The Kingdom Is Crumbling: PerkZ Must Improve For G2 To Contend EU Crown

With the European League Championship Series Summer Playoffs fast approaching, one of the final marquee matchups of the Summer Split between G2 eSports and Fnatic was considered to be a dress rehearsal for the playoff final.

G2 has rebounded after a poor start to the split, but the series with Fnatic proved that multiple improvements will still need to be made for the ‘Kings of Europe’ to recapture their fourth consecutive EU LCS title.

Highlighted in the matchup was the battle in the mid lane between Fnatic’s Rasmus “Caps” Winther and G2’s Luka “PerkZ” Perković. PerkZ has been a polarizing figure in the EU LCS with his brazen attitude and inconsistent play on the rift. Heralded by some as one of EU’s best, PerkZ has also been pointed to as a weak spot on the roster, especially in international competition.

Playing today vs @FNATIC

gonna be fun games

expect a G2-0 #G2WIN 😉

— Luka (@G2Perkz) August 12, 2017

In the series against Fnatic, PerkZ’s inconsistency was once again on display, with a few good plays but multiple mistakes that contributed to G2’s 0-2 defeat.

Drafting a 1-3-1 composition in game one centered around Jayce and Galio, PerkZ failed to provide significant global pressure, and a poor teleport in the late stages of the game led to a lost team fight that Fnatic snowballed to victory.

.@G2esports try to force a fight in Top Lane but @FNATIC turns it all around! #EULCS pic.twitter.com/mxh3DlxU90

— lolesports (@lolesports) August 12, 2017

Perkz’s issues as a split pusher continued to be highlighted in the second game of the series. In fairness to the mid laner, PerkZ was able to snowball an early first blood into two additional kills in the lane and put himself in a prime position to carry the game, but he struggled to survive in a side lane as Lucian.

PerkZ overextended himself multiple times without proper vision and was punished, giving up multiple kills that erased the advantage he had gained and dramatically slowed the tempo for G2.

G2 as a whole has struggled to play around their vision control, but PerkZ may be the worst offender, a significant issue when drafting compositions that require PerkZ to split out into a side lane.

While PerkZ has thrived as a player in his “lane kingdom”, he has consistently struggled as the game has passed the early phases of laning.

If he has not acquired a significant lead on his opponents, poor positioning or risky decision making can hamper G2’s ability to scale into their favored late game compositions.

PerkZ must quickly fix his mistakes as a split pusher, or G2 will be forced to alter their game plan to cover his weaknesses.

Moving forward, G2 must accept PerkZ for the player he is and stop drafting compositions that expose his weaknesses as a player.

PerkZ provides a lane dominant presence who can excel on picks such as control mages, and compositions that place PerkZ on a split pusher are risky unless significant improvements are made in playing around vision and cycling pressure.

G2 still remains one of Europe’s best teams, but the series against Fnatic, (and their loss in the previous series to the lowly Team ROCCAT) has shown they still have significant flaws that must be fixed quickly if they hope to be a force both domestically and internationally. Reassessing the role that PerkZ plays within the team may be the best place to start.