The European Championship Series summer split 2015 has begun.   With an array of roster changes from the top of the standings to the bottom, week one was set up to be an interesting if not competitive week.  The standings after week one is as follows:

1. Fnatic (2-0)                                                                                             

2. Origen (2-0)

3. Copenhagen Wolves (1-1)

4. Elements (1-1)

5. Giants Gaming (1-1)

6. H2K (1-1)

7. ROCCAT (1-1)

8. Unicorns of Love (1-1)

9. Gambit Gaming (0-2)

10. SK Gaming (0-2)

Only two teams emerged from week one with an unblemished record -- defending spring split champion Fnatic, and EU LCS newcomers/veterans Origen.  Fnatic seemed to be the most impressive run of the undefeated teams, starting off the split with a dominating victory, in a rematch vs. fellow spring split finalists, Unicorns of Love.  The second win for Fnatic would come in a much less dominating fashion.  SK Gaming brought out a surprise Bard pick, and they were able to use it to punish Fnatic's early game aggression. Fnatic, facing a gold deficit, were able to continue winning team fights, eventually ending in another Fnatic victory.  Fnatic's re-addition of Rekkles proved to be a good move so far, as he turned in two good performances on reworked Ashe (7/0/3) & (7/1/12).  The only other team to remain undefeated was Origen.  Led by LCS veteran Xpeke, Origen was able to take their first victory over fellow Spanish team Giants Gaming.  If there were any doubters left after Origen’s sloppy win over Giants, their doubt would be quickly dismissed in their next game. Origen faced off with spring split contenders H2K Gaming in their 2^nd game.  Origen would go on to dominate H2k in every aspect on the rift.  The MVP of week one went to the sole rookie on Origen.  Jesper "Niels" Svenningsen who was able to calm the nerves, and deliver an impressive Kallista (7/2/6) performance in game one for Origen.  He was able to follow up that performance with an even better Vayne (7/0/8), and was a key to both of his team's victories.

With only two teams finishing the week 2 and 0, that left the middle of the standings crowded with 1 and 1 teams.  Copenhagen Wolves began the summer split with an impressive upset of SK Gaming, after SK left open Wolves star AD Carry Freeze's pocket pick Draven (8/0/5). The second game for Wolves would not fare so kindly, as they ran into a hungry Giants Gaming looking for their first win.   Giants' gaming was able to get their first win in their second game of the summer split, on the back of their star mid laner PepiiNeRO .  The young Spanish mid laner was able to deal more than double the amount of damage to champions as anyone else in the game on his Xerath (5/4/7).  PepiiNeRO’s damage allowed Giants' to take their first win of summer split. This would also give Wolves their first loss tying both teams in the middle of the standings.

The next team in the middle of the pack that came out swinging on day one of summer split was H2K Gaming.  Coming off their surprising spring performance, H2K looked to continue their success into summer in their first game vs. ROCCAT.  Led by a strong performance from mid laner Ryu on Fizz (7/1/4), H2K was able to take their first victory in decisive fashion.  The 2^nd game for H2K would not go as well, as they were beaten handily by Origen.  H2K and Wolves were not the only team to follow the trend of looking good on the first day, and not so much the next.  The newly reformed Elements came out swinging as well on the first day of the split. In Elements first game, their new lineup faced off against Gambit Gaming, and their new star AD Carry FORG1VEN.  Gambit was able to take an early lead, but fell prey to Elements' heavy team fight based composition.  Led by new jungler Dexter, and his Sejuani (9/0/11), Elements took their first win of summer split.  However the next day would not fare so well for Elements, as they ran into a Unicorns of Love team coming off of a loss to begin their split.  UOL came out firing, looking to avoid the 0-2 start.  Led by their star mid laner PowerofEvil, and his signature AP Kogmaw (3/0/8), Unicorns and the poke damage proved too much for Elements to handle. Leaving both teams even in the standings after week one.

The last of the group bunched in the middle of the standings is ROCCAT.  After a poor opening day showing, ROCCAT would face Gambit Gaming to determine who would be in the middle of the standings, and who would fall to the bottom .  ROCCAT was able to overcome the standard FORG1VEN team trait of pushing down towers quickly.  ROCCAT mid laner Nukeduck led the team to victory with some fantastic Azir (4/0/11) play.  Gambit gaming falls to 0-2, joining SK Gaming at the bottom of the standings. Some of the Gambit players had noted on Twitter about not being able to practice because of internet problems. While SK gaming's first showing in the summer split looked pretty bad, their 2nd game, was much improved before essentially punting the game away with a lead.  Gambit and SK will have to quickly start to fix the synergy, and communication problems.  If they don’t fix it quickly, both teams will be stuck at the bottom of what appears to be a very competitive EU LCS summer split .

Follow the author for more content at @24sah. Image courtesy of Riot Games.