Team of the week: MAD Lions
Largely dominant in the summer segment of the European Championship of League of Legends (LEC), MAD Lions (1st, 10v., 3d.) achieved a new feat: eject Rogue from his first place in the standings this weekend. By knocking out Fnatic (7th, 6th, 7th) and Excel (4th, 7th, 6th), the team extended their winning streak to 6. He is now favorite for the title a few weeks before play offs. But if he obliterated Fnatic this Friday to take this place, his meeting against Excel was more disputed.
Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle’s team showed themselves prepared against their opponents this Saturday, with a draft ingenious to counter the strategy of the Lions. His successful execution allowed him to survive theearly (early game), which was a feat in itself against MAD Lions. But his opponent quickly extended his lead by relentlessly targeting Mark “Markoon” van Woensel on his Poppy (pick dominating the Rift at the moment), while Excel couldn’t annihilate the threat of William “UNFORGIVEN” Nieminen’s Draven, who pushed his team to victory.
Player of the Week: Barney “Alphari” Morris
The pride could be read on the faces of the players of Team Vitality (2nd, 8v., 5d.) at the time of their victory against G2 Esports (4th, 7v., 6d.) which ended its weekend with 2 decisive victories. For a long time, the only French club present in the competition worried about irregular performances and a shaky collective; but he finally seems to have found his rhythm and has placed himself in the top 2 of the LEC.
Never a favorite this weekend, he triumphed each time – by flying over his matches in addition. After beating Excel 12-4, he prevailed against G2 Esports with the score of 22-3, a very large lead and the “perfect” KDA of 10/0/7 for his midlaner Luka “Perkz” Perkovi on Ahri. The botlaner Matyáš “Carzzy” Orság can, for his part, congratulate himself on having suffered no deaths in his 2 games. By continuing their ascent, the Bees will be able to seriously believe in a good place in the play-offs, but also in a qualification for the highly anticipated World Cup after 3 years of absence.
If the toplane Britain’s Barney ‘Alphari’ Morris was lurking in the shadow of his teammates in terms of stats this week, but he’s been a key part of their success nonetheless. At the moment, the competitor is in Olympic form; he displays a surgical mastery of picks dominators of the current meta (general game strategy) but also shines by its regularity, its solidity in lane and his actions to elevate the collective. This week again, he won his phases of lane hands down, opening the score against Excel on a solo-kill by Finn “Finn” Wiestal. No doubt: Alphari is among the elite of toplaners from Europe.
Match of the Week: Rogue – Misfits Gaming
It’s not time to party for Rogue (2nd, 8v., 5d.). After having interrupted his winning streak last week, he piled up the defeats. But that against Misfits Gaming (4th, 7v., 6d.) was not only due to the wanderings of its players: the team of Vincent “Vetheo” Berrié did not deserve.
In this clash, the Rabbits exceeded all expectations. For 46 minutes, the two opponents blew hot and cold. They were the first to take control of the game after a contested start, thanks in particular to the Poppy of jungler Nikolay “Zanzarah” Akatov, who was nevertheless targeted first and foremost by the opposing strategy.
But Rogue then turned the match in his favor with key takedowns from the Rift. He clung to his advantage for a long time – without managing to finish the game. This failed him, since his advantage was rendered almost nil in late game. And it’s on a final assault, brilliantly countered by the teleportation of the toplane Joel “Irrelevant” Scharoll on Gnar, which Misfits Gaming snatched the win from the former league number one.
Misfits Gaming got back into the race for the top 6 with this decisive victory, followed by another against SK Gaming (9th, 5v., 8d.) the following day. Confidence returned to its ranks: this was evidenced by more daring strategies than usual, such as the pick Shyvana for Irrelevant (6.6% attendance rate in summer) in his second match. But more than maintaining their form, the Rabbits will have to transcend themselves to survive the difficult schedule that awaits them until the end of the summer split.
But also…
Far from the flashes of Team Vitality and Misfits Gaming, other teams stumbled this weekend, such as Team BDS (10th, 1v,., 12d.). The defeats of the Swiss club were expected, but others surprised: this is the case of Rogue and Excel, the only teams to have suffered two losses in a row, as well as G2 Esports.
Defending Spring Champion, G2 Esports has been worrying since the start of the Summer Split. He had shown better last weekend taking 2 winsbut he was not a strong opponent against Team Vitality on Saturday.
Another historic team in Europe, Fnatic continues to sink: the team still seems to be in disarray despite a week in 1-1. Despite good strategies, it is in the execution that he disappoints, always accumulating so many avoidable errors. This Friday, the British club suffered a series of 5 defeats (the longest since 2014). If he does not recover, another sad record will be broken: that of not participating in the play-offs, which has never happened since 2011, the year the league was created.
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