G2 Esports survived a grueling five-game final against Karmine Corp to win the inaugural LEC Versus title in Barcelona on Sunday, securing EMEA's sole ticket to First Stand in São Paulo. It was anything but comfortable — but it was deserved.
The right team won
While the scoreline suggests a coin flip, the reality is more nuanced. Across all five games, G2 were the better early game team, consistently building leads through proactive jungle pathing and lane pressure. The problem was closing. Karmine Corp showed exactly why they are nicknamed the Blue Wall: every time G2 seemed poised to end a game cleanly, KC found windows in the mid game to claw their way back — punishing moments of indiscipline and capitalizing on scaling compositions. The pattern repeated across games three, four, and five, turning what should have been a comfortable 3-0 into a nerve-shredding five-game marathon.
Rudy "SkewMond" Semaan was refreshingly honest about it in his post-match interview. "We were lacking a bit of discipline," the jungler admitted. "They had some good scaling comps, so when you go into the later stage of the game, they probably have the upper hand. Props to them — they found the good angles to come back."
A 46-minute game five for the ages
After KC leveled the series at 2-2 with back-to-back wins, the decider was a 46-minute bloodbath. G2 built an early advantage once again, but nearly threw it all away. A disastrous fight near top tier two saw them lose three members for nothing, and a botched Nexus siege almost handed KC the reverse sweep of a lifetime. "We got all of the towers and then Hans dies," SkewMond recalled, half-laughing. "We're like, 'oh guys, please, not again.'"
But Rasmus "Caps" Winther had other plans. A clutch play around the Elder Drake — where KC were on the verge of taking the objective and the game — turned the tide for good. From that point on, G2 played with the composure that had eluded them for twenty minutes, closing out the map .
SkewMond mvp