With the EU LCS community expecting H2K-Gaming to dominate Group B, last week the defiant Unicorns of Love trampled them in a tense series, one of the biggest surprises of this EU LCS has unveiled so far this season. But behind their 3-0 front cover record lies an intriguing story of nail-biting series, early game tragedies and fierce comebacks relying on team fighting harmony – all of the criteria essential for an EU LCS fairy tale.
In our initial power rankings, we predicted the Unicorns of Love to finish the split third in their respective group, yet the poor performances seen from Splyce coupled with the victory over H2K last week have raised the expectations of this squad, now gazing towards the playoffs.
Yet the Unicorns’ path to the playoffs certainly won’t be one without hardship, considering the nature of their victory over H2K and the several mistakes that were made against Origen and Vitality that went unpunished – there’s room for improvement amongst the Unicorns.
Going out after a heart-fought series. Best Kebab Berlin 10/10 ! pic.twitter.com/dEs8pSPO6G
— Unicorns Of Love (@UnicornsOfLove) January 28, 2017
The team were extremely happy to enjoy the spoils of their victory over H2K (as they expressed gleefully through social media), but the series vs H2K was far from a clean cut narrative. The first game was led by H2K until a massive team fight led to a four for nothing in kills, allowing the Unicorns to snowball to victory. The Second game was won by H2K with oppressive dominance from start to finish.
Self-inflicted damage is one thing that the Unicorns of Love are going to have to battle through if they want to reach their happy ending – a negative trait we have seen glimpses of against even some of the weaker sides in the EU LCS such as Origen – early misplays and general mistakes have brought the Unicorns down up to 4K in gold before the 20 minute mark. However, superior team coordination and team fighting capabilities often compensate for these mistakes.
UOL jungler, Andrei “Xerxe” Dragomir is in top form and will be especially important as the meta continues to rely upon his role. His high kill participation is able constantly manage the top and mid lanes, adding momentum to the laners’ stampedes as they charge through enemies towards the ends of matches.
Knowing that they can concentrate on riding towards the top of the table, without having to worry about relegation, should bring the best out of the Unicorns of Love.
The LCS season is long; UOL are yet to face their adversaries from Group B and must demonstrate their strength to conquer the talents of Misfits, Fnatic and G2 Esports. As with any heartwarming fairytale, the Unicorns of Love will be rewarded with their happy ending once they reach the end of a difficult road.
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