MAD Lions repeated the history of the 2021 LEC Spring Split playoffs, taking down G2 Esports in a 3-1 series in the 2021 LEC Summer Split today.
G2 had a strong start in the League of Legends series, winning the first match in 28 minutes. Still, the team fell off as their opponents adapted to their picks and playstyle in the following games. Armut took the player of the series with 64.7 percent of the votes after his dominant performance on three unique picks to lead his team to today’s win.
The first match was a textbook performance from G2, who secured a couple of early-game kills and transitioned the lead to neutral objectives such as dragons and the Rift Herald. Once they reached their power spikes, G2 started grouping up and denying experience and gold from their opponents before closing out the game after securing the Baron.
After the devastating loss from the first match, MAD Lions singled out the dominant Varus pick and decided to ban it in the next couple of games, forcing Rekkles to pick up other AD carries with less impact instead. With Varus out of the equation, MAD Lions had a much better second game by denying the opposing AD carry a game-changing ultimate. They traded blow for blow with G2 early on before building a significant gold lead and snowballing from there to equalize the series, and Armut’s Gwen nullified the presence of the fed AD carry from G2.
The third matchup was the most chaotic one, with the gold advantage bouncing between both teams throughout the match. While G2 secured the Ocean Dragon Soul and was in control of the midgame, a crucial pick by Humanoid on Caps turned the tide and put MAD Lions at match point in the series. In the last match, MAD put up a strong performance with Armut using Wukong to lead his team’s engages. He controlled multiple opponents in various teamfights to help his team win today’s series.
With this victory, MAD Lions secured the second LEC spot at this year’s World Championship regardless of their next results. Following Rogue‘s victory over Misfits yesterday, only one spot is left for LEC for this year’s Worlds.
MAD Lions will now face Rogue on Saturday, Aug. 21. G2, on the other hand, will take on the winner between Misfits and the team yet to be decided between Fnatic and Team Vitality next Sunday, Aug. 22.
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