The biggest stage in Equal Esports: the final at gamescom. Once again this year, the trade fair saw some of the best women on the European scene – with G2 Hel ultimately triumphing.
The G2 Hel players bowed to the cheers of hundreds of gamescom visitors. They had just won the Equal Esports Cup final in a hard-fought third game.
The favorite stumbles only briefly
Solary Academy did not make it easy for their opponents. Despite their underdog status, the team came with a clear plan and a proven strategy: delay the game until the late game, then bring the hyper carries into play.
Against G2 Hel, however, this proved to be a mistake. They dominated the early game with a composition centered around Pantheon, Annie, and Blitzcrank, and in the third game, they sealed the deal thanks to the more active mid-jungle duo of Ahri and Viego.
The top European team had also built up a clear lead in the second game, but lost it after fights over Dragon and Baron. “We didn’t play our composition well enough,” commented G2 Hel player Maya ‘Caltys’ Henckel on the stumble in an interview with eSport.
No surprises in the final
The Swede was satisfied with her team’s performance: “We stayed calm and at least our victories were dominant. I’m happy with that.“
They were aware of their role as favorites – according to Henckel, this G2 Hel is ”the strongest roster so far.“ So it was all the more surprising that Solary had no surprises up its sleeve.
”They played as they always do. We thought that because we were the favorites, they would come up with something,” said the ADC player. However, there was no sign of off-meta strategies or rarely seen champions in the final.
‘Caltys’ – A pillar of the scene
Henckel is one of the most recognizable faces in European League of Legends. She has been playing in tournaments since 2018 and has no intention of stopping anytime soon. This was the first time she had won the Equal Esports Cup.
“That I’m not washed,” is what the victory means to her personally, she said with a laugh. Her first thought after the enemy Nexus exploded, however, was already on the next tournament: “Now we have to win Game Changers too.”
Game Changers Rising is the first League of Legends women’s tournament organized by Riot in the EMEA region. In addition to G2 Hel, finalist Solary Academy and third-place Vitality Rising Bees have also qualified through the Equal Esports Cup. It starts on September 13.
