Esport – League of Legends: Elbow to elbow hung in the LEC for the play-offs

Team of the Week: G2 Esports

Confidence has returned. G2 Esports (2nd, 9v., 6d.) has blown away the doubts caused by its irregular performances in recent weeks by two decisive victories won this week. The team showed a very good adaptation to Excel’s strategy (6th, 7v., 8d.) in their first victory, against the botlane daring of Patrik “Patrik” Jír on Nilah and Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle on Taric. The team showed an unfailing collective that took them to the Nexus.

He continued the next day with a classic against Fnatic (6th, 7v., 8d.), which promised to be much less balanced than usual given the disappointing performance of his opponent. And unsurprisingly, he bowed to a particularly upbeat G2 led by a Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski in perfect harmony with the strategies favored by the last update. Thanks to this victory, G2 took its revenge on the last classic against Fnatic.

Player of the Week: Nikolay “Zanzarah” Akatov

It is a metamorphosis. Since Nikolay “Zanzarah” Akatov joined the main team of Misfits Gaming (2nd, 9v., 6d.) in the LEC, returning from the academy team of France championship (LFL), he and his team have not lost a single game. His schedule was complicated. And yet, after beating Rogue (2nd, 9th, 6th) and SK Gaming (9th, 6th, 9th) last week, he repeated this weekend by knocking down Astralis (6th, 7th, 8th .) and MAD Lions (1st, 10v., 5d.), propelled to 2nd place in the standings.

The players say it: the arrival of the jungle on his Poppy (three games in a row for three wins) breathed new life into the team, which was disconcerted by the announcement of the resale of his place in favor of Heretics next season. Misfits Gaming thus ramped up this weekend in their match against MAD Lions, having shown effective control of the Rift from the middle of the game and given their resources to the Twitch of Matúš “Neon” Jakubík who then decimated the opponents. With these four victories in a row, the team became the unexpected favorites of the last week of matches.

Game of the week: MAD Lions – Rogue

This match was not the most spectacular of the weekend, but it served as a high-level technical demonstration, showing what is best in Europe. Rogue, at the top of the leaderboard for weeks after being edged out by MAD Lions, had revenge to take. But while the Lions are known for their early game, it was their opponent who dictated the pace, helped by the actions of the jungle Kim “Malrang” Geun-seong who was ubiquitous in the Rift.

Rogue relied on his strengths and dominated the game with patience and precision. Despite the win, MAD Lions remain on the LEC throne, trailed by four teams tied for second, including Rogue. Even if these four teams have almost every chance of keeping their place in the top 6, the scores are so tight that surprises are not impossible. Only MAD Lions has its place fully assured.

But also…

The stakes rise and the results remain unpredictable. One week from the play-offs, the fate of eight LEC teams is not yet sealed. SK Gaming and Astralis (6th, 7v., 8d.), whose hopes were running out of steam more each week, found the flame again thanks to two unexpected victories. Team Vitality (2nd, 9v., 6d.), which showed better performances, thus fell against surprising Astralis. They could do flashes next week, if their toplane Kiss “Vizicsacsi” Tamás keeps the same form.