It's down to four teams, but only one can be the LEC's Winter champion. Read on to get up to date with the LEC and ready yourself for the finals.
Bracket Overview
Last weekend we said goodbye to four teams - Team Heretics, SK Gaming, GIANTX, and Team Vitality. Only four teams are left, and the stakes are high as the winner will not only be crowned champion, but also qualify for the 2024 Mid-Season Invitational in May and the LEC Season Finals later this year.
Taking a look at the Upper Bracket first, G2 Esports and Team BDS faced off against one another on the 11th of February in the first best-of-five of the Winter Season. While the first game was a nail-biter, BDS was unable to stick the landing even while putting G2 on the backpedal for most of the early-mid game. After that, BDS never got a second chance, and both subsequent games were essentially stomps. While this was disheartening for BDS, they were still at the very least semi-finalists, and will be waiting to see whether they are going up against Fnatic and MAD Lions KOI to advance to finals and possibly face G2 Esports once more.
To get to the semi-finals and earn the right to fight BDS, Fnatic and MAD Lions KOI had different journeys. Fnatic was in fact able to defeat MAD Lions KOI in Round 1 of the Playoffs on the 4th of February, but they got relegated to the Lower Bracket when they faced G2 in Round 2. Last week, Fnatic played SK Gaming in a pretty gruelling best-of-three. After tying the score 1-1, Fnatic was able to wrestle away the third game largely to the credit of Noah and the team's overall superior Dragon control.
Meanwhile, after their defeat at the hands of Fnatic in Round 1, MDK was able to cleanly defeat both GIANTX and Team Vitality last weekend, thereby securing the upcoming rematch tomorrow. They took down GIANTX swiftly, with an average match time of 25.5 minutes, and eliminated Vitality with nearly as little effort. Now all that's left for this rookie team to do is show fans that their loss to Fnatic in Round 1 was a fluke, and that they'll be able to make it to top three and higher after all.
Fnatic versus Mad Lions KOI
Friday, 16th of February, 17:00 CET
Finals weekend will kick off with a rematch between MAD Lions KOI and Fnatic - this time, a best-of-five. These teams have already played a best-of-one and a best-of-three against each other so far in Winter. In the former, MDK reigned supreme, in the latter, Fnatic. In the regular season, both teams ended 5-4. It feels like they are evenly matched, so who will come on top?Taking a look at their Round 1 match up seems like the place to look for answers. The first game pretty unequivocally Fnatic's to take. In 27 minutes they managed to destroy MDK's Nexus after a pivotal pick onto Elyoya in the mid lane. The second game, however, was a fiesta. It was a 48 minute game that came down to not one, not two, but three Elder Dragon kills. By the end of the game, the gold difference amounted to just 3k gold, and Fnatic was able to win in spite of a terrific early and mid game from MDK thanks to their superior objective control and a very fed carry.
What I take away from this best-of series is that MDK could have very well won that second game. Unlike Game 1, it wasn't clean, and Fnatic couldn't find a way to end the game until after they'd claimed their second Elder Dragon. Following that series, Fnatic was taken down by G2 and was close to elimination from SK Gaming, while MAD Lions KOI went on to clean sweep and eliminate two teams. Perhaps it's recency bias, in that sense, perhaps it's the unconvincing win in the Round 1 head-to-head, or perhaps it’s the fact that Fnatic only narrowly beat SK Gaming last weekend to stay in the race. Either way I'll predict a win for MAD Lions KOI in tomorrow’s best-of-five.
BDS versus TBD
Saturday, 17th of February, 17:00 CET
After sending both Team Heretics and Team Vitality into the lower bracket, Team BDS found themselves in the Upper Bracket against G2 Esports last weekend. In the first best-of-five of the Winter Season, BDS was unceremoniously taken down. There was more than a little bit of potential for BDS to take Game 1, but after what must have been an incredibly frustrating loss, BDS couldn't bounce back or take any games off the defending champions.That's G2, but what about MAD Lions KOI or Fnatic? BDS hasn't fought either team in the Playoffs so far, so our only frame of reference is the regular season, and Team BDS had defeated both teams in the best-of-ones. BDS has basically defeated everyone, actually, aside from G2 Esports (and that one game against Karmine Corp). So, can Fnatic or MAD Lions KOI even have a hope of defeating them in the semi-finals? I would guess that probably not. Everyone is on top of their game, most of all likely Adam and nuc, the two solo laners. Assuming BDS can get an advantage in the early game, I don't see either MDK or FNC being able to defeat them in a best-of-five. However, let's see what these two teams bring to the plate tomorrow before we count them out.
G2 Esports versus TBD
Sunday, 18th of February, 17:00 CET
G2 Esports, our reigning champions, will fight one of these three teams we just talked about to keep their title.Realistically, and perhaps harshly-put, it doesn't seem like any of these teams, with what we've seen from them so far, will be able to put up that much of a fight. G2 has only dropped three games in Winter. One to Rogue (who did not make it to playoffs), one to Team Vitality (who were eliminated by MDK last week), and one to Fnatic in Round 2 of playoffs. Aside from that G2 has been pretty pristine, and it's clear that they aren't being challenged that much in the LEC this split.
