G2 Esports returns to form, Fnatic finds their rhythm – This was week 2 of the LEC Summer Split

Another week of the LEC Summer Split is in the books, so let’s take a look at which teams stepped up and which players we should keep an eye on.
Fnatic rises again

Fnatic had an interesting weekend. First they had to take on Team Vitality, which strengthened itself by adding their former jungler Selfmade and has been poised as one of the teams to watch this Summer Split, harboring a roster that features a heap of individual talent. In their other game of the week they played Excel, who haven’t had the best start to their split. It’d be a great opportunity for Fnatic that they were able to close out games against teams that, on paper, should be inferior.

Against Team Vitality, two Fnatic players showed their strength, namely Nisqy and Upset on the Akali and Kalista respectively, snowballing the game to a thirty minute victory. Upset and Hylissang surely have stepped up in the botlane, with the latter enabling Upset on his Braum pick. Bwipo once again confirmed his grasp of the jungle role on Viego, not giving Selfmade the opportunities he needed on Rumble, while Adam is seemingly getting more comfortable within the roster.

The match against Excel went on a little longer than expected, but once again it was Nisqy (Zoe) and Upset (Kalista) who rose up, aided by Bwipo on Rumble. It’s interesting to see how Nisqy has grown within this Fnatic roster, being able to play multiple styles and providing the exact thing the team needs at any given moment. While the game wasn’t as clean as their previous one, this Fnatic roster might be doing some serious damage going forward.

Are G2 Esports back?

With a third place finish in the LEC Spring Split playoffs, there were a lot of questions surrounding the G2 Esports roster. Their first split with Rekkles added didn’t go completely according to plan, but now they seem to have picked up steam once more. They had the opportunity to prove themselves this week, playing matches against Astralis, but more importantly Rogue.

While Astralis simply got outplayed on a macro level, and decimated by an in-form Rekkles on Tristana, Rogue proved to be a more difficult nut to crack. In a game that almost went to 40 minutes, it was actually Jankos who stepped up on the Rumble pick, not giving Inspired the opportunity he did find in their earlier game on Fiddlesticks. G2 Esports showed they can still contend with the best and, it has to be said, they probably are the Best in the West right now, showing glimpses of their former selves.

Mixed bag from MAD Lions

One of the teams that have been a lot more up and down recently are MAD Lions. While these kinds of upswings and downswings are nothing new for them, losing to Excel in their first game of the week is kind of worrying. Mid laner Humanoid had an uncharacteristically bad game and the same goes for Elyoya (on Hecarim, of all champions). Carzzy and Kaiser were unable to carry for them on the Tristana and Leona combo.

They did bounce back against Schalke 04 however, with Humanoid finding rhythm again on the Zoe pick and Elyoya going back to his signature Volibear. It’ll be interesting to see if this continues, however MAD Lions has always been one of those teams that seemingly gets stronger as the season goes on and performs when it matters. MAD Lions fans shouldn’t be too worried about their performance yet.

The downfall of Astralis, the rise of Misfits

While Astralis started their season strong, they seemingly tumbled back down after an 0-2 weekend. Granted, they faced some of the strongest teams in the league right now in the form of G2 Esports and Misfits Gaming, but it does point to the fact that Astralis isn’t up to par to compete with the best of them despite their previous success.

Misfits Gaming faced a real test in the form of Rogue in their first game of the weekend, a game they would end up losing, yet it was a closely contested match. Misfits Gaming found themselves mostly looking towards HiRit on Gwen and seemingly looked like they would win it, but a moment of pure brilliance and the combined efforts of Inspired’s Fiddlesticks and Odoamne’s Nocturne sealed their fate.

Despite all this, they ended up bouncing back against Astralis, winning almost every lane. While it’s too early to say if Misfits will keep this up and be a serious contender, their most recent performances have been quite interesting and they’ll certainly remain a team to watch, especially with a mid laner such as Vetheo and a well-performing jungler in the form of Razork in their midst.

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