Vitality won their first match of the 2020 LEC Summer Split in a 46-minute game against Schalke04.
Vitality’s revamped roster looked great together, playing cohesively as a unit with ADC Markos “Comp” Stamkopoulos leading the way on Ezreal.
Great start for our @LEC squad who takes their 1st victory in their 1st game of the Split, sah what a pleasure 🤩 #VforVictory pic.twitter.com/dN8QVwkM5P
— Team Vitality 🐝 (@TeamVitality) June 12, 2020
The game was even for the most part, with both teams trading objectives across the map. After juggling around the map and farming well, the teams clashed when the dragon count was tied at three apiece. The next dragon would grant either team the Ocean Dragon Soul, so it was a high priority objective.
Vitality came out strong from the Dragon Soul fight, acquiring it and wiping S04’s players. Comp’s Ezreal was dominant in teamfights, especially with the support of rookie Labros “labrov” Papoutsakis on Yuumi. His positioning and superior mechanics shut down S04’s attempts at winning teamfights.
After securing a third Baron, Vitality pushed into Schalke’s base to end the game and acquire their first win of the split.
The game against G2 Esports was a bit different, the early game was even for some time with Vitality being prepared for G2’s roaming play style. Once G2 tried to crash the wave on bottom and dive Vitality’s bottom lane, they backed off, losing little experience.
With G2’s focus on the bottom lane, Vitality swapped their bottom lane to the top and took the Herald to secure the early gold from tower plates. With their lead, they were able to pick up all Dragons, reaching the Ocean Dragon Soul, which has a professional win rate of over sixty percent.
G2 kept trying to come back into the game, but Vitality was superior today. They were the better shot callers, the better mechanical players, and the better players overall. This was a true test for Vitality, who had a poor Spring Split. G2, on the other, hand should analyze their playstyle to see if it’s up to date with the current meta after the recent lane swap of Perkz and Caps back into the bottom lane and mid lane, respectively.
Vitality went through significant offseason roster changes, replacing their jungler, mid laner, and support from the previous season after finishing the LEC Spring Split in 10th place.
While their opponent today wasn’t much higher than Vitality in the Spring Split standings, Schalke put up a good fight and were the favorites heading into the game considering their performance toward the end of the split. Vitality might be starting their redemption arc if they can continue to produce performances like this.
