1. G2 Esports (15-3)
The reigning LEC champions and 2019 LoL World Championship silver-medallists entered this season with high expectations, and they have delivered the goods thus far. Although G2 went through a rough patch during the fourth and fifth week when they lost three games and denied themselves a perfect run, a 15-3 record to end the regular season is still an impressive feat and clear indication of their domestic dominance.
2. Fnatic (13-5)
The most successful team in LEC history put up one of the most consistent runs through the regular season. While they failed to catch up with their rivals G2, a 13-5 record is nothing to take lightly. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Fnatic’s campaign has been the fast integration of their new jungler, Oskar “Selfmade” Boderek, who has quickly become a pivotal part of the squad.
3. Origen (13-5)
Origen did not need long to establish themselves as one of the best LEC teams this season, and their final placement is legitimately deserved. They looked unstoppable against the weaker teams, with all five of their defeats coming against rosters that finished in the top five. Consistency has been the key to Origen’s success, and now they’re set to chase their first European title since the 2015 Spring Split.
4. MAD Lions (11-7)
MAD Lions built their squad with a simple plan in mind: sign Marek “Humanoid” Brázda, add four rookies and watch the team develop. Not only did they show signs of progress early on, they instantly became serious playoff contenders. What is most encouraging for MAD Lions is that the rookies have more than held their own, sometimes even outperforming Humanoid.
5. Misfits (10-8)
Midway through the season, Misfits looked guaranteed a spot in the playoffs. As the season progressed, however, Fabian “Febiven” Diepstraten and co. started to stumble. While Misfits still managed to secure a playoffs spot, many expected to see them sit a spot higher and gain a direct invite to the upper bracket.
6. Rogue (9-9)
It has been wild ride for Rogue, but they finished exactly where they spent most of the split: just above the playoffs line. Simon “fredy122” Payne’s squad look capable of much more than their 9-9 record would appear to suggest, and now they have a perfect chance to prove their worth as Rogue enter the LEC playoffs for only the second time in their history.
What happened to the rest?
Missing the playoffs berth were Excel Esports (7-11), FC Schalke 04 (6-12), SK Gaming (4-14) and Team Vitality (2-16). Although the young Vitality roster and shambolic SK Gaming never looked like serious contenders, it was unfortunate to see Schalke struggle the way they did. Internal struggles, roster moves, underwhelming performances and the eventual benching of Konstantinos “FORG1VEN” Tzortziou all played a part in the German side’s downfall. Although Schalke found their footing with three wins in the final two weeks, by then it was too little, too late.
LEC Spring 2020 playoffs fixtures
The LEC 2020 Spring Split playoffs are slated to begin on Friday, April 3, with the grand finals set to be played on Sunday, April 19.
Winners’ Bracket:
G2 Esports vs MAD Lions – Friday, April 3
Fnatic vs Origen – Saturday, April 4
Losers’ Bracket:
Misfits vs Rogue – Sunday, April 5
ORIGEN VS G2 ESPORTS LEAGUE OF LEGENDS BETTING & MATCH DETAILS
ORIGEN VS G2 ESPORTS LEC SPRING SPLIT BETTING PREVIEW
Origen and G2 Esports both enjoyed perfect 2-0 runs in Week 6 of the League of Legends European Championship (LEC) 2020 Spring Split and will look to keep their streak alive this Friday in their second clash of the season.
Origen have enjoyed quite an impressive run since the start of the season and now look like serious title contenders. Although they have had a couple of mishaps, their 9-3 record ahead of Week 7 is not to be undervalued.
Origen’s losses came against G2, Misfits and Fnatic, but they have had a fairly easy time against the weaker teams. Last week they dismantled Schalke 04 and followed up with a convincing win against Rogue, where Barney “Alphari” Morris and co. started a slow but were very much in control for most of the game.
Overall, the roster looks solid with all five members playing to a high level. Andrei “Xerxe” Dragomir looked exceptionally good in Origen’s win over Rogue, but it is Mitchell “Destiny” Shaw who deserves all the praise he can get for what he has shown so far.
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Destiny was one of the biggest question marks coming into this split for Origen. As the first-ever Oceanic Professional League (OPL) player to arrive in the LEC, he was dropped into a team with four star players and asked to deliver from the get-go.
The 22-year-old Australian esports pro has thrived under the spotlight and is now regarded as one of the top supports in the league. Destiny’s aggressive playstyle and great leadership has proven to be pivotal to Origen’s success this split and the team will look to him when they face the undisputed best team in Europe this Friday.
Following their defeat against MAD Lions in the final match of Week 5, G2 Esports went back to winning ways with big results over SK Gaming and Team Vitality. They will now look to build on that momentum as they approach one of the toughest competitive weeks of their season.
