In the final weekend of the LEC Winter Round Robin stage, our League of Legends team beat the odds and qualified for the Group Stage. Our team conquered SK Gaming and Fnatic during the last weekend of the Round Robin stage.
Our first match was against SK, which started with a rough early game in the bot lane, where SK's duo Exakick and Doss gave Kobbe and JeongHoon a hard time by bullying the lane early with the aid of their jungler, Markoon. Progressing into the midgame, a solid top performance from Finn's Gangplank meant our team managed to stop the bleeding, and soon, the odds were looking even between the two teams.
At the 27th minute, a Baron-empowered SK took down our bot lane inhibitor, eight kills ahead and a gold lead of 5,000. With the game looking dire, as SK continued sieging our base with a Chemtech soul on their hand, a crucial team fight turned in our favor at the 34th-minute mark, turning the tides as our team fight-based comp started showing its teeth. Quickly after, a series of impressive plays from our team flipped the script, turning our deficits into a surplus and ending the game with a few convincing power kegs at the 39th-minute victory.
On Sunday, our team faced Fnatic with their spirits high after the critical victory the day before. Their optimism shone through an impressive series of early game plays, building momentum with four consecutive drakes and a 7k surplus in the 24th-minute mark. Just four minutes later, to the thrill of an Astralis-chanting crowd, our team again claimed victory.
To secure our participation in the upcoming group stage, we also had to win against KOI, our final opponent, on Monday, February 6. The game started safely, with only two kills after 20 minutes. A dire team fight led KOI to get the upper hand, building a momentum too strong for our squad to stop.
As the match concluded, our team saw a bitter defeat. Still, