After some tight matches in the first round and one major upset which saw second seed Rogue head to the losers bracket, the LEC is back for another week of action.
Week one was intense. Fnatic pulled off heroics to beat SK Gaming, G2 Esports barely beat Schalke 04 as they looked to win the split from the upper bracket. Lastly, the shock of the round was MAD Lions beating Rogue, and teeing up a second-day fixture against G2 Esports.
Fnatic v Schalke 04
Fnatic had another rough split in Spring 2021. With the side dropping out of the top four and coming into playoffs in a poor run of form, fans had worried that they might get knocked out. Fnatic, thankfully for fans, did turn up in the playoffs and pulled off a decent, if not perfect series against SK Gaming.
On the other side of the Rift we have Schalke 04 who narrowly missed out on an upper bracket run, despite almost knocking out G2 Esports in a reverse sweep. Given their performance against G2, fans of the German side will have a good feeling coming up against Fnatic.
For me, Fnatic showed in their series against SK Gaming that they’re up for the fight, so for me, they should be the team to back. You can pick them up at (4/9) to take the series.
MAD Lions v G2 Esports
After a massive victory over second seed Rogue in round one, MAD Lions goes into the second round of the Spring Split having taken down one of the LEC’s best sides. The big question now is, can they take down the biggest? MAD Lions looked strong against Rogue, they had the perfect counter to Rogue’s style. MAD Lions were able to add chaos to the mix, something Rogue clearly had not prepared for.
G2 Esports is who MAD Lions will face, and while they beat Schalke 04 in the first round, they made it look hard. This could be seen as a classic G2 series. Make mistakes, give people false hope, then win the Split anyway. G2 Esports has done this pretty much every split and yet still managed to win. It has to give at some point, however, and maybe now is the time.
With MAD Lions putting on a show of force, and even Rogue, despite their loss looking like a side that’s close to challenging. While I think G2 Esports will still win the Spring Split, this series could see MAD Lions knock G2 Esports into the lower bracket. You can place bets on this series at MansionBet.
Rogue
Rogue will be the last series of the weekend, and they’ll face off against the winner of the Fnatic v Schalke 04 series. Whomever they face, Rogue will be the favourite to win, given that they’re the surprise team in the lower bracket. The series takes place on Sunday, so after the two other series with their opponent being known after the Friday fixture.
*All odds correct at time of writing.