“When it was the Unicorns, I had a fire in me right away. Because I remembered what it felt like to lose 2: 3 to them,” said SK top laner Janik ‘JNX’ Bartels the final. The sting of the bitter bankruptcy in the spring was still deep. Accordingly motivated, the challenger tackled the last duel of the summer split in the Prime League. SK Gaming Prime desperately wanted revenge for missing out on April’s title.
At no time during the season did the Cologne organization leave any doubt that this blemish could be repaired. The regular season ended in first place, and Eintracht Spandau were then beaten 3-0 in the second round of the play-offs. But no matter how superior SK Gaming was until the final, the Unicorns of Love, who had recently won two championship titles in a row, were waiting at the end.
The unicorns made it into the final by beating Spandau 3-1 in the semifinals. Their bot laner Johannes ‘Fun K3y’ Werner was also voted MVP of the Summer Split. The Unicorns lost the status of favorites before the final – but they were definitely to be expected in their home town of Hamburg. The prospect of the “three-peat” after spring 2023 and summer 2022 was also spur enough. However, there should be a debacle.
SK dominates at will – ‘Keduii’ sole record holder
Because there was no tension in the final: SK Gaming won the first match in a dominant manner. In the second game, too, the Cologne team had considerable advantages early on. The Unicorns got the Baron after 35 minutes, but shortly afterwards they had to admit defeat. The last exclamation point in game three also marked the final score of 3:0. The revenge turned into a show of power – and gave SK sporting satisfaction.
Their bot laner Tim ‘Keduii’ Willers is again the sole record champion of the Prime League. After the last spring split, he had to share this title with Unicorns coach Fabian ‘Sheepy’ Mallant. However, his third triumph meant recapturing the undisputed top spot – by the way, he celebrated his first two successes in 2021 with BIG.
Thanks to their participation in the final, both SK Gaming and the Einhorns have also qualified for the Main Event of the EMEA Masters. The LoL-EM will open on August 21st with the start of the group phase. 16 teams from European national leagues compete to take home the lion’s share of the prize money of 150,000 euros. It is also an opportunity for players to qualify for a spot on an LEC roster.
