The first half of the 2022 LEC Spring Split has concluded with Rogue dominating the regular season, contrary to what LEC fans expected. Though the European organization revamped its starting roster after Inspired and Hans Sama transferred to NA ahead of 2022, Rogue is still one of LEC’s favorite teams for the championship. MAD Lions kicked off the season imperfectly, Team Vitality has been meeting expectations in recent weeks. Only the top five teams will be reviewed in this article.
5. Team Vitality
Vitality built the LEC’s most anticipated team by acquiring Perkz and Alphari from North America. Despite being one the league’s favorites on paper, VIT could not win in their first three matches. Then, the coaching staff focused on harmonizing players. Perkz kept up with Selfmade’s aggressive game style as the weeks passed. Alphari was far from his latest form on Team Liquid, but he has recovered well in recent weeks.
The European super team will face off Excel, who overpowered Fnatic in the past week. Excel has a unique game plan that could threaten to VIT. Surely that game won’t be a part of the bag. In the closing match of Week 5, they will try their luck against Fnatic. Fans can expect the upcoming battle between VIT and FNC to be action-packed, considering their current forms.
4. MAD Lions
The defending champion opened up the season slowly. MAD Lions lost Humanoid and Carzzy ahead of the 2022 Spring Split and put all the responsibility on Elyoya. They could not make up for Humanoid’s departure, and Reeker underperformed in his first LEC season as some fans were worried. MAD should give him more time, and speed up the rookie’s adaptation process. Lions will have a chance to demonstrate their passion against G2 on Friday, and both teams must win to stay close to Rogue as the playoffs are fast approaching.
3. Fnatic
One of the most accomplished European organizations changed its LEC starting roster after getting wiped out in the 2021 World Championship Group Stage. Fnatic anchored in the last place in groups, and ahead of the new season, a conflict arose between Adam and Upset. Fnatic parted ways with Adam, then built a promising squad around Upset. Humanoid joined the team from MAD, and also FNC gained Razork as Bwipo returned to his original role with Team Liquid.
Wunder was looking for fresh excitement in his career and tried his chance on Fnatic. He made a sensational start to the 2022 Spring while leading his team to remain unbeaten in their first five matches.
The other teams in the league figured out how to crash Fnatic’s game plan from a certain point. They believe FNC could be fragile if Razork was taken under control in the early game. And so it was. Fnatic fell to Rogue and G2 in Week 3 without showing off any resistance, and unfortunately, there seemed to be miscommunication between players.
It is worth noting that Razork is a specific early game jungle player that can shine within certain game plans. His team has to keep up with his style and let him take the initiative. Unless FNC puts him in the center, Razork could turn into an average jungle Player.
Fnatic faced a discouraging loss against Excel, finished the first half in third place behind G2. Fnatic can make their way to the finals, but it is unknown if they will develop a game strategy that can use this capacity.
2. G2
After a shaky start to the 2022 Spring Split, G2 continued to put on top of it every week. Flakked and Targamas looked accustomed to the LEC as Broken Blade had a great first half, considering he was underperforming in the past season on Schalke. Even though some elite-level top lane players such as Alphari, Wunder, and Finn in his current form compete in the league, Broken Blade can bring many advantages to his team against these juggernauts.
G2 reached second in the rankings after Excel took down FNC. None other teams can beat them with their latest form except Rogue. G2 may have turned into a championship contender by the end of the second half.
1. Rogue
Rogue is the only unbeaten team in the league as of this writing. The restructured squad closed up the first half with a score of 9W 0L, took down most of their rivals with no resistance. After an unnerving 2021 for Rogue, considering they came very close to the championship but fell to MAD in the finals, this time the regular season juggernaut seemed poised to break the devil’s leg.
Malrang was thought to be one of the average jungle players in the LEC, but he reminded us of his TCL days when he dominated the league with Royal Bandits. Starting from the pick-ban screen, Rogue builds its game plan through Malrang, and trusts his in-game leadership skills that allow other players to avoid risky moves. All players in Rogue enhanced their performances thanks to a solid game plan that allowed Malrang to seize control of the macro game. Comp, who joined the team to fill the vacancy left by Hans Sama, is meeting the expectations thus far.
Rogue doesn’t hesitate to set its composition around Comp. On the flip side, Odoamne and Larssen bring many advantages to the lane phase and macro game. They also protect Rogue’s regular-season habits that get them to the top of the rankings.
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