LEC Summer 2022 preview: Superteams 2.0

The League of Legends European Championship returns for its all-important Summer split on June 17. Ten teams will battle it out for three places at the 2022 World Championships.

G2 enter as defending champions but the race to Worlds is set to be long, bloody, and bitter as the league’s top teams all set their sights on international play.

LEC roster moves

Astralis: – Whiteknight, promise, Zanzarah | + Vizicsacsi, Xerxe, JeongHoon

Excel: None

Fnatic: None

G2: None

MAD Lions: – Reeker | + Nisqy

Misfits: – HiRit | + Irrevelant

Rogue: None

SK Gaming: None

Team BDS: – Adam, LIMIT | + Agresivoo, Erdote

Team Vitality: – Selfmade | + Haru, Bo

Is Vitality finally a superteam?

The much-hyped Team Vitality ‘superteam’ failed to make waves during the Spring split, going 9-9 and falling in the second round of the playoffs. In response to this disappointing result, the team benched jungler Oskar “Selfmade” Boderek and signed former Worlds champion Kang “Haru” Min-seung to replace him. The team also signed young Chinese player Zhou “Bo” Yang-Bo as a substitute jungler.

Will these moves finally turn Team Vitality into the powerhouse people were expecting? Only time will tell. Haru’s Worlds victory was not only five years ago, but comes with an asterisk given he was a sub for Samsung Galaxy during the tournament. Haru has spent most of his career as a backup and his only starting role in a major region was a disappointing 2020 season with Hanwha Life Esports in the LCK. Bo is even more of an enigma, given that he has not played professional League of Legends since February 2021 due to a suspension for match-fixing.

Heading into the Summer split, Team Vitality feels like the biggest boom-or-bust roster in the LEC.

G2 are ready to run it back

While the Mid-Season Invitational may not have gone the way G2 may have hoped, the org is still arguably Europe’s strongest. Making no changes from the Spring split, the team is ready to secure their fifth season in which they win back-to-back LEC titles. The biggest issue facing G2 is what happens when they lose. At MSI, the world watched G2 go from a 24-game win streak to winning just one of their next nine matches. If G2 can hold their nerve in the face of adversity, the league is theirs. However, MSI showed that the defending champions can be exploited. That said, you still need to beat them first.

Underdog Astralis?

Having finished 9th in the Spring split, Astralis parted ways with three members of their starting lineup. The team then added top laner Tamás “Vizicsacsi” Kiss, Andrei “Xerxe” Dragomir, and support Lee “JeongHoon” Jeong-hoon. While it does not immediately rocket Astralis into contention for a Worlds spot, it is a vast improvement for the team. Furthermore, Vizicsacsi, Xerxe, and retained ADC Kasper “Kobbe” Kobberup went to Worlds last time with they were on a roster together. Perhaps Astralis will be the surprise of the split.

Who qualifies for Worlds?

The LEC sends three teams to the season-ending World Championships. Barring any surprises, there will likely be six teams in serious contention for those spots. G2, Fnatic, and Rogue are almost guaranteed to be the front-runners for the title, with G2 leading the pack by some distance.

Team Vitality will likely make a more concerted push for Worlds qualification with their new acquisitions. The same can be said for MAD Lions who, despite finishing seventh in Spring, should be able to bounce back with new mid laner Yasin “Nisqy” Dinçer. Rounding out the group is Misfits, who finished fourth in Spring. However, Excel Esports could also make some noise, following their first-ever playoff berth in Spring.

LEC 2022 Summer split

The LEC Summer split gets underway with a three-day superweek, beginning on June 17. Team Vitality will take on MAD Lions in the opening match. Furthermore, fans will be allowed to attend for the first time since 2020.

But all is set for an unforgettable Summer split.

Header: A. Savin, LEC