Right after the promotional matches we dive immediately in the essence of the competition - the LCS clashes! Today, the starters include our very own SK Gaming facing the "Spanish armada" - Giants !

Game one: SK Gaming versus Giants

Bans:


Picks:


The game started in a very calm manner as we saw no lane swaps or invade shenanigans. Surprisingly, First blood went to the Giants as Samux managed to defeat Kev1n in a duel on top lane. Just a minute later, CandyPanda sniped Jimbz, but could not escape as Morden was nearby and made quick work of the overextended AD carry.

SK's jungler had the tough task of camping top and preventing Kha'Zix from snowballing. He did a perfect job as Kev1n managed to take out the enemy jungler and moments later, with the help of hurqBot, eliminated Samux to restore balance on top. Giants responded by taking an uncontested dragon, however the gold values were balanced on both sides. Realising this, SK took on the initiative and took three turrets down in no time which gave them map control and a good amount of gold. The second dragon of the game was a key point as Giants initiated, but a perfect turnaround by SK left only Babeta alive.

After that battle every single engagement went in SK's way. A shocking example was the aftermath of a top turret siege by SK. Exter teleported his Ryze near the bush where the SK members were recalling at around half hit points. Giants collapsed but were absolutely decimated by the coordination of their opponents. SK took baron and snowballed the game as the rest of the team fights were just a one-sided story.

Winner: SK Gaming

Game two: against All authority versus Evil Geniuses

Bans:


Picks:


Just as the game before, we saw an absolute standard opening by both teams. The only surprise was Cassiopeia's return in a competitive match as Froggen chose to face Shlaya with her. Right off the bat, a perfect counter-gank from Virtual gave him the first blood on bot lane.

The game then entered a ten minute long stalemate as neither champions, nor turrets fell. Finally, a three man dive by EG equalised the kill score as Snoopeh redeemed himself for his failure at the beginning. The french responded by taking the first turret of the game... at the 17th minute mark. This style of play was definitely beneficial for EG as once the first team fight came up, they took down three members of aAa near dragon, while managing to stay alive.

A skirmish on mid once again left the French line-up crippled and fed Froggen as he grabbed kill after kill. Speaking of the beast, he once again showcased his brilliant farming skills as around the 25th minute mark he was sitting on more than 280 creeps! EG solidified their lead by taking another kill onto Fredy122 who got caught in his jungle and immediately went for baron. Afterwards, they kept besieging the mid inhibitor turret of their opponents. It was only a matter of time, though as Froggen demolished the opposition and EG took the game in a very convincing fashion, despite the slow start.

Winner: Evil Geniuses

Game three: Gambit Gaming versus fnatic

Bans:


Picks:


Probably the most anticipated match of the day, couldn't start with a better scenario - the two top teams, both looking to either claim the top spot or maintain it. Adding an electrifying crowd to mixture was surely, an eSports moment not to miss.

Game started off with both teams looking to make a move. Eventually they swapped each-other's blue buffs, but an elementary mistake by Soaz's Jayce made Fnatic shake. Sadly enough, he facechecked a brush with 4 Gambit members, resulting in first blood in favor of the Russians.

As the game progressed, Gambit were slowly pulling ahead in terms of gold, having 2 kills already on their accound and securing an uncontested first dragon. Fnatic responded by taking the outer top turret, bringing the gold to just 400 difference.

Fnatic's high burst - high mobility combo with xPeke's Twisted Fate splitpushing the sidelanes, gave them the edge in most important situations, picking up an uncontested Baron. Few moments later an ace in Fnatic's favor sealed the deal, as they took their first win against Gambit in the LCS and are now the new leaders in the table.

Funfact: Fnatic didn't lose a single turret during the entire game.

Winner: fnatic

Game four: DragonBorns versus Copenhagen Wolves

Bans


Picks


The game started ith both teams heading straight into enemy teritory, deep into their opponent's jungle, stealing away blue buffs from each other, then after some midlane aggression - the farming began.

Laning phase lasted a bit more than expected, after the laneswaps, that the team did and they exchanged tower for tower, before a single kill could be scored. Firstblood was in favor of Dragonborns and it went onto HosaN's Varus, after a 1 for 1 exchange in the bottom end of the map.

The more the game progressed, the more CW's high burst combo was getting stronger and by the time the teamfights began - they could already cleansweep Dragonborns. The first big teamfight was around 20 minutes into the game and was in favor of the Wolves, after a clutch engage near dragon, they managed to score an Ace, get dragon and the middle inner turret.

From that point on it was all about Copenhagen Wolves - they took control of the game entirely, took an uncontested Baron and after a short period of sieges, managed to secure another Ace and eventually the win.

Funfact: Bjergsen continues his big multikill streak, adding another quaddrakill on a champion he didn't even have a runepage for - Kha'Zix

Game five: SK Gaming versus Gambit Gaming

Bans:


Picks:


The game started with a double lane swap from both teams as their duo compositions went top and the solo laners went straight to bottom. An excellent counter-gank by Diamondprox took first blood onto hurqBot who despite wasting a flash, could not escape the Russian wrath. The back and forth exchanges between Alex Ich and ocelote reached their peak as Alex's dive took the kill but the turret avenged ocelote's death giving him the much needed gold and experience.

The first dragon of the game went to Gambit as they managed to eliminate ocelote and thus gain the map control to slay the beast and extend their gold lead. Another couple of skirmishes ensued as Gambit always took a kill or two with SK retaliating swiftly. However, the Russians had better map control and managed to take their second dragon. Moments later, as Gambit was besieging the inner turret of SK, Alex jumped in and scored a triple kill with Genja taking another one for the total of four kills to one in favour of his team.

This swung the game in favour of the Russians as after this, they got the baron buff and stomped the SK line-up. Consequently, the mid turret and inhibitor were taken down as Alex and his team continued to rotate. In the end, Gambit simply engaged and devastated their opponents and afterwards comfortably took down their nexus.

Winner: Gambit Gaming

This concludes our coverage for Day 1 from LCS Lille, France. Stay tuned as we continue tomorrow!