G2 Esports LEC Summer Preview, The Kings of Europe
| Tags: League of Legends
| Author Bence Loksa
With LEC 2022 Summer Split rapidly approaching, let’s look at the teams competing! Check out our G2 Esports LEC Summer Preview.
This Friday, the first day of the Summer Season of the LEC, and the 10 participating teams are eager to show how they improved during the off-season! The stakes are also higher this time around, with the 2022 World Championship in Autumn. But who will be the three squads to rise above everyone else and secure a spot in Worlds?
The biggest contender for not just the top three, but for first place is of course G2 Esports, the team representing Europe for this year's first international tournament, the Mid-Season Invitational. After a catastrophic showing last summer, where the team failed to make Worlds, it was time to rebuild. The organization signed Sergen “BrokenBlade” Celik, who was returning from the LCS. Alongside him, they signed rookie players Victor “Flakked” Lirola from the Spanish ERL and Raphael “Targamas” Crabbé from the LFL’s Karmine Corp. The latter being a two-time EU Masters winner by the time G2 got him as a support.
With this line-up, the team looked a lot better, although they couldn’t get into the top 3 in the first half of Spring Split. But they were having fun and making memes and resembled peak G2 more than in 2021 Summer. They finished with an 11-7 record in the regular season, just behind Misfits Gaming, while Rogue and Fnatic battled it out for the first spot. In the playoffs, they lost their first match 1-3 in the Upper Bracket against long-time rivals Fnatic and got knocked down to the Lower Bracket. But then they had an awakening of sorts, and made it to the finals with a perfect record, knocking out Team Vitality, Misfits Gaming and Fnatic in the rematch while not losing a single match in the Rift. Then they had a dominant showing in the Spring Finals against Rogue, where they beat Andrei “Odoamne” Pascu and co 3-0.
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They went on to be the European seed in the MSI, and they just couldn't stop. They finished their Group with an 8-0 record then started the Rumble Stage by beating the legendary Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok and T1. After going 4-0, they slowed down a bit, but they still managed to beat Evil Geniuses. After making the playoffs, they battled it out with T1 once more, but the LCK Champions didn’t let them get to late game team fighting, where G2 excels at.
They now return to Europe to challenge everyone and make it to the top once more. Besides the stacked team and legendary players such as Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski and Rasmus “Caps” Borregaard Winther, they have another ace up their sleeve – the crowd. The Summer Split finally brings fans back to the Berlin LEC Studio, which will be a huge boost for the team, as caPs turned into Claps again in the Spring where Riot let spectators in for the Playoffs. Last split ended great for the team, but can they pull through again?
Bence "Atreus" Loksa is a freelance journalist and League of Legends shoutcaster, covering all things esports and gaming, also yelling loudly at big plays happening on the Summoner's Rift. While his main focus is Riot Games' hit MOBA, he also dabbles in Call of Duty, VALORANT, and as of recent, the tabletop wargame Warhammer 40,000 - where he looks to make some grudges with his Leagues of Votann army.