LoL: LEC Summer Playoffs Round 2 Preview

While Rogue and MAD Lions dominated the regular season, G2 and Fnatic are now set to face off in the Upper Bracket Final yet again.

MAD Lions and Rogue were supposed to go into playoffs and out the other side as the dominant forces in the LEC. MAD managed to take one game in their series with G2, but that was about it for them. As for Rogue, Fnatic stunned most pundits, including ourselves as they defeated Rogue in a clean 3-0. Now with MAD facing potential elimination in a do-or-die series against Schalke, things are looking rocky for the Spanish side. Rogue at least will go to Worlds regardless, though a tricky Play-in run might await them.

MAD Lions v Schalke 04

The first elimination game of the weekend will see MAD Lions take on Schalke 04 and come face-to-face with their miracle run. Schalke has been literally unstoppable in the past five weeks and MAD will be all too aware. With elimination on the line, MAD could see the possibility of their Summer Split being over a lot sooner than they’d planned. The victor will move on to face Rogue on Sunday. With a place at Worlds already confirmed for Rogue, the winner of this series will also see their Worlds spot locked in.

Schalke will go into the series as the most in-form side in the LEC, and with all the hype it’s hard to see past them taking the series. MAD Lions will need to pull in all their knowledge from Summer Split to take down Schalke. Shad0w, who was recently selected in the All-Pro LEC team of the split, will need to work hard to shut down in-form man Gilius. We haven’t had many close series in the LEC playoffs thus far, and we think this might be the toughest one to call yet. For us, Schalke’s run ends here, with the reality of elimination being what spurs MAD to victory. We put it as 3-2 to MAD.

G2 Esports v Fnatic

The replay of the Grand Final to almost every EU LoL split in recent memory. G2 and Fnatic looked like they’d passed on the torch to MAD and Rogue earlier in the split, but the old dogs still have some fight in them. G2 brushed aside MAD Lions in Round 1 in a 3-1 series, as Caps and Perkz, in particular, looked dominant. Fnatic’s 3-0 against Rogue, however, was almost more impressive and will give fans the Upper Bracket final they desire. For Fnatic, it was Nemesis who finally started to look comfortable in the mid lane, and looked more than capable against Larssen, who also made it into the LEC All-pro team of the season. With a matchup against former Fnatic mid Caps awaiting him, Nemesis will need to step up this weekend to prove why he deserves to be on Fnatic.

G2 v Fnatic always feels like an impossible to call matchup. However, recent memory tells you that G2 is simply the better side, especially when it comes to Best of 5 series against Fnatic. That said, form is temporary, and this Playoffs and Summer Split has already been a wacky one. So we think times are changing. Now, Fnatic is unlikely to take down G2 3-0, especially as the two sides have been scrimming together. We are going with 3-1 to Fnatic, setting up a potential G2 v Fnatic Grand Final in a few weeks.

Rogue

Rogue finished the LEC as the top seed and a place at Worlds locked in. The 3-0 defeat to Fnatic has slightly taken the edge off of Rogue’s miracle split, with one eye on Worlds looking like a reality. Rogue will face either Schalke or MAD Lions on Sunday, with the winner locking in top three at Worlds and a place in the Lower Bracket final against the loser of the G2 v Fnatic series. With Rogue already locked in for Worlds, they will face a side who will also have Worlds locked in, which might give Rogue the edge. For us, we think Rogue beat Schalke 3-1 and MAD 3-0, depending on who they face off against.