At League of Legends the playoff race in the European league LEC has run. In 2021, the Spaniards of MAD Lions were still champions, but they will not play a role in the 2022 Spring Split. Team Vitality, which they had bought together, overtook them and thus knocked them out in the playoff race.
What is this bought together team?
- “Team Vitality” was only 6th in the European LoL league LEC last year. That’s why in 2022 they dug deep into their pockets, spent a lot of money and … are now back in 6th place.
- The French have “taken the best money can buy”: including Croatian mid laner Perkz and British top laner Alphari, both of whom had eked out their existence in the US as legionnaires until they were brought back.
- In 2022, Team Vitality wanted to become a major esports team with all its might. The project narrowly avoided disaster, but it doesn’t seem to hurt the stars’ egos.
LoL: Team spends tens of millions of euros on stars, wants to destroy everyone – Loses every game
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Team Vitality Overtakes MAD Lions, Grabs Last Playoff Spot in LoL
How did the season go for Team Vitality? Not really good. The US legionnaires, Perkz and Alphari, arrived in Europe out of shape, the timbers crunching. The team apparently wanted to “play in shape throughout the season.”
It was enough with oh and nosh: With 9-9 you secure the 6th and last place for the playoffs of the LEC.
Team Vitality was actually promising going into the last matchday with 8-7:
- However, they then lost the “important match” against the MAD Lions and also lost against G2
- However, they were able to win against bottom-placed Astralis
- Because MAD Lions won 2 games, but also lost against G2, Team Vitality just managed to get into the playoffs
Team Vitality prevailed against the MAD Lions, the champions from 2021. They closed the spring split with a disappointing 8-10 and are the “negative surprise” of 2022. The champion team had to give up Midlaner Humanoid and the ADC Carzzy and committed two rookies as substitutes. But that didn’t work in the spring. By the way, the Czech Carzzy was one of the 3 new players in Team Vitality that were bought.
Mad Lions become the first team in LEC history to win two consecutive championship titles but then fail to qualify for the playoffs in Season 3.
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Just cheated into the playoffs, but a lot of self-confidence
That’s the amazing thing: Despite Team Vitality’s mixed performance, the players are confident. You are apparently sure that you have “outstanding individual players”. Apparently you see yourself preparing well for the playoffs, where you have to beat everyone anyway to become champion. This is also the case from 6th place.
Jungler Selfmade, for example, says that the third-placed Misfits are 90% a “very bad team in the playoffs.”
You yourself are optimistic that you can do something even as an outsider in the playoffs. You have prepared so “many picks for a 5on5”, says Selfmade (via inven).
But the fans are rather critical, after the clear defeat against MAD Lions (25-8 kills) it was said that the team lacked “teamwork and coordination” between the 5 individual players (via reddit).
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Who else is strong?
- The big power in Europe is Rogue again this year, they played 14-4. They were always “the young wild ones” with MAD Lions – but things often didn’t go so well for Rogue in the playoffs. Maybe this year is different. They face Misfits in the first round.
- Fnatic is coming out of a difficult year when they lost half their squad and fell out publicly at the World Cup. But they are bombproof at 13-5. Here, with the Danes Wunder (top lane), the midlaner humanoid and the jungler Razork, good people have apparently been brought in and the departure of Bwipo and Adam, who went under rather chaotic conditions, can be overcome.
- The former long-term champion G2 has had a mixed “reconstruction” season. Here you have given up 3 players and are now rebuilding around midlaner Caps, jungler Jankos and the German top laner BrokenBlade. With 11-7 they tumbled into the playoffs in 4th place. They’re about to face Fnatic in Round 1 of the playoffs.
We reported extensively on MeinMMO about the trouble at Fnatic:
LoL: The biggest talent in Europe leaves Fnatic in a dispute with a German player
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