LEC: Perfect week secures playoff spot

Wins against Fnatic, Vitality and Excel

The starting position before the last match days of the LEC group stage could hardly have been more exciting. While G2 Esports, Rogue and the MAD Lions had already qualified for the playoffs, six other teams were fighting for the three remaining spots. In addition to the royal blues, they included Fnatic, SK Gaming, Excel Esports, Misfits Gaming and Team Vitality.

For the Schalke LEC team around Jungler Gilius and Top Laner BrokenBlade it was clear: From the last three matches against Fnatic, Vitality and Excel, a few points have to be made in order to reach the playoffs. After the blue-whites had only won one of the previous eight matches (against Astralis), that also meant that they had to build on the strong performances at the beginning of the season – with wins against the title favorites G2 and Rogue and a balance of 5-2 S04 Esports had made a tailor-made start.

And that’s exactly what the Royal Blues did. Gilius & Co. managed to win all three remaining games of the season. Schalke prevailed against Fnatic as well as Vitality and Excel and once again proved that they can always be reckoned with. Thanks to the results of the competition, coach Dylan Falco’s team even moved up to fourth place. As a result, the Royal Blues bypass the lower bracket at the start of the playoffs and play in the upper bracket directly to reach the semi-finals.

Match for the semi-finals against G2

In the first round of the upper bracket, Schalke now faces G2. As the winner of the group stage, G2 had the right to choose their opponent and could choose between the third-placed MAD Lions and the Royal Blues. The choice fell on S04, in the second game of the Upper Bracket the MAD Lions and Rogue face each other. In the lower bracket there is a duel between Fnatic and SK Gaming.

With G2, S04 Esports doesn’t just meet the defending champion. G2 recently won the last four LEC splits and now wants to be crowned LEC Champion for the fifth time in a row. To do this, G2 must first pass the Schalke team, who have already shown in the group stage that they can bring the big favorite to his knees. The blue-whites now want to repeat this success. Do it again guys!