The LEC regular season is now over and done with, so let’s reflect on what we’ve learned and what we can still look forward to.
The top five gap is real
If there’s one thing we’ve seen this season, it’s that either the top level of play flattened out a little bit or the overall level of the LEC has gone up, as the team’s look to be closer together than ever before. With five teams, namely Rogue, G2 Esports, MAD Lions, Misfits Gaming and Fnatic emphatically securing playoffs and fighting amongst each other, they seem to have firmly established a top five.
That isn’t to say things are less competitive down below in the LEC. With Schalke 04 having a bad split – which isn’t strange as it’s also their last – the other four teams fought it out until the very end. Some of them were even able to take some games from the top five, further establishing that the level of play is relatively closely together. Vitality ended up being the best of the worst (which sounds mean but it’s a compliment) and gets to challenge the top five in the playoffs.
G2 Esports powering up, Misfits look to challenge
G2 Esports didn’t really look like themselves in both the Spring Split playoffs and at the start of the season, sitting at the middle of the pack for most of the first half, losing some games they shouldn’t have lost. They managed to pick themselves up however and have now ended the split in second place, just below Rogue and tied with MAD Lions. They’ll look to challenge for the crown again and this time, it seems they’re not playing around anymore.
Misfits Gaming entered the split with quite a bit of hype behind them and they actually delivered. Razork has shown himself a capable leader and with Vetheo they have a potential superstar mid laner in their team. It’ll be exciting to see what they can do in the playoffs and if Misfits Gaming can pick up steam, they might just surprise a lot of us, even though they need to learn how to close out games better, which is something that’ll come with experience. What better stage to step up than playoffs?
Will Fnatic’s inconsistency become a problem?
Not many would have predicted Fnatic to end up as high as they did, with many even saying they’re rebuilding and that they wouldn’t contest for playoffs even. Top laner Adam and newfound jungler Bwipo proved everyone wrong however, but it’s the bot lane of Upset and Hylissang and surprisingly mid laner Nisqy who have put the team on their back. Fnatic on a good day is a scary thought for any team.
Their inconsistency does remain a big issue for them however. They still suffer from awkward decision making and seem to give up big leads more often than not, especially during the middle stages of the game. It’s something they’ll have to improve on as they’ll be facing teams that do have that knowledge on lock. Their first opponent is Vitality, which will be their first major hurdle. If they come out of that series feeling good, they’re a threat.
Rogue’s domination, MAD climbing
Another split where Rogue just seems like the best team in the LEC right now and this time it really feels like they’re set on winning it all. Their strong macro play and well-thought out game plans have become their trademark and more often than not they’re pretty remeniscent of an LCK team, which is high praise but the question remains if they’ve got the x-factor to close things out when it’s down to the wire.
Last split they faltered against MAD Lions in an exciting series. MAD Lions had to rebound after a definite dip following their MSI 2021 participating, but they grew as the split went along. In any case MAD Lions remains a team filled with star power, especially in the mid lane and bot lane. They have shown weakness in the top lane however, so eyes will be on Armut and it’s something teams will look to take advantage of.
In any case the LEC has provided quite a bit of entertainment this time around. With the teams being this close together it’s become really hard to predict who will eventually lift the trophy and who’ll be representing Europe at Worlds. Yet, that just makes it all the more exciting.
Also read:
- Can Vitality make the miracle run? – Misfits stay in the top two
- Anyone can beat anyone & the race for the sixth playoff spot
- Akshan buffed first day after release
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