Will Vitality surge and can SK Gaming find a first win? – LEC Week 3 preview

Some teams are looking great coming into the third week of the League of Legends European Championship (LEC) and the playing field looks to be wide open.

Except for SK Gaming that is. They are still looking for their first win despite some good attempts. It also seems like Europe is not the only region looking into laneswaps, with Korean powerhouse DAMWON GAMING KIA doing the same. For SK Gaming it has not paid off yet, but Fnatic might have found a solution to their previous problems.

Where will the laneswaps bring Fnatic and SK?

With both SK Gaming and Fnatic making huge changes in the offseason, we can now start to look at the progress they are making. With two weeks of play we have a good sample size to see where the teams are going. Starting with SK Gaming we can easily say that it has been rough being a fan of the German organization.


Although, they do not look particularly weak, it just feels like they are not on the level of most of the opponents they faced. They had a rough start and are facing both MAD Lions and Excel in the third week. Excel beat MAD Lions in week 2, but MAD Lions are still the defending champions of Europe. There have been struggles for both their opponents but on paper, they should still outperform this SK Gaming roster. Week 3 will be one where they can either break out or break down depending on the results they will book.

Another team that had a rough start was Fnatic, but they were able to bounce back quickly and already beat Team Vitality in a much-anticipated match. First, they face Astralis, a team that has surprised us with their strong start to the split. By staying together as a team in the offseason, they look like a well-coordinated team if Promisq stays focused. On the second day they are in for one hell of a ride as they play “El Clásico” against G2 Esports. This match might have lost some traction after neither team has reached the previous final, but we can ensure you that this will be a banger of a match nonetheless.

V for Villains

Team Vitality have one of the hardest weeks on paper as they face both G2 Esports and MAD Lions in the third week. Most teams might see this as a big challenge but the villains from Vitality probably see this as an opportunity to prove themselves. They have showed us what they are capable of and how good they can be but lacked some execution in those matches.

It will be especially hype to first get LIDER facing off against Caps and on the second day we get to see Selfmade versus Elyoya. Two extremely hype matchups in isolation, but also particularly important regarding their teamplay. It will be a good week for Vitality if they can get at least one win and it would be a fantastic week if they can get both. However, no one would blame them if it was still too soon to win against the European superstar team and the defending champion.

Bunnies on top

We have seen every team in the LEC play their heart out already and it has resulted in quite some spectacular matches. The biggest surprise might have been Misfits Gaming as they are currently on top together with G2 Esports. With a relatively easy schedule facing both the struggling SK Gaming as well as the up-and-down Excel, they could even take over the leading position of G2 Esports as they have a more difficult schedule.

The competition in the LEC is fierce and every team looks like it can beat any other team on any given good day. Individual players will make the difference, especially if they are on a team with a draft that enables them. Neither G2 Esports, MAD Lions or Rogue are promised a final in Europe and as the competition grows, so does the hunger of every team after MAD Lions hoisted the trophy.

We will see bloodbaths, scrim-games, happy games, extremely competitive nail-biting games, and stomps in the coming weeks and that is what makes the LEC so fun. Not only that, but also the fact that they are adding new on-air talent makes the LEC so diverse and fun to watch.

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Image Credit: Team Vitality
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