The series was a mix of interesting picks, brilliant plays and lots of emotions - an excellent recipe for a final between two League of Legends powerhouses! Below you will find a summary of these exciting games as well as the final standings of DreamHack Winter 2012 League of Legends Championship.

Counter Logic Gaming EU vs Fnatic

Game 1

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The match began with a late invade by CLG which although successful, was immediately mirrored by Cyanide. Wickd was sent to the bottom lane whereas the unorthodox Warwick was up on top. A three-man dive onto the bot turret secured the first blood for Fnatic. The game could not have gone better as moments later Cyanide’s Lee Sin managed to score a triple kill. With such an advantage on their hands, xPeke and his team quickly dispatched the dragon and took the gold lead. CLG tried to claw their way back into the match as a couple of well calculated ganks resulted in the elimination of overextending champions. Despite this Fnatic boldly charged the dragon after catching and killing an unprepared Snoopeh on mid. Just as the final auto-attack was about to hit, YellowPete stole the dragon with a perfect ultimate. This brought the money difference to just 500 gold in favour of Fnatic.

This was also the turning point of the game. Fnatic fought in a horrible exchange behind dragon pit where they gave up three kills. Consequently, CLG took down two turrets and the dragon to surpass Fnatic’s gold amount. The key word in the next couple of minutes was patience as both teams just farmed up and removed wards. This proved to be a big mistake for Fnatic as they let CLG get in their zone. The next teamfight was the beginning of their downfall as they did not manage to take a kill from CLG. The latter immediately took baron buff and continued to bully their opponents into taking similar skirmishes. Fnatic’s composition cracked as CLG stomped every single other team fight and finished the game in a dominant fashion despite the rocky start.

Winner: Counter Logic Gaming EU

Game 2

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An early invade by CLG turned bad as Froggen was forced to flash and execute himself. First blood followed quickly as Snoopeh and Wickd landed a great gank onto sOAZ. Moments later, the Scotsman again showed why his Cho’Gath is to be feared as he helped the bot duo take two kills. Fnatic quickly retaliated by sneaking a dragon kill which decreased their gold deficit. Their opponents picked two more kills and as things seemed grim, xPeke gave the order for his team to charge baron on the 18th minute mark. They made full use of the buff as a couple of minutes later they aced CLG in an exchange on mid lane. This resulted in a turret kill, inhibitor kill and further extension of their gold lead.

The game again entered a standstill as both teams decided to farm. Fnatic once again decided to head for baron. This turned to be a brilliant bait as they caught their opponents off guard and quickly dispatched four of them. Smelling blood they sieged the enemy nexus in a valiant effort to bring it down. CLG managed to save it by the skin of their teeth with a miraculous defense, but they only prolonged the inevitable. The next skirmish proved to be the final nail in the coffin as their opponents forced them into a final game for the grand prize!

Winner: Fnatic

Game 3

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The game started with a mirrored blue steal. Cyanide and sOAZ managed to land the first blood as they dived onto Wickd. In the meantime, Rekkles picked up a double kill spearheading Fnatic into the lead. As sOAZ eliminated Rumble once again he quickly dealt with the top tower while his teammates secured a pretty convincing gold lead by killing dragon. To counter the rather interesting Jax pick on xPeke, CLG swapped their top and mid lanes but that brought no significant results as Fnatic continued to pick off their enemy one by one. It is interesting to note that xPeke’s team reacted perfectly to the AP heavy composition of CLG as all members had a decent amount of magic resist throughout the game.

Seeing that they have solidified their dominant position, Fnatic baited CLG near Nashor. The following fight was pure devastation for Froggen’s team as they gave up three kills, the dragon and later on - the baron buff itself. By playing the perfect counter-game, Fnatic managed to outplay CLG in almost every single way. The final fight was once again initiated by a beautiful sonic wave from Lee Sin which caught Rumble out of position. Total annihilation was what followed as Fnatic melted the enemy composition in mere seconds! With nothing but two turrets in front of them, xPeke and the lads marched onto 120,000 SEK and the DreamHack Winter 2012 League of Legends Championship Crown!

Winner: Fnatic

As DreamHack Winter 2012 comes to a close here are the final standings: