Misfits Gaming – Rise of a new contender in the LEC

After missing out on playoffs last year, Misfits Gaming managed to secure the 4th seed this summer split. Not only did they reach their goal, but their insane early win streak put them in contention for the LEC title.

Will they surprise us once again in Playoffs? What are the reasons of such success? Let’s find out in our Misfits Gaming preview!

Misfits Gaming – The new wave of young players

Compared to spring, MSF didn’t make many any changes to their roster. Despite the poor results, the organization kept their faith in this roster, full of young talents. The organization was right in their decision.

Jungler Razork and mid laner Vetheo established themselves as one of the best jungle-mid duos in the LEC. Their teamwork and synergy are making wonders for a team who used to be mid-bottom of the pack. Those two love playing for each other in the early game, always looking for opportunities to create leads.

Their win conditions are clear and they playstyle is crisp. Their three-step program looks to be working. (most of the time)

1. All-rounders – Mid Lane to the Side Lanes
   MSF’s playstyle is straightforward but effective: by utilizing the jungle-mid duo, MSF wants to extend its advantage to the rest of the team. Essentially, Razork and Vetheo will often move together to help both the side lanes. Between top and bot though, MSF prefer giving more resources to their top laner HiRit. Why is that? Well, he’s Misfits’ other win condition…
   
2. HiRit – The Revelation of the MSF line-up
   The Korean player is finally showing why MSF decided to pick him up. Average last split, HiRit is currently one of the best top laners in the whole LEC. If he’s not the best, he’s surely top 2.
   What made him so good out of a sudden? Well, the team realized that HiRit is more comfortable when put on carries rather than tanks, just like most Korean top laners. His innate way of being the main threat remained, and MSF decided to accommodate that. Statistically, the data backs it up: HiRit dealt 25.6% of the team’s overall damage in Summer. Vetheo, the second one in the team, dealt 24.1%. It’s not a huge difference but it says a lot about HiRit’s role in MSF.
   
3. Kobbe and Vander – The weakside boys
   When a side of the map is getting a lot of attention, it becomes obvious that someone else will not get as many resources. While many teams like playing through bot, Misfits Gaming does the opposite: Kobbe and Vander make sure they don’t fall behind until the rest of the team has pushed their lead. As a result, MSF loves drafting self-peeling bot lane duos which can resist any incoming aggression. Thanks to their experience, the duo doesn’t struggle most of the time: they are aware of the possible threats and play accordingly, making it hard for the enemy to punish them.
   

Misfits LEC Playoffs Matches

Thus far, MSF exceeded expectations for this summer split, showing they did deserve to be in Playoffs. They have shown us a different way of playing the game that goes against the traditional mid-bot oriented gameplan.

Round 1 versus Rogue

Now that MSF was in Playoffs, they had to face Rogue in their first Bo5. It’s not an easy task as Rogue is considered the best team in the LEC, with some of the best talents. While their chances were low, they delivered an amazing performance overall. Coordination and synergy defined this series, and Misfits found a way to extend their lead throughout the map in three out of the five games.

However, MSF’s greatest strength became their biggest weakness. with their win condition being linear, it was “easy” for Rogue to counter the strategy. Having understood the game plan at any given point of the game, RGE successfully countered what MSF threw at them. Having said that, Rogue was always a tier above MSF in this current season and MSF will really have a hard time beating them. After week one of Playoffs however, their chances of going to Worlds 2021 might not be that low.

After a close (3-2) defeat, MSF seem like the favorites in their next series.

Rounds 2 versus Fnatic

We wont dig into FNC vs Vitality as a series, although there is plenty to unpack there. Their series came down to which Jungler did more for the team, as former teammates Bwipo and Selfmade bled on the Rift for their squads. In the end FNC was the victor, but it certainly wasn’t clean. Coming into Round 2, Misfits has clear win conditions against FNC once again. Survive bot lane, and beat the FNC mid lane duo with your own.

We can expect the series to go into a battle of side lanes, MSF will likely try to put HiRit in a winning matcup and dominate through topside, FNC will focus on Botlane to unlock Upset and Hylissang.

Can MSF push Adam so far down that, or can he hold his own? – One thing is certain, with Razork initiating and HiRit on snowbally champions, we can expect a series where both teams try to push eachother to the absolute limit early game, with whoever wins the coin toss fights winning the games.

If you think about LoL Betting or Fantasy Drafts, this series will be ideal for massive kill amounts in a long 5-game series.

There’s one final and very positive thing we should learn from Misfits. They managed to mix veterans and rookies to form a top 4 team, slowly finding their own identity and fixing the issues on the way. More teams, LEC and not, should follow their philosophy to improve the competition and make League of Legends even more exciting! We are closely following their rise in the LEC.

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