Brought to you by IKON, challenging you to share your greatest game moments and win amazing prizes.
It almost happened. Origen went into the last match of the first week of the 2019 LEC Summer Split as big underdogs given their six-game losing streak to G2. Staying competitive with the fastest team in the world would have been a success. And then a creative teleport play from G2 bot laner Luka “Perkz” Perković yielded first blood.
But instead of folding, Origen started grouping for fights of their own and took control of the early game pace. Taking a page from G2’s playbook, they gained a kill lead. But it just wasn’t enough. They couldn’t control river vision, and that gave G2 better fight setups. Origen came close, but not close enough.
To figure out where the rest of the LEC falls behind the kings of Europe, we had our analysts rank each team from one point (worst) to 10 points (best). Here’s how it turned out:
| Rank | Team | Points |
| 1) | G2 Esports | 50 |
| 2) | Fnatic | 43 |
| 3) | Origen | 42 |
| 4) | Splyce | 35 |
| 5) | SK Gaming | 30 |
| 6) | Team Vitality | 24 |
| 7) | Misfits | 18 |
| 7) | FC Schalke 04 | 18 |
| 9) | Rogue | 10 |
| 10) | Excel Esports | 5 |
Let’s dig a bit deeper into each tier to see what impact week one had on the rankings.
No mystery: Rogue, Excel
There’s not much mystery at the end of the standings. Rogue and Excel are so far the clear worst teams in the region, and once again, the only win either team got was when they played each other.
There weren’t that many positives to take away from their games against other LEC teams. In Rogue’s loss to Misfits, they were able to keep pace in kills but nothing else as Misfits got every objective. And Excel even lost to a Rumble comp due to their inability to get any jungle pressure whatsoever. We’re only a week into the Summer Split, but both teams should look to experiment with their rosters and bring up players from regional leagues. Excel made the first move, but we’re not sure this one will work.
Missed Opportunities: SK, Vitality, Misfits, Schalke
Each of these teams had massive opportunities to shoot up the rankings in week one. All of them failed to take advantage, and now are stuck in a muddle where two of them will likely miss the playoffs.
SK lost against Fnatic, a team that they beat twice last split to prove they were a playoff-quality squad. Vitality lost both of their games, but our analysts gave them a mulligan on the basis that it was just an off week. But if they don’t improve their jungle control, wins are going to be hard to find. The good news is they were able to do that last split. The bad news is they still lost in the first round of the playoffs.
Misfits lost to Fnatic in a game that Fnatic looked like they were desperately trying to throw. And Schalke beat Excel but lost to SK, which isn’t exactly an amazing start. It might be that the first teams in this group to put together a two or three-game win streak will be in pole position for playoffs. It may be a while before we see a run like that from any of them, though.
Playoff teams: Fnatic, Origen, Splyce
These three veteran playoff teams still look a cut above the rest of the competition below them. None looked particularly impressive, but they at least showed a level of professionalism that younger teams struggle to achieve.
Take Fnatic’s game against Misfits, for example. They could have easily lost after a massive teamfight throw—last split they may have done exactly that. But jungler Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen wouldn’t let them lose, a quality that’s essential to a real playoff team. Origen and Splyce both lost to G2 like everyone expected them to. G2 are basically playing with their food at this point.
Kings of Europe: G2
At the start of the Summer Split, most top teams, including Team Liquid, Invictus Gaming, and SK Telecom T1, appear to be suffering from a post-MSI hangover.
That hasn’t been the case for G2, however. Sure, they had some loose fights against Origen, whose early game is still really good. But their playstyle has evolved to allow them to take those fights, even if they lose some. Origen pushed past river a few times, but they didn’t actually have meaningful river control, which meant that over time, G2 won more and more of those previously-even fights.
It will take a lot for a team to stop G2. And we’re not just talking about the other teams in the LEC.
