Another week of the League of Legends European Championships (LEC) has concluded with Rogue and the MAD Lions tied at the top of the league. The story of week five of the LEC was G2 Esports' victory over Rogue in a gripping contest on day two.
G2 Esports has well and truly bounced back, ending Rogue's phenomenal winning streak with a fantastic performance on the second day. Following a perfect week with back-to-back victories over Astralis and Rogue, G2 has placed themselves fourth in the LEC. Also coming off a perfect week is Excel which bested Misfits and Fnatic to propel themselves into sole possession of third place.
This week of LEC delivered plenty of thrilling matches as middle-of-the-pack teams faced the prospect of slipping out of the playoff places if they failed to secure victories. At the top of the table, another battle rages between perennial rivals Rogue and MAD Lions.
This split has some of the most team parity we've seen out of the league. Only one team (BDS) is out of playoff contention. For those who missed the action, here is a recap of week five of the LEC.
G2 Esports is back to form
With a poor performance last week, G2 Esports found themselves out of the playoff places at the beginning of week five. The team must have had a wake-up call midweek as they came out fighting at the weekend. G2 Esports began their week by dispatching Astralis, a team that's been competitive in most if not all of their matches. The next day came the biggest task for the defending champions, defeating Rogue.
G2 Esports drafted a late-game composition centred around protecting Victor "Flakked" Lirola Tortosa on Aphelios. Rasmus "caPs" Winther and Marcin "Jankos" Jankowski were the stars of their team, keeping the team competitive while Gwen and Aphelios scaled. G2 Esports shot out to a massive gold lead in the early game but saw their lead begin to slip as Rogue found a couple of good fights, with Emil "Larssen" Larsson shining on his signature Azir. However, Andrei "Odoamne" Pascu began to struggle as Gnar in his isolated 1v1 vs Gwen, with an eventual solo-kill toppling Rogue's macro plans.
Fnatic is officially in free fall, with the team now dropping out of the playoff positions. Having lost their fourth match in a row, Fnatic found themselves in sixth place behind Team Vitality and Astralis. They have the worst streak in the league if we exclude BDS who has looked woeful all split. It looks like the team's coaching staff has yet to identify where the team is now falling short. Fnatic will have to recover fast to keep their hopes in the playoff race alive.
MAD Lions roar to the top of the LEC
MAD Lions is now tied at the top of the league following their perfect week. While the team has still looked shaky at points in their games, they are looking much better than they have previously. The team will have a challenging double bill next week as they face Fnatic and Excel, while one opponent is flying high and one is struggling, both are certainly capable of giving MAD Lions a challenge.
The next week of the LEC will have plenty of action. Perkz will compete against his former team, where he became a legend, G2 Esports, in the closing match of the week. Rogue, on the other hand, will go up against Misfits Gaming and Astralis as they look to reclaim the sole possession of the first place. You can watch all matches mentioned above on the official LEC YouTube and Twitch channels.