UK Masters Week 2: Barrage and Radix pick up 2-0 wins with strong Orianna performances

We look back on the results from week 2 of the League of Legends UK Masters.
 

Barrage 2-0 Bulldog

Barrage were eager to get some points on the board this week after losing 2-0 to Excel last week.
They changed their roster, with Daddy Fred replacing RangeExpire in the jungle (who has become team manager) and MonkWillCarry stepping in to fill EUTwistedFate’s ADC shoes. It paid off.
Barrage owner Jeff kindly sent in this report from this first match of the week:
“In game 1, the early game was strong from Bulldog, taking towers and drakes etc. They put a lot of pressure on bot lane which didn’t allow Monk to carry ?. In the mid game however, we started to come back into it and after some intense team fights and like a 2v4 clutch up from Fred and Rexxx at one point, we managed to secure two consecutive barons. This ultimately allowed us to take turrets and close out the game.
 

“Overall it was a much stronger week for us. We’re hoping to work hard for next week and continue to gel as a team a bit more.”
Jeff, Barrage

 
“Game 2 was a different story completely. We were gifted a very nice pick of champions. The early game was pretty tight but Rexxx in particular was dominant in the mid lane. (Bulldog didn’t ban Orianna despite him playing so well with her in game 1). It was a bloodbath to be fair and I think the game was lost in picks and bans prior to the game starting to be honest.
“It’s a shame to see Jet leave Bulldog as he was one of their better players. Moon could be good with some more team play and some guidance too.
“Overall it was a much stronger week for us. We’re hoping to work hard for next week and continue to gel as a team a bit more.”
 

Excel 1-1 MnM

This was a strange match, with two of the UK Masters’ arguably strongest rosters going head-to-head.
In game one, it seemed as if MnM didn’t respect Excel. Regardless, Excel put in one of the most dominant and convincing performances so far this split, with phenomenal team play, going 29-9 in game 1.
Coach Doruk told us last week that Taxer is a great jungler and the guy proved it today with a perfect KDA. He went 6/0/14 as Gragas.
Game 2 was a really exciting watch. MnM wanted to prove they could beat this Excel team and restore some pride.
The old super-carry Rifty we all know and love showed himself this evening, going 8-1-8 as Kled with a 300+ CS. Candyfloss locked in Evelynn – and the Twitch chat went crazy:

When @CandyflossLoL locks in Evelynn… https://t.co/71jyR5YXlc pic.twitter.com/GAlnhxcEJy

— Dominic Sacco (@Dom_Sacco) June 26, 2017

MnM went on to secure the second game 21-11.
 

Radix 2-0 Feenix

Radix were without their ‘free money’ top-laner Kirito this match, with Delitto stepping in as sub. And he did a fine job, going 5-2-8 as Jarvan in game 1 and ultimately helping his side pick up a straight 2-0 against Feenix.
We had another deadly Orianna in this game, with Furuy (who changed his name to yuruF) picking up eight kills and seven assists to help end the game at 25 minutes.
Feenix failed to get up and running, with the bot lane having a miserable time going 1/6 and 1/5.

We end the second week of @UKMasters Summer Split 2:0 vs @FeenixGG. We’re back next week to play @exceL.

GGWP.#FearTheBlue⚔️ pic.twitter.com/w77RQI95ls
— Radix Esports (@RadixEsports) June 27, 2017

Game 2 was closer. Feenix had the better early game, with jungler Nicolex going ham on Khazix early on, but they allowed Radix back into the game.
It ended up with a bit of a base race, with Radix pushing into the blue side and Kerberos trying to take nexus towers top by himself. But Radix were quicker and had the greater numbers, securing the 2-0.
 

NerdRage 1-1 Enclave

Game 1 was the longest game of the UK Masters this split so far, at a sleep-inducing 58 minutes. Except it wasn’t sleep-inducing (not for us anyway cos we bloody love UK League of Legends).
Enclave eventually got some balls and charged into the NerdRage nexus, taking game 1 with a 24-18 score.

A 58 minute behemoth of a game, @EnclaveGamingUK take the W, and a lead of 1-0 into the final match of the week! https://t.co/905wbK5Bhy pic.twitter.com/kvBTIkeCiO

— UK Masters (@UKMasters) June 27, 2017

In game 2, like so many other evenly-matched games in this split so far, NerdRage wanted to prove something and show they could pick up a win.
NerdRage were dominant, winning 20-9. Nutri put in a commanding performance as Zac, bouncing into Enclave’s backline and causing all kinds of havoc, while yet again another strong Orianna (6/2/7, 300+CS) from Kakan helped NerdRage pick up kills after kills.
After the game, NerdRage support player Prosfair could’ve revealed the real reason for their win.
“Our ADC’s [Hej] mic was broken all game and nobody noticed.” 
 

Next week’s matches

• Radix vs Excel
• Feenix vs Enclave
• NerdRage vs Barrage
• MnM vs Bulldog

Prosfair from NerdRage has already been winding up MonkWillCarry from Barrage ahead of their match:

@MonkWillCarry SMOrc Who SMOrc Will SMOrc Carry SMOrc https://t.co/0JVYbBxpwJ https://t.co/lqwLQW0376

— Tom Willis (@Prosfair) June 27, 2017

Matches start from 7pm on the UK Masters Twitch channel.
 
If you want to write any analysis for next week’s matches, DM us

Dom Sacco

Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.

As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.