind Zed in farm 10 minutes ago. A lot of pick and counterpick combination work in theory, but at this level of play it's all about perfect lasthitting and denying at the same time.

Bot-lane was supposed to be a total farmfest. The weakness of both Shen and Singed lies in the early game, but Froggen seemed to get an edge against Kev1n. To be brutally honest, he crushed his lane; and we all know what route the game is going whenever you feed a Singed. Combine that with the aggressive (and trolly, if you want to put it that way) playstyle of everyone's favorite dane Froggen. In the end, that was probably the main reason SK lost the game.

Despite all that, you have to give massive credit to SK. Orianna managed the unexpected mid-lane matchup quite well. The first two items were Catalyst and Seeker's Armguard to guarantee that he won't be able to get insta-gibbed, even with Volibear's help. On the other side, Zed did almost nothing in the mid-game, only having a Brutalizer and a Bloodthirster against a „tank“ Orianna.

Herqbot tried to do everything possible to snowball the other lanes. In theory, their team composition looked pretty nasty as well. A Nasus combined with ranged CC like Orianna's ultimate or Shen taunt equals a total shutdown; we saw that in games of Gambit Gaming yesterday.

SK's bot-lane could also not be blamed. But ultimatively the Varus pick couldn't stand a Kog'Maw that wasn't fed but well farmed beyond the thirty minute mark. The plan to completely shutdown caught champions converted into using ults for only one purpose, and that was to not die against the pain-train that was Zed, Singed and Volibear.

All in all, EG did everything right. Their double lane-switch payed off, and they could at least get the first win in their group. SK simply got overwhelmed by a very aggressive jungler that is Snoopeh (and this isn't really a secret anymore) and a Froggen that played like he should in all of the three previous games they lost.