Equal Esport Cup: NNOwO earn the title over powerhouse G2 Hel

One of the main events of the year for the Woman and Non-binary League of Legends teams gave its verdict this Sunday at Gamescom, in Köln, Germany. Three teams remained in contention for the second Equal Esport Cup title, the first to be held in the tournament's current league format. The competing teams were GO Aurora, G2 Hel, and NNOwO.

Since late 2022, G2 Hel has consistently been regarded as the leading team in the Women's and Non-Binary League of Legends scene, securing three Pathfinders Main event titles in 2023, along with a victory in the Storm Takeover in June 2024. However, this year's EEC saw a highly competitive environment, with minimal differences between the top six teams, making the race for first place more intense.

Being the only ones to win 7 out of their 9 matches, NNOwO were guaranteed a ticket to the EEC Finals as the playoffs were played with a gauntlet format. This meant the semi-finals firstly saw GO Aurora take on G2 Hel after the french team had previously killed Chester Gaming's miracle run online, several weeks ago.

GO Aurora were close from stealing away G2's spot of the EEC finals, winning game 1 thanks to excellent teamfighting and range management. They planted doubts in G2's minds, as G2 failed to snowball the early game despite having a draft that strongly favored them during that phase. Despite GOA midlaner Luna "Lilith" Benzerara-Arnoux's best efforts, the Marta "Shiina" Mesas Garrido and Manon "Sha" Legaignoux mid/jungle duo took control of the early and midgame skirmishes after the first game, with consistent support from Olivia "Lizia" Calistus on the top lane. For now, G2H is still slightly above GO Aurora, but the two teams should rematch in the upcoming Coupe des Étoiles. GOA, who recently changed their toplaner, bringing in Alice "Wiosna" Mossé, still lack overall consistency.

G2 secured a 2-1 victory, earning them a spot in the finals against NNOwO with boosted confidence and LAN experience. This advantage showed early as G2H smoothly scaled in the first game, demonstrating superior macro play against NNOwO's all-in composition. The German team relied heavily on their bot lane, Mia "Miella" Steger and Sahrii, but G2H effectively neutralized Zeniv, limiting her impact. With Maya "Caltys" Henckel expertly piloting Smolder, G2H dominated the first game.

The second game should by all means have been a G2 Hel victory. NNOwO gambled an early game draft with Mareike "Sayna" Burg pulling a Caitlyn (remembering her ADC days) on the midlane while Miella was put on Miss Fortune. G2H managed however to deal with NNOwO early game draft, only leaving Zeniv to have a strong lead on her Renekton. She nonetheless couldn't carry her team through the first 5v5 around Baron which was better set up by G2H, who saw Sha tearing NNOwO apart with a huge flank from her Aurora. But after a missed teamfight in mid, G2H lost their lead and failed to set up any front-to-back teamfight against a comp that was full AD and with little scaling. The game ended in an anticlimactic fashion as G2H overcommitted to taking down Zeniv's Renekton, allowing the rest of NNOwO to capitalize by pushing the top lane uncontested, securing an easy victory.

Game 3 was game 1 but with better execution from NNOwO, the last pick handed to Zeniv revealed to be crucial as her Irelia dominated Lizia's Ornn. In the meantime, the botside remained as active as before. Sana's Ivern, paired with Sahrii's clever skirmishing allowed Miella to get a quick triple kill on her Jinx. Sayna, tired of playing squishy champions, decided to lock in Cho'Gath mid to counter Sha's signature Hwei. This put NNOwO on a heavy-frontline composition that G2H struggled to kill as they had no true tank killer with their Ashe-Seraphine botlane. NNOwO's initial snowball progressed smoothly as their composition effectively zoned out G2H's, despite a slight misstep during an inhibitor push at 23 minutes. Sayna's Cho'Gath became an unstoppable force, and Zeniv delivered a masterclass on Irelia. Together, they overwhelmed G2H, securing a decisive victory and grabbing the title.

After a game 1 that could have shattered NNOwO's hopes of overcoming G2 Hel, and despite a LAN environment that could look daunting, Zeniv, alongside Sana and Sahrii, overcame their lack of experience to carry NNOwO to a convincing victory. The rest of the season is still shrouded as the WNB scene deeply lacks tournaments overall (NNOwO can't participate in the Coupe des Étoiles, which requires two french players to compete), but for their first full year, NNOwO can truly get satisfied and excited for what's to come.