G2 hold a 9-3 record after six weeks of play, which sits them in a three-way tie at the top of the league with Origen and Fnatic. G2 will play both of those teams this week, meaning they could emerge as the outright leaders or drop out of the top three altogether.
G2 have failed to impress with their performances since mid-February, losing to Misfits, Schalke 04 and MAD Lions. Although they managed to stomp both SK Gaming and Vitality last week, it’s not possible to praise Luka “Perkz” Perkovi? and his squad too much for beating up two of the weakest teams in the league.
ORIGEN VS G2 ESPORTS LEC SPRING SPLIT BETTING PREDICTIONS
Esports bookmakers believe this will be a one-sided bout, but it seems like Origen are slightly underestimated.
In terms of individual quality, there is no denying G2 have the advantage. They boast five of the best LoL esports pros in Europe and they work very well together.
That said, Origen are no pushovers. Their lineup has looked more consistent than G2’s over the last two weeks, especially the in-form trio of Elias “Upset” Lipp, Alphari and Destiny.
An upset win for Origen is not impossible, but betting against G2 in any LEC match, especially one of such importance, is something we would like to avoid. Instead, it’s the total kills line that is much more appealing, as it’s hard to expect either side will dominate their opponents.
BetOnline is offering generous $2.08 odds on the contest to end with at least 29 kills on the board. In our books, that’s a better bet than backing an outright result.
Over 28.5 total kills
The venue for the 2019 Rift Rivals NA vs EU tournament is scheduled for June 27-29 in Los Angeles, which hosted the 2018 Rift Rivals NA vs EU, unlike 2017, when the event took place in Berlin.
SEE ALSO: ESPORTS LEAGUES AND TOURNAMENTS
It was expected the tourney would alternate between EU and NA, but Riot Games believes European organisers have enough work on their hands as it is with the preparations for 2019 LoL World Championship.
The scheduling alone means LEC will have to take a break one week after Rift Rivals just so they can minimalise the impact of travelling across the world for the players.
This has sparked up an interesting debate among League of Legends esports fans.
Needing to travel across the world, adjust to a different time zone, fly back and then adjust to home time again could put EU teams at a significant disadvantage ahead of Worlds, not least because they finish their splits a whole two weeks later than NA.
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Questions of scheduling and venue selection have led to a lot of tension among LoL fans, many of whom do not agree with Riot’s decisions.
The format of the tournament will resemble the format we saw last year, which can be quite tricky to understand as it is unique in its own way.
The tournament will feature six teams – three from LCS and three from LEC. The participants were picked according to their finish in the Spring Split, with only the top three from each region handed a ticket for Rift Rivals.
The teams that will compete are as follows:
NA – Team Liquid, TSM, Cloud9
EU – G2 Esports, Origen, Fnatic
Each EU team will play against each NA team once in a single round robin Bo1 format. There will be no eliminations in this stage, but the final results of the group phase will give one region a slight advantage ahead of the finals.
In the finals, the teams will play at least one Bo5 match against the opposing region. The worse-performing region from the group stages will have to blindly pick a team to represent them in the upcoming three Bo5 matches. The better-performing region then chooses its own champion team for the finals.
Despite not being one of the bigger tournaments in the LoL esports world, the Rift Rivals is a must-win for the two regions involved – as much for the bragging rights as for the prize money.
Origen (Spain) vs. Illuminar Gaming (Poland)
As covered in the previous article, Illuminar had enough strength to topple yet another favoured team, this time smashing the previously unbeaten French champions in an easy 2-0. Kikis and the bunch are playing terrific, and the opponents seemingly don’t even matter to them anymore. Woolite is showing that he still has amazing mechanics even after three years of being out of LCS, and IceBeasto might just be the best non-LCS top laner in Europe. The veteran mid laner Sebekx also showed up in the semifinals, and is looking crisp on meta champions. Illuminar have also demonstrated that they can end games quickly after getting a lead, and their macro has been getting cleaner and cleaner every round of the tournament.
Origen, on the other hand, had a very tough semifinals against MAD Lions thet they managed to win through the sheer quality of their squad, which is also gelling together much better than at the start of the tournament. After Froggen’s performance yesterday, I think we can safely say that the legendary Dane is the absolute MVP of the tournament so far, performing great as both a hard carry player in game 2 and a secondary carry and mindgame king in game 3. FORG1VEN finally reminded us of his old days, playing a fantastic Tristana in game 3, and Jesiz has been a monster and definitely proved that he’s a very good, LCS-tier support.
It’s hard to predict the winner between Illuminar’s fantastic form and Origen’s raw, untamed power. I would say Illuminar is about to surprise yet again, but this time I think Froggen is just too good at the moment and no regional squad can find a solution for him. The Polish team shoudn’t be sad, though, as they’ve already achieved much more than anyone thought was possible.
Betting prediction: Origen to win 3-0, paying $2.10 at GG Bet.
]]>The semis will be played on April 28th, starting at 18:00 CEST.
MAD Lions (Spain) vs. Origen (Spain)
Origen’s squad of superstars isn’t smurfing as many have expected, but they’re doing their job well enough. Mid laner Froggen is the heart of this team, and every performance of his is a pure joy to watch for hard-carry playstyle fans. Jungler inSec has been playing very well after enduring some criticism in Origen’s first games, and his aggressive picks like Lee Sin or Kha’zix often leave the enemy unable to answer. Expect has been having consistently solid games in he top lane, both on carries and tanks, and the only issue of this roster could be the bottom lane. Greek legend FORG1VEN has had some iffy performances at the tournament, dying a lot more than we were used to see from him, and after the announcement that he will not be playing for nearly two seasons following the EU Masters, we have to question his motivation to even try to show his amazing skills here.
On the other hand, MAD Lions have stormed through the tournament without dropping a game, and all their players were individually on point. The synergy between Selfmade and Nemesis is definitely LCS tier, and these two players are the main tool through which the Lions generate leads. Werlyb is a very experienced and extremely mechanically skilled top laner, and Crownshot and Falco prefer to take a back seat in the bot lane and then pop off in teamfights. The teamfights themselves weren’t always needed. though, since the Lions sometimes just stomp their opponents in the laning phase and win from there.
In short, MAD Lions are probably the best team in this tournament, and are the #1 favourite to win it all. I do believe that Origen’s individual strengths can help them beat the best Spanish team, but I just don’t believe it hard enough. MAD Lions are simply too good at the moment.
Betting prediction: MAD Lions to win, paying $1.40 at GG Bet.
GamersOrigin (France) vs. Illuminar Gaming (Poland)
Illuminar are definitely one of the most unexpectedly impressive team in the Masters. The Polish squad that barely scraped their way out of groups have been playing very well since, taking down championship contenders Movistar Riders and Millenium. It feels like the team is finally clicking together, as they finally provide proper support to their volatile AD Carry Woolite, who returns the favour by dealing huge amounts of damage. IceBeasto, their rock in the top lane, has been unmatched in teamfights, and Kikis is looking more and more comfortable in his new/old role.
However, GamersOrigin is a different beast than Movistar or Millenium. France’s best team is yet to lose a game at the tournament, and have looked very strong and coherent throughout the games. GO has a very strong core of individuals, composed of the fantastic carry-oriented jungler TynX, France’s upcoming mid talent Tonerre, former LCS top laner Phaxi and a skilled Lithuanian duo in the bot lane. The team synergy is also on point, as their strong early game performance often translate into great objective plays and a swift end for their opponents. It seems like there’s no weak point in this team that Illuminar could exploit, and it should also be noted that GamersOrigin absolutely dominated them in the group stage.
There’s no denying that GamersOrigin are a heavy favourite here, and the match will most likely go their way. If you feel adventurous, though, the odds on Illuminar winning are very high, and the Poles might just manage a third crazy upset in a row.
Betting prediction: Illuminar Gaming to win, paying $6.50 at GG Bet.
]]>Origen is building a team for the upcoming European Masters tournament, and the current line-up is looking extremely promising.
The last one to sign was Fnatic’s former support Jesse “Jesiz” Le, and the roster also includes legendary Danish mid laner Henrik “Froggen” Hansen, another legend in jungler Choi “InSec” In-seok, and triple EU LCS champion Ki “Expect” Dae-han.
Origen has also swooped on superstar AD Carry, the renowned Greek player Konstantinos “FORG1VEN” Tzortziou-Napoleon.
Getting hold of such a strong roster might be a surprise for fans, considering that Origen’s last season consisted of mostly terrible results and management decisions.
From Worlds semi finals and EU LCS finals in 2015 and 2016, the Spanish organisation suffered a horrific fall from grace, getting relegated with a 0-13 record in Spring 2017 and placing second-to-last in the now defunct EU Challenger Series.
The organisation also received a penalty for not fulfilling contract duties towards players, and was also widely mocked on the internet for some questionable decisions.
However, the new roster led by the famous Anivia Kid and one of the best European players of all time will be by far the greatest favourite to win the European Masters.
Such a victory would be greatly important to Origen, as the org is apparently looking to apply for a spot in the future franchised EU LCS.
Considering these incredible signings and also their recent partnership with former Real Madrid footballer Alvaro Arbeloa, there is only one thing to say: Origen’s LoL story is far from over.
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