X7 Esports, the NLC Division 1 outfit from the Isle of Man, have qualified for the EU Masters League of Legends quarter finals today, and they caught the attention of the European community recently.
Their 28-minute dismantling of the back-to-back 2021 EUM champions Karmine Corp (KC), from the French LFL, was a real statement of intent.
Coming off the back of an incredibly strong split in the UK/Ireland/Nordics league, which saw X7 win the NLC Spring 2022 season, they showed what their roster is capable of.
Draft was a clear indicator of how each team wanted to play. KC were looking to play mid early, locking in LeBlanc and Viego in their first rotation and going on to draft a bot side to snowball, putting Rekkles on Jinx alongside Hantera on Pyke that could be used to facilitate that mid/jungle matchup.
X7 went the opposite way: mid-laner Tempt opted to limit the impact SAKEN could have on the game by taking the Lissandra pick. They then looked to restrict the KC bot laner Rekkles’ individual impact by giving X7 ADC Nata a smooth matchup with the Miss Fortune. Rakan was picked up for X7 support Kasing which would be used to match the roams of KC support Hantera.
The game started off slowly; X7’s composition controlled the pace of the early game with Tempt’s Lissandra pick completely neutralizing SAKEN’s LeBlanc, not allowing any room for him to get KC rolling. It wasn’t until the eight-minute mark when a small overstep by KC top-laner Cabochard was punished by star man Haru, netting X7 top-laner Jaeger first blood.
From there, the game was only going in one direction. KC jungler 113 attempted to get his team on the move with some pressure towards the bot lane to secure an early Infernal Drake. It was Haru again who struck next, stealing the kill on Hantera before going on to dive Rekkles in between his towers.
X7 then took total control of the map, continuously forcing 113 out of his own jungle, with Kasing and Haru teaming up on multiple occasions to put continuous pressure on the Supermassive academy graduate.
Haru went on to secure the next two dragons back to back, uncontested, and a well- executed teamfight in mid set the tone for the rest of the match. Slowly but surely, KC were denied more resources as their jungle went under the control of X7. The French giants were then systematically taken apart by the NLC champions for what remained of the game, and were offered no avenue back into the contest.
The game went on to end just after the 28-minute mark, with one dragon given over and one bot lane tower as the only casualties for X7. Former G2 and Fnatic player Rekkles was handed his first EU Masters loss.
That’s worth noting – KC were on fire going into this match. Yet X7 thrashed them.
For NLC fans, this outcome may not come as a surprise. For while the Isle of Man superteam had a couple of rocky games during the season and finished second in the regular split, they were imperious in their finals match vs Bifrost.
To the LFL fans, however, this came as a huge shock as historically the French held a very strong record against their Northern counterparts, beating the NLC representatives in the last two finals.
Even fans from other regions are taking note after this display, which certainly puts X7 in a strong position for the title. On the side of Karmine Corp, this defeat puts the two-time champions on the back foot, as they will be hoping they can rally and fight back in their return game tonight.
Let’s see how X7 shape up against KC again later today (April 22nd 2022) from 7pm BST. X7 will also face GamerLegion at 5pm and Team Phantasma at 9pm BST.
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