It ain’t over till the fat lady sings—and sing she did for Team BDS’ playoff chances. Meanwhile, she is looking intently at SK Gaming and MAD Lions as their playoff chances have drastically thinned following their defeats on Week 7 Day 2.
.@FNATIC‘s win secures
@G2esports
the 4th playoff spot. Two spots to fight for in the final week of the Regular Season!
pic.twitter.com/ux75dug7lW
— LoLEsports Stats (@LoLEsportsStats)
February 26, 2022
Team BDS’s playoff hopes sank despite solid drafting
For all the “GrabbZ drafts” memes, BDS’ head coach delivered a flex-heavy draft (Sion, Zilean if taking Smite top, and Kog’Maw)—enough to confuse a regular team; including his own, it seems. Instead of throwing G2 off a loop, the team was out of wits as to how to use their composition.
Between blooper-montage worthy ultimates from Adam’s Sion and G2’s strong skirmishes from the onset, BDS were left listless. Although an unexpected Baron Nashor steal from Cinkrof’s Hecarim gave them a lifeline, they promptly wasted it in a subsequent Drake fight—just as Adam wasted yet another Sion ultimate.
Meanwhile, caPs ensured that G2 would enter the spring playoffs as he apparently renamed to Claps in the game-deciding teamfight:
Labrov, Team Vitality too nimble for Misfits Gaming, ease into playoff picture
The Labrov show was in full effect for Team Vitality as the support’s Tahm Kench pick overwhelmed Misfits Gaming from all sides. To their credit, Misfits offered stiff resistance for 27 minutes.
As the two teams traded picks across the map, Alphari’s lead on Gnar became Vitality’s pillar during teamfights. But there would be no Alphari lead without Labrov.
From there, Vitality’s front-to-back composition played teamfights as they should, outperforming Misfits at their own forte. By the 34th
minute, the game was as good as over with a Baron Nashor takedown, a 17-4 kill lead, and a 9k gold lead that wasn’t mishandled G2-style.
MAD Lions, SK Gaming in dire straits
Standing at 5-10, both teams risk missing the playoffs as Excel Esports and Team Vitality stand tall at 8-7. Indeed, it would take a perfect week from either of them, and circumstances to align—including 0-3 superweeks by XL or Vitality—for them to earn their playoff ticket.
For MAD Lions to score a 3-0 week, they need to approach skirmishes with more cohesion, and to initiate skirmishes when they can widen the lead through follow-up objective takedowns. As it stands, their scattered skirmishing and bold yet ineffective bruteforce engages doomed them against Fnatic (especially with Professor Hylissang’s Pyke masterclass in session).
We recommend listening to Upset’s take on the teamfight that won it all for Fnatic:
As for SK Gaming, they lost to an extremely motivated Astralis in one of the cleanest games of the LEC spring season. Their leverage of Whiteknight’s lead into 1-4 pressure would be taught in League of Legends classes if said classes existed.
Although they lost to last-place Astralis in macro, they do not need to feel ashamed: Astralis could secure them a playoff spot with a 3-0 week of their own. Meanwhile, please enjoy Astralis’s WINIONS having a disco party at SK’s inhibitor.
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