In League of Legends, the championship in the European professional league LEC was decided on Sunday night. The 2023 Spring Split playoffs came to a spectacular conclusion with a reverse sweep from the underdog. The Spanish team MAD Lions prevailed in a gripping final. Hardly anyone thought they could do that, because there were 3 people in the list who had actually already been written off.
Who are the 3 LoL pros who failed before? MAD Lions are an extremely successful team in their own right, but in November 2022 they gave up two of their best players in Türkenarme (top plane) and Deutscher Kaiser (support).
Only the jungler Elyoya was left from their successful team. Instead, in 2022, three professionals were brought in who had actually already been written off:
All 3 players who came out of crisis situations and who apparently hadn’t really chosen to leave their star-studded teams.
Two of them came from Fnatic of all places, who have had huge problems recently. And these three should now become masters? That was considered unlikely.
In the regular season it was only enough for 8th place out of 10. It’s actually a miracle that the MAD Lions were even able to play in the finals.
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Underdogs MAD Lions just barely made the playoffs, beating all the giants
How did it go for the Mad Lions? The MAD Lions had a tough road to the finals, barely making the playoffs and going past Europe’s biggest stars. First it was against G2 with Caps, who they defeated 3-2, then they had to deal with Perkz and Team Vitality, who they managed to defeat 3-1.
For their final opponents, BDS, it was an easy way to the final: only Team Vitality had to be taken as a hurdle, which they cleared 3-0.
How was the final then?? In the final, MAD Lions suffered relatively clear defeats in the first 2 games: it was over in 30 and 33 minutes. In particular, Nisqy suffered in both games and had to cope with a total of 11 deaths.
The games were actually balanced, but both tipped in favor of the Swiss team BDS in the mid-game.
For example, this teamfight that ended with a pentakill from ADC Crownie (Team BDS) can serve as a crucial example for Game 1:
But from game 3 the tide suddenly turned. Somehow it seemed as if MAD Lins has to stand with his back to the wall, then it suddenly works. The team fought their way back into the game in Match 3 and then suddenly it was a no-brainer.
MAD Lions suddenly dominated their opponents 17-6, 15-5 and 14-0.
“No one believed in us”
How is this commented? After the match, top laner Chasy tweeted, “No one believed us, but we won the LEC.”
Very few actually expected this.
In the Reddit one speaks of a “Cinderella” story. The performance of Topplaner Chasy, who came up trumps in the last 3 games of the playoffs, is particularly highlighted.
It is probably ironic that in the past many LoL professionals switched to Fnatic or Team Vitality to become champions there. But now 3 players have become champions who moved from there and went to the underdog.
Many professionals would do anything to become champions in the LEC, such as Rekkles:
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