LEC Week 6 Day 1 recap

With two and a half weeks left of the 2022 LEC Summer Split, every game matters in terms of playoff seeding.

SK Gaming vs. Astralis

With one game separating these teams in the standings, this matchup has the chance to be the deciding factor down the line in terms of seeding. SK Gaming decided to spice up their draft by slotting the tank Hecarim into the jungle on top of their meta standard draft. The early aggression and teamwork by combining Hecarim’s and Taliyah’s ultimate abilities netted SK a 2500 gold lead. But after Astralis jungler Andrei “Xerxe” Dragomir managed to steal the Baron and the carries of Astralis got some gold, it became increasingly hard for SK to close out the game. The AOE damage and range of the Jinx, Oriana, and Gangplank combo stalled the game out, until SK toplaner Janik “JNX” Bartels didn’t take the game into his own hands and won the game-deciding team fight en route to his second Player of the Game award this split.

Rogue vs. Misfits

Despite the difficult week that Misfits had in terms of roster and ownership shuffles, Nikolay “Zanzarah” Akatov’s debut as the Misfits jungler turned out to be a banger. A 47-minute fiesta with seven dragons and four Barons taken ended with a Misfits win to help them hold onto their playoff hopes. Zeri’s dominance in competitive play and Rogue’s lack of AD damage proved to be the deciding factors in the team’s victory.

Vitality vs. Excel

Another game with huge playoff implications was the one between Vitality and Excel. Vitality managed to secure the win and even out the standings at 7-5 for both teams with much better team play than they have shown in the previous weeks. The Renata Glasc and Sivir picks on the side of Vitality absolutely dwarfed the impact of the opposing bot lane, while Gnar engages that Barney “Alphari” Morris had, made for some spectacular highlights. 

Team BDS vs. G2 Esports

The story of BDS’s dreadful summer split continued on day one of week 6. Despite having a 7000 gold lead at 17 minutes against the raining LEC champions, Team BDS failed to secure any of the objectives. After G2 secured the Dragon Soul in 29 minutes, Team BDS couldn’t even try to fight the meat grinder that was the Gwen, Swain, and Sivir trio. The combination of  AOE damage, mobility, and engage out scaled BDS’s draft, and the Baron steal that Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski had was the final nail in the coffin for Team BDS.

Fnatic vs. MAD Lions

Fnatic’s disappointing performance from the last two weeks carried on into Friday’s game versus the MAD Lions, who are at the top of the LEC standings. Despite getting three early kills, Fnatic’s mid-laner Marek “Humanoid” Brázda continued to struggle to make an impact. Meanwhile, his counterpart and MVP candidate Yasin “Nisqy” Dinçer, the mid laner for the MAD Lions, had multiple crucial Taliyah wall usages that ended in objectives or kills for his team. The interesting thing about this matchup is that a year ago Nisqy and Humanoid switched teams after Humanoid won two splits in a row with the MAD Lions. This game was also the second Zilean pick of the day that failed to make an impact, and it seems to be a suboptimal pick in this meta.

Recap of the competition

Day one of week six of the LEC 2022 Summer split concluded with MAD Lions being atop of the standings with a 9-3 record. G2 Esports and Vitality managed to secure crucial wins that created a 3-team tie for third place alongside Excel with a 7-5 record. Misfits got their first win with the updated roster and managed to hold on to the sixth and last playoff spot with a 6-6 record. But they can’t rest because right on their tails there is another 3-team tie between Astralis, Fnatic, and SK Gaming with a 5-7 record, all gunning for the last playoff spots.

Header: Riot Games