The first weekend of playoffs might not have brought us many surprises, but almost all teams came to play and showed some of the best League of Legends they had to offer. Some faltered throughout their matches, such as G2 Esports did against MAD Lions, while others such as Fnatic made it quite hard for themselves against a scrappy Team Vitality.
All in all, if the first weekend of the playoff series has taught us anything, it’s that basically any team can beat another one on a good day. Rogue hasn’t looked as unbeatable as they might have looked throughout the regular season and G2 Esports isn’t clicking as well as everyone thought they were following their regular season win streak. These next matches are going to be spicy, especially with the final Worlds spot on the line.
Round 2 – Misfits Gaming versus Fnatic (20/08)
Misfits Gaming came to play against Rogue and fully capitalized on their weak points wherever possible. Once again, this series has shown how important jungler Razork is for the team and if he can find the advantages he needs, Misfits Gaming often see it through all the way. They’ve shown to be more than just a team that relies on Vetheo popping off and getting them ahead.
Another big trend for Misfits Gaming, at least in the matches they won against Rogue, is their top laner HiRiT popping off, which he has shown to be capable of on picks such as Jayce and Camille. It’s interesting to see how the matches they lost are the ones where Inspired got some more room to play with, often finding early kills due to overaggression from HiRiT. If they can tone that down, Misfits Gaming looks scary.
Fnatic will be fully aware of the danger Misfits Gaming pose to them, having struggled against them all throughout the regular season. Against Misfits, the top priority for Fnatic will be playing through the bot lane, which is arguably stronger. On the flipside, Adam into HiRiT will be an interesting top lane matchup, with both laners being aggressive and looking for solo kills. Either way, this will be a series of big throws, huge up- and down swings and unexpected results.
Semifinal 1 – Rogue versus MAD Lions (21/08)
We’ve now learned that Rogue isn’t unbeatable and their series against Misfits Gaming, despite them winning the game in the end, has shown they still struggle with the same problem they always struggled with. Once the match hits the 20 minute mark, Rogue seemingly doesn’t know how to go from there or loses leads they should never lose. It’s a condition that’s become known as ‘Rogue Time’.
If there’s one thing that has become crystal clear, it’s that Rogue would never have found as much success as they’ve done now without their jungler Inspired. In any one of their victories Inspired got ahead and almost carried the game, which allowed Larssen and Hans Sama to get going as well. Inspired is the absolute superstar of this team and if a team is able to tone him down or keep him playing from behind (even though that’s not even a guarantee, he’ll find a way) Rogue can be beat.
The match against MAD Lions will be an interesting one, because on one hand Rogue is likely to gain an advantage but MAD Lions will again find one small opportunity to turn it all around, like it happened in Spring. Rogue know what their weaknesses are just as well as MAD know their strengths, so their clash should be one of a high level.
Round 3 – G2 Esports versus ??? (22/08)
G2 Esports came out swinging against MAD Lions, showing they can take over and control a game from beginning to end in a methodical way. Once MAD Lions pulled them into their chaotic teamfighting style however, everything crumbled. This version of G2 Esports isn’t the version we saw last year and it really does seem like MAD Lions is doing what they used to do to great success.
In the games against MAD, it often looked like Jankos was having trouble in the jungle, not finding the necessary picks to get his laners into good positions, something he did very well in the first game, which they won. It feels like this G2 Esports is just waiting for one player to pop off, which often comes back to bite them. Especially against MAD Lions, who can turn a small window of opportunity into a won game.
Also read:
- Irelia nerfs on PBE projected to come in Patch 11.14
- League of Legends Patch 11.16 preview – Jhin and Maokai buffs, Sona changes added
- Riot responds to negative feedback on Sona changes in patch 11.16
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