Bracket feel and how we got here – LEC Spring 2022 Playoffs

The LEC Regular Spring Split is finally over and that means Playoffs are soon on the way. Our pre-season LEC Power Rankings are still holding true somewhat, although there were some upsets and an unexpected turn of events.

Let’s see who qualified and who, surprisingly, failed in reaching such a goal.

LoL Esports / LEC

LEC Spring Playoffs – Almost all expected…

This 2022 season started off with similar results to last year. Most of the top orgs from 2021 have made it to Playoffs once again this split. Teams like Rogue, Fnatic, G2 and Misfits were all expected to make the top 6… and they did. The order, however, was a little unexpected.

Starting off from the #1 team Rogue, who we thought would struggle after losing Hans Sama and Inspired, they were able to immediately jump to the top of the LEC and sit on it till the very end. With that being said, will Rogue actually deliver in Bo5s? We’ve already seen them dominate the regular split and then fall off when it matters…

Misfits Gaming has also been a great surprise this split: with Vetheo arguably the best player in the LEC on the team, he was able to carry MSF to a 3rd place finish. We’ll see whether they can finally end in the top 3 in playoffs as well.

G2 and Fnatic have more or less respected expectations, finishing in the top 4: we’ll see whether they can further evolve in Playoffs. Out of the two, Fnatic might be the team with the higher potential.

Vitality was the big name coming into this 2022 but their performance has been all over the place. Consistency is something they definitely need to work on, especially now that playoffs are around. Nevertheless, they made it.

The big surprise, however, is XL Esports. After many years in the competition, they have finally broken the playoffs curse. Not only did they manage to get in but they might also survive a little longer than expected: their head-to-head record against Vitality is 2-0, and they will face them in losers’ bracket.

We’ll see how that goes in our individual match breakdown next week.

MAD Lions are the big disappointment of the Spring Split

Unfortunately, the big name missing from these LEC Spring Playoffs is definitely MAD Lions. Last year’s back-to-back champions were knocked out in 7th place, one win away from a possible playoffs spot. Their performance, however, wasn’t up to the level the Lions have got us used to. With Humanoid and Carzzy’s departure, the two new rookies Reeker and Unf0rgiven were not able to match their level. In particular, Reeker has struggled and had been in a downtrend in the last few weeks, heavily compromising their run at the very end.

MAD Lions has started getting used to being the top dogs in the LEC and they might want to at least get to Worlds this year once again. Will they make roster changes during the break or will they try to stick to the rookies and give them a second chance?

With free agents like Nisqy on the market, we might see some serious shakeups…

For those interesting in LoL betting, we are going to cover each individual Spring Playoffs matchup, with LoL odds and markets analysis starting next week.