The League of Legends European Championship finishes with an unexpected twist. Many European fans have been looking forward to the results of this tournament purely because of the wild offseason that the region has had in relation to roster changes. LEC Summer Week 1 finally comes to a close and we now have our initial impressions of the teams and their players. After watching the week, what did you think about the results of the much-awaited LEC summer opening?
LEC Summer Week 1 Results
The LEC Summer Week 1 schedule closes out with Misfits Gaming taking the 1st spot and being the only team in the league that’s undefeated so far. Unsurprisingly, G2 Esports, Rogue, and Mad Lions trail closely behind being only 2-1 in the standings but dropped some questionable games against the most surprising opponents. The biggest surprise in the upper half of the standings is Astralis since they also managed to secure a 2-1 week, beating both Excel Esports and SK Gaming.
The lower half of the standings include the some teams that have made some surprising decisions this split – Fnatic, Schalke04 and SK Gaming. Both teams were considered middle of the pack teams which could hold their own against strong teams but showed a below average performance overall. The two teams removed some of their best players and decided to make some risky swaps that would leave LEC fans questioning who was calling the shots.
The Roleswapped Junglers
During the offseason, both Bwipo (FNC) and Treatz (SK) announced that they will be roleswapping to the Jungle position starting Summer. While a lot of people were definitely excited about this news, more people were skeptical about the fact that these players would fill up the position. It was even more surprising considering Fnatic decided to replace Selfmade, who was arguably a Top 3 jungler in the LEC, with Bwipo.
A lot more questionable roster changes happened during the offseason such as Schalke04 deciding to release Abbedagge to the LCS and benching their jungler – Gilius. Vitality had a full revamp which turned out to be a positive look and showed great promise even with their losses against both Misfits Gaming and Rogue during LEC Summer Week 1. Overall, we can’t say for sure if the roster changes paints a positive picture for the league but there’s definitely a lot of time to prove otherwise.
LEC Summer Top 3 Teams
Now that we’ve seen the teams in action, we can safely lay down our opinions on who we think will make it to the top 3 spots in the LEC for Summer 2021. Despite Misfit Gaming’s incredible 3-0 start, we actually think that the Spring 2021 Top 3 will retain their spot as the most consistent team in the league but Misfits definitely skyrockets as our Number 4. These 4 teams are the only ones who didn’t make any changes to their player roster which means that they’ll have better coordination during the early stages of the split.
1. G2 Esports
G2 Esports is definitely back at the top of our Summer 2021 list as they defeat MAD Lions in a close game. Despite losing to Schalke04, the team looks like they’ve rediscovered their mojo and the meta is once again favoring their hyper-aggressive tactics. This team is a treasure trove of talented players and is, in itself, the LEC powerhouse roster that every organization wishes they had the budget and influence to win over to their side.
Rekkles has been the most consistent factor in the team since Spring 2021 but has shown that he’s willing to keep the pace on making risky plays with his team. Caps continues to be the best mid laner in Europe and doesn’t show signs of becoming washed anytime soon. It’s up to Wunder and Mikyx to show a better performance this split so that the rest of their team can function the way they are supposed to throughout the rest of the season.
2. MAD Lions
The LEC Spring 2021 Champions are back at the LEC after securing a Top 3-4 finish at the Mid-Season Invitationals. The team also retained their roster and decided to play with the current people since they have show great coordination and teamwork as a whole. Since their defeat at MSI 2021, the team looks like they’ve managed to get some experience playing against other world-class teams and made minor tweaks to their playstyle.
Humanoid has stopped being such a passive mid laner and displayed his skills on carry champions like Akali. The rest of MAD Lions are also slowly developing and are expected to reach their peak performance either this season or the next. If this team retains their bloodlust until the end of the tournament, they might just have what it takes to reclaim their title as the LEC Champions even with a revitalized G2 Esports standing in their way as the biggest threat.
3. Rogue
Rogue has been the most consistent team in terms of performance. During the spring split, the team has shown that they are a definite contender for the championships after taking down G2 Esports and pushing MAD Lions 2-0 in the playoff finals. The team doesn’t look like it’s changed after the LEC Summer Week 1 but that’s not necessarily a bad thing if you’re a team that managed to play at the LEC finals during the previous split.
The only thing lacking in this team is a deadly sense of aggression brought about by the instinct to dive in even during risky plays and execute them well. Rogue is definitely one of the best teamfighting teams in the LEC right now with their heavy control over the Mid-Jungle. Once they’ve mastered controlling the other parts of the map, there’s no doubt that Rogue can be a championship contender.
Expectations for the LEC
The LEC is definitely one of the top 3 regions in the entire world and possibly even #2 if not for Damwon Gaming’s presence. The region continues to surprise the entire world since they have been creating a unique identity in the League of Legends international scene. We can’t determine how they’ll compete against other regions this early into the season yet but we’re sure that we’ll be getting a lot of action from this region judging by what we’ve seen in the LEC Summer Week 1 tournament.