The League of Legends European Championships (LEC) is officially on the road to Athens as the Summer Split playoffs kick off this weekend with two exciting best-of-five series.
Splyce narrowly missed out on third place but the team's third-place finish meant they were allowed to pick their poison and have opted to take on the young and inexperienced side of Rogue. That then leaves Schalke and Team Vitality to battle it out in this weekend's other series.
The two winners will then face each other to decide who will join G2 and Fnatic in the finals. So, who will come out on top this week? Here's our LEC Summer playoff round one predictions
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Rogue (5.00) vs Splyce (1.12)
Friday, August 23rd, 5pm BST / 6pm CEST - live stream
It won't come as a surprise to most LEC fans that Splyce are the heavy favourites to win this series considering their domination of the LEC this split.
Splyce pushed Fnatic all the way until the final week in the race for the top two and with their impressive group of staff and infrastructure, it's hard to bet against them.
Then there's the young side of Rogue, made up of three rookies as the organisation went from last place in Spring to fifth in Summer. The odds are certainly stacked against them yet, momentum is on their side.
Splyce suffered a 0-2 week with losses to Fnatic and Misfits despite both matches going to the late-game which is usually Splyce's domain. Rogue on the other hand went on a miraculous win with phenomenal performances from top-laner Finn "Finn" Wiestål and mid-laner Emil "Larssen" Larsson. Rogue forced their way into Playoffs with a huge win over Origen and will go into the best-of-five with little fear though they lost to Splyce only a few weeks ago.
Rogue certainly have the firepower to cause an upset, especially if they can take over the early game and proactively take advantage of Splyce's cautious approach to games. Yet, it's still hard to imagine they'll come out on top. Splyce are one of the strongest teams in Europe and their best and shouldn't have any problem winning this series unless they crumble.
Prediction: Splyce win 3-0
Team Vitality (3.40) vs Schalke (1.27)
Saturday, August 24th, 4pm BST / 5pm CEST - live stream
Then on Saturday it's Team Vitality vs Schalke, a rivalry that has been building since last year when Schalke reached the Summer finals but it was Team Vitality who would advance to Worlds.
Schalke as an organisation has never attended the World Championships and this year provides them with an excellent opportunity. We've said it many times this split but Korean jungler Kim "Trick" Gang-yun has been a revelation for the team this split. His experience and intelligent jungling paired with raw firepower of ADC Elias "Upset" Lipp make Schalke a very strong team.
On the analyst desk of the LEC last week, Schalke were described as the barrier to the highest level of European teams. They are up there with the best and have some of the best fundamentals in the league. The team knows how to correctly play the game but the issue is they sometimes simply make the wrong decision.
Schalke are a strong team but predictable in their approach unlike their opponents Team Vitality. Last year's Worlds qualifiers are defined by their loose and aggressive playstyle which will see their players always opting into fights.
Vitality are a confidence-based team and they will riding high after taking down SK Gaming in the Summer Split's only tiebreaker match despite the fact that many believe their opponents had pieced together an excellent draft.
Support Jakub "Jactroll" Skurzyński slammed his desk in excitement and couldn't hold back his tears after making the game-winning play. Mid-laner Daniele "Jiizuke" di Mauro was also tearful in his post-match interview having suffered from health issues throughout the year.
Team Vitality are an emotional bunch which is a double edged sword. If they can take an early lead in the series, they may just ride that wave of confidence all the way to victory.
However, on paper Schalke are certainly the stronger team and should be able to win the series. But with Vitality's playstyle that's easier said than done, this one could go down to the wire.
Prediction: Schalke win 3-2
