After a wonderful regular season, LEC 2022 Spring Playoffs finally started, and the first team to be eliminated was Mikyx’s Excel Esports. After their 2-3 defeat on Sunday against Team Vitality, XL’s hopes of making the impossible happen were lost. Aside from that, G2 and Misfits dropped to the lower bracket, and together with Team Vitality, these three teams will try to make their way into the semifinals.
Misfits Gaming was picked by Rogue as their first opponent, and RGE easily defeated MSF, sending them to the lower bracket. Considered by many as the favourites of the playoffs, FNC also had a great start with their 3-1 win against G2 Esports. Before you move on to this weekend’s matches, you should definitely check out the first three games of the playoffs.
LEC 2022 Spring Playoffs Round 1
The first match of the first round was the league leader Rogue vs their choice of opponent, Misfits Gaming. Rogue started very strong with a 27-9 win in 38 minutes, where Larssen shined with a 12-1-6 Lucian performance, and Malrang played an amazing Jarvan IV, 1-2-24 and 92% kill participation. HiRit’s bad luck continued in the second game as well, where Odoamne destroyed him with his 10-2-6 Jayce and secured the victory.
MSF managed to answer with a fast victory in the third game, and it took them 24 minutes to reach the victory with 16-6. However, Vetheo wasn’t able to carry in the second game, and Rogue dismantled MSF as a whole with Comp taking the lead this time with his 7-0-7 Zeri.
The following day, the most important derby in the history of LEC started: Fnatic vs G2. Fnatic’s main carries had a superb game in the first one. Humanoid was 6-0-7 on LeBlanc and Upset was 6-0-8 on Zeri, and they were supported by Wunder, Razork and Hylissang’s confident performances. With a perfect performance that reached the victory in 35 minutes, G2 was able to find an answer in the second game though.
However, Fnatic didn’t look like they were dropping any more games. First, a 21-12 game that went in favor of FNC was won by them. The fourth game of the series was close, but Fnatic managed to be the better team in the end, finishing it and sending G2 to the lower bracket.
Team Vitality was the favourite against Excel Esports, but XL wasn’t going down without a fight. They started with a great win as they were able to surprise Vitality with Patrik and nukeduck outclassing their opponents. However, VIT found an answer in the next game, finishing it in 31 minutes with a great performance from Alphari and Selfmade.
Creating another game plan around two carries in mid lane and ADC, supported by the top laner and the jungler, Excel once again was able to defeat Vitality. Even though VIT had the counter pick on the top lane and Alphari had a great game, Finn was able to help his team more. The series was tied once again when Alphari, Selfmade and Perkz trio played the perfect game, utilizing Gnar, Volibear and Corki the best way possible.
The fifth game saw XL answering to Camille with Mordekaiser in the top lane and a Caitlyn Lux bot lane, but it didn’t work out well for them. After taking it to five games, XL was crushed in the fifth one, with Alphari, Carzzy and Perkz having a very easy one, carrying their team to the victory.
LEC 2022 Spring Playoffs this weekend’s schedule and betting odds
Check out the schedule below:
Friday, April 1
G2 Esports (1.72) vs Team Vitality (2.00) - 18:00 CET, Round 2
Saturday, April 2
Rogue (1.72) vs Fnatic (2.00) - 17:00 CET, Semifinals
Sunday, April 3
Misfits Gaming vs G2/VIT - 17:00 CET, Round 3
Overall, G2 had a better year than Vitality, but coming from the lower bracket and having players that crave for victory, such as Alphari and Perkz, we can’t cross out Vitality that easily. G2 has a very strong roster and also has some of the best players in the LEC history, but an upset wouldn’t surprise anyone here.
Rogue looks like a better team, acts and plays like a better team, but Fnatic just seem more reliable after Rogue has disappointed their fans over and over again. Fnatic has weapons like Humanoid and Upset, those two players alone could carry a team to victory. However, a close 3-2 series that could go either way wouldn’t be surprising here, either.
The winner of the G2 vs Vitality will face Misfits two days later. It definitely gives MSF an advantage, but can they use that? During the regular season, their story was great, but are they really that much better than G2 or Vitality? Those are the questions Misfits will have to answer this weekend, and every single LEC fan is looking forward to that answer.
If you have your favourites locked in for this weekend at LEC 2022 Spring Playoffs, visit Luckbox to watch their games and place your bets on them.
