Origen’s reputation as expert late-game teamfighters is tarnished from Friday’s poor showing.
With a fairly good showing from the spring split, where they ended fourth, the Origen squad was widely considered the favorite in their opening game against SK Gaming. However, the LEC was about to have its first upset.
The German organization started stronger, leading in kills, gold and objective control after an extended fight 7 minutes in ended in a 3:2 in their favor. Origen’s power would once more lie in the top lane, where Barney "Alphari" Morris’ Aatrox would have the team’s early kills and a big pressure lead. However, SK’s better map play left them on soul point 23 minutes in, which gave Origen little margin for error
While the blue team would equalize the gold and get a key 3:2 teamfight and a dragon 29 minutes in, SK beat them to the punch a minute later as they secured the baron and disengaged, then outmaneuvered them to secure an inhibitor. A second baron saw SK take two inhibitors before losing a fight for the third, before winning the decisive fight near the dragon 38 minutes in to take three kills and win the game.
It was not a flawless victory for SK, but a good read on the enemy and several key wins saw them able to close the game. Origen will need to activate another carry in order to win - good as he is for their Saturday game against G2 Esports - Alphari is not enough, especially against a competitor of that level.
Check out the rest of our LoL coverage for more news and analysis!