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Final Weekend Preview |
| Lower Bracket - Match 1 |
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MAD Lions
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VS
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SK Gaming
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Whoever comes out on top, it promises to be an interesting Bo5. SK is this split's revelation, a very young team that has gone above and beyond expectations after a rocky start. To make it in the top 4 they even knocked out Team Vitality, one of the favourites to win it all. Going up against them is the way more experienced squad of MAD Lions, looking for some sort of redemption after their infamous last Bo5 at Worlds Play-ins last year.
All eyes are on the botlane. Exakick has had a fantastic rookie split so far and no indication of stopping just yet. Carzzy on the other side is on his redemption arc after last year's Vitality fiasco. He has stepped it up again and forms an exciting duo with Hylissang, ironically also rejected from Fnatic respectively.
Crucial to the success of either team will also be the jungler. Both Elyoya and Markoon act as the leaders of their respective squad. Elyoya is obviously the more experienced player, but Markoon has shown great performances this split as well.
The solo lanes from both teams also promise to be interesting. Nisqy looks like he reinvented himself and looks better than ever before. Chasy was a question mark coming into the split, but has shut up the doubters with strong toplane play. SK's Sertuss had shown promise last year already, and continues to deliver some great performances. His teammate in the toplane isn't as flashy, but insanely valuable to this team contrary to his name. Irrelevant is incredibly smart in his play and has been improving very steadily since debuting on Misfits last summer.
Either team needs to win 3 consecutive Bo5s during the weekend if they want to reign victorious in the end. Many hurdles to take, but it could also form the perfect opportunity to gain important momentum - like we've seen with Rogue/KOI last year for example.
| Lower Bracket - Match 2 |
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KOI
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VS
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TBD
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After a disappointing regular season, KOI really has stepped it up. They did lose to G2 in the upper bracket, but showed a more than respectable performance in that series. Only one more win against MAD or SK can give them the opportunity to take revenge on G2 and bring home another title.
KOI stands and falls with Malrang finding success in the early game. His play forms the foundation upon which KOI can steadily take over a game. It's not for nothing he has been dubbed 'El Arquitecto' among KOI fans. Teams have known for a while now how Malrang plays. You just know he will gank, even if it'll cost him all his own resources. But still no one has really found an answer yet. Or perhaps the Korean jungler is just too good at what he does.
Comp and Trymbi have really stepped it up and are nearing their form from last summer again. Comp's pentakill in game 3 vs G2 was a good example of that. With the meta being as it is, Trymbi could prove an invaluable asset to KOI as one of the best enchanter/non-traditional support players in the league. His
Ashe for example is among the best.Larssen is still their rock in the midlane as always, and the meta favouring lots of mages is great for him. In the toplane Szygenda has been decent, but it seems like KOI still hasn't fully adapted to him. Brought in for his ability to play carry toplaners well, they haven't really brought the likes of
Fiora and Camille out since the very start of the split, and have rather defaulted to the weakside toplane style of last year. And so the question remains; is can this KOI lineup match or even surpass last year's summer-winning Rogue?| LEC Winter Split Grand Finals |
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G2 Esports
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VS
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TBD
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Well, how do you stop this team? This revamped G2 lineup has shown carry threat from every single role, along with strong and flexible drafts and adaptability. They should be clear favourites heading into the finals, but perhaps that could be their own downfall. Overconfidence is a silent killer, and they also don't get any more stage practice til the moment of truth. KOI has already shown they can go toe to toe. And both SK and MAD beat G2 in a Bo1 during the regular season...
Caps is obviously the main superstar of this roster, but this season he has taken on more of a facilitator role. Though still in a spectacular fashion obviously. Whatever the team needs, Caps will play it. So we've seen both
Zac and Sejuani midlane in the last few weeks. And I'm sure he has many more tricks up his sleeve.The botlane is almost as versatile. Mikyx and Hans are looking great back together. And individually they have definitely stepped up from meddling performances last year.
BrokenBlade gets less resources than last year, but he is definitely improving as a player under those new circumstances. During playoffs he has looked important to G2's success, most notably on his
Olaf.Yike is probably the biggest wildcard on this squad. Despite great performances all around, he remains a rookie at the biggest stage. But no doubt his team will do a good job at supporting him. Which has been the story of G2's entire split. Yike has a unique carry jungler champion pool (
Bel'Veth, Lillia, Kindred...). While the meta preaches ganking selfless junglers like Sejuani, Vi, Maokai and Elise. G2 does not see this as a weakness, instead they thrive due to their versatility. Mikyx plays a surprising amount of tank supports in this meta, and Caps doesn't shy from supportive picks either. All to enable Yike's agressive playstyle.Will G2 repeat history by winning it all once again? Or will an underdog rise to the opportunity and defeat this Goliath? One way to find out, tune into the LEC winter finals on Sunday 26 February, 6 PM CET.
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Conclusion |
That concludes this week's instalment. Don't forget to tune in on Friday-Sunday for the conclusion to the LEC's first ever winter split. Thanks for reading and see you next week for the final article of the split!
Remember that there's still a few more hours to update your Captain or use up your sell tokens if you think that a player you have is going to be putting your fantasy team at risk. If one of the top point earners is in your team, consider making them your captain this week! Also keep in mind that while you can switch your Captains between each game day, you only have one single sell token!
Credits go to LoL.fandom Wiki for their collection of player portraits, up-to-date statistics, overviews and all-around fantastic work documenting LoL esports.
Thanks to @ Jovy for the signature!
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Introduction
Hey there everyone, and welcome to another one of our LEC weekly recaps. Crazy as it seems, this upcoming weekend is going to be the last of the Winter Split. Have no fear, however, for the Spring Split is just around the corner.
As far as the Winter Split goes, we are down to the top four teams. The first best-of-five series happened on Monday, with G2 besting KOI 3-1. This shot G2 up to the finals, but who they will be facing is still up in the air. Will it be SK Gaming, MAD Lions, or will there be a rematch with KOI on Sunday?
Fantasy Leaderboards
With the surprising exits of Team Vitality and Team BDS, the standings have shifted quite a bit since last week. Our weekly winner as of Monday is pancakdasdeamor! Pancadasdeamor can attribute this win to his lucky - or perfectly predicted? - lineup consisting of two G2 players and two SK players. Not a lot of people would've been confident enough to say SK would make it into the top four at the start of the Season, or even at the start of Groups.
Top Player In Each Role During Group Stage Week 1
Overall Top Player In Each Role
Final Group Stage Standings
Playoffs Format Preview
Day 1 Recap
SK Gaming versus Team Heretics
The first series on Saturday was a match-up between SK Gaming and Team Heretics. Both teams had much to prove, with SK Gaming having thus far been performing better than in any other Split in the LEC, and Team Heretics arriving as newcomers eager to show off what their roster can do. SK Gaming has had a more impressive showing so far in the Split, having defeated both G2 Esports and Team Vitality in Week 2 of the Regular Season, with especially great performances from their bot lane. Heretics hasn't had as easy of a time, but with their veteran jungler and LJL star top laner, they were still hoping to secure a spot in Playoffs.
The first game of this bo3 series started off heavily in Heretics' favour. A failed dive from SK Gaming turned into First Blood for Jackspektra early on, and TH's Evi was able to get ahead thanks to some great ganks from Jankos in the top lane too. By 20 minutes, Heretics were ahead by 5k gold, with two Drakes and five towers to their names. Things took a turn shortly thereafter though, as TH were angling to get a kill in the top lane. Sertuss stole Mersa's Nami ultimate and used it to, alongside Markoon, kill both Mersa and Jackspektra. Meanwhile, Doss and Exakick caught Jankos out, giving SK the perfect opportunity to snag Baron Nashor. With the Baron buff on their side, SK took another fight, acing TH at the 28th minute mark and abrubtly ending the first game in the series.
Heretics grabbed First Blood again in Game 2, with Jackspektra earning another early kill and this time managed to snowball this into a good early lead. With some perfectly timed ganks and roams, TH managed to maintain a steady lead and were 3k gold ahead of SK by 20 minutes. Like last game, however, this is when things started to go wrong for TH. SK managed to deny them their Dragon Soul at 22 minutes, and then they won a straight 5v5 thanks to a great Gnar ultimate and fancy footwork for Exakick. After that, SK managed to catch out Ruby and secure Nashor. By 34 minutes, SK had taken two Nashors and three Drakes and were fully in control. One more good fight sealed the deal and brought SK one step closer to Playoffs.
Team BDS versus Astralis
The second series of the day was between Team BDS and Astralis. Neither team were necessarily expected to make this far, and Astralis in particular had struggled in the early stages of the tournament, making it to Groups by the skin of their teeth. While BDS were the clear favourites coming into the series, Astralis had shown some gusto and Finn and JeongHoon in particular have been the driving forces in Astralis' wins.
The first game of this bo3 series started off hot with a 1 for 1 exchange in the bot lane that got AST JeongHoon First Blood and BDS Sheo a kill back. Shortly after, nuc earned a Double Kill bot lane as well after a prolonged early skirmish between both bot laners, junglers and mids. The game slowed down after this but, and the two teams were dead even in gold by the 20th minute mark, though Astralis was ahead in objectives. All it took was one great fight from BDS to change that though! After taking down Dajor, JeongHoon and, most notably, 113, BDS navigated to the Baron and were now suddenly 4k gold ahead of Astralis. Astralis lost all control after that and though they managed to get another kill or two here and there, Team BDS took down objective after objective and won several fights, gaining a 10k gold lead before ending the game at minute 35.
In the second game of the series, First Blood was taken by Crownie as 113 alongside JeongHoon found themselves deep in BDS' jungle, trying to get a kill on either Sheo or Labrov. By 10 minutes, Astralis had a slight gold advantage while BDS were ahead in kills. The two teams exchanged blows often, but remained pretty equal until the first big team fight erupted at 28 minutes. Astralis was itching to take the Mountain Soul but Team BDS managed to swipe it, leading to a larger fight. Sheo died early on, but Astralis committed many Flashes and ultimates to make sure they could take more. By the end of the fight, BDS lost 4 members, and Kobbe earned a Triple Kil. Shortly after Astralis made Baron their target. BDS' Sheo hopped over the wall to try to steal it, but failed, and Astralis took Baron and were now staunchly in the lead. BDS couldn't recover after that loss, and several fights, Barons, and Drakes later, Astralis took the win.
An early game from 113 secures First Blood for Finn and sets the Kled up for a great game. By 10 minutes, Finn had 3 kills and Astralis as a team was 4k gold ahead - by 25, Astralis had secured Baron Nashor and slain three dragons to BDS' none. Team BDS had a few picks here and there, but were ultimately unable to deal with the fed Varus and Kled, nor with Astralis' superb objective control in Game 3. With this win, Astralis knocked BDS out of Playoff contention, and were set to face MAD Lions on the morrow.
Day 2 Recap
Team Vitality versus SK Gaming
Prior to last week, Team Vitality would've been seen as a clear winner in this next series. However, after their 0-2 loss to KOI, coupled with the fact that SK had managed to defeat them during the Regular Season, there are some clear doubts about whether or not VIT would be able to pull ahead and take a spot in Playoffs. At the same time, while SK Gaming did defeat Team Heretics, they seemed to struggle greatly in the early and mid game portions of the Saturday games.
The first game of the series started off hot with three kills going down in the top lane. Bo's aggressive early game gank dragged on, giving Markoon time to react and head up top lane as well. Though Bo and Photon did manage to kill Irrelevant, both of VIT's members died in return. After that, Vitality refocused, and by 10 minutes, Bo had three kills and had solo killed the Hextech Dragon. The first major team fight didn't occur until 15 minutes later when Team Vitality were trying to take Baron Nashor. Though they succeeded in spite of Markoon's Smite attempt, they lost four members in the process, signalling a shift in power. Though SK was nearly 10k gold behind at this point, they still managed to create a hefty dent in Vitality's plans. At the 33rd minute mark, Markoon made another attempt at stealing Vitality's Baron, but this time he succeeded. Though he died in the process, the gold gap shrunk to 4k gold thanks to Markoon, and four members of SK had the Baron buff. With it, they managed to take three members of Vitality down in the next team fight, the bot lane inhibitor, and their third Dragon of the game. Soon enough, SK regrouped, pushed out mid and won the first game.
Markoon continues his focus on top lane in Game 2, snagging First Blood onto Photon by minute 4. In addition to snagging some kills here and there, SK picked up the first two Dragons of the game as well as Rift Herald, and, unlike in Game 1, had a 3k gold lead going by the 12th minute mark. This gold gap only grew as the game went along, and by 20 minutes SK was 8k gold in the lead, with nearly four Dragons, four towers, and a very fed mid lane Ahri to play around. It was around this time that Vitality had only earned their first kill, in a top lane team fight that then got them aced. Whether it was the devastating loss from Game 1 after a significant lead, or just exceptional gameplay from SK, Vitality couldn't get it together for Game 2 of the series, and they were knocked out of Playoffs contention by SK Gaming, who have locked in top four of the Winter Split!
MAD Lions versus Astralis
Astralis had already achieved the impossible, barely making it into Groups and then taking down a team that has been performing super well during the Regular Season. MAD Lions, a fairly successful LEC team historically, on the other hand, had been performing more or less to expectation; getting second place in the Regular Season with their very competitive roster. It was rather surprising that MAD Lions got 0-2'd in the previous series against KOI, and if they performed similarly in the next series, maybe Astralis had a chance to upset the standings once more. Otherwise, MAD were the predicted winners.
The first game started off slow, but Astralis managed to secure First Blood just before the 10th minute mark, with the help of Finn's Cannon Barrage all the way from the top lane. Unfortunately, just a couple minutes later, disaster struck Astralis as MAD Lions found pick after pick and grabbed three kills for Elyoya in a 4v3 team fight. 20 minutes in, the two teams were still somewhat even in gold and kills, but MAD Lions had just taken down their third Dragon and were aiming to go for the Soul in a short five minutes. Before the game would end, MAD would take the Ocean Soul and two Baron Nashors, their superior objective control winning them a game that would have otherwise been much closer.
To contrast Game 1 a bit, Game 2 started off very, very hot - with a 5v5 fight in the top lane before the minions spawn. In spite of a four-man Nami bubble from JeongHoon, MAD took that first fight, and snagged a kill for their jungler and bot laner. Predictably, this meant that MAD Lions took Game 2's early game. By 10 minutes, Elyoya had pulled off a couple of great top lane ganks, putting Chasy, as well as Elyoya and the bot lane, squarely in the lead over their opponents. Astralis weren't quite out yet, and they managed to trade some kills and keep the gold advantage minimal considering the circumstances. However, MAD Lions were on top of the objectives, like in the previous game, and took Baron Nashor at 23 minutes. With Soul Drake about to spawn, MAD Lions chose violence and, rather than risk a steal, they initiated a mid lane fight prior to the spawning of the Dragon. Nisqy's Sleepy Trouble Bubble allowed MAD to take Dajor out, and between all of the CC from the MAD Lions squad, Astralis had no options. With only JeongHoon left to defend the base, MAD Lions stormed the Nexus, and knocked Astralis out of the tournament.
Playoffs Day 1 Recap
G2 Esports versus KOI
Immediately after the conclusion of the group stage, G2 and KOI already battled it out on Monday to secure the first spot in finals. KOI came out the gate swinging with Malrang unleashed on his
"Dylan, we have to go
KOI could not afford another misstep. Luckily, when in need they can always count on one thing: Malrang is always there. Yike searched for early impact with his (signature at this point?)
Game 4 featured lots of scrappiness and messy fights. Both teams dived the botlane, kills going over here and there, Szygenda getting run down by BrokenBlade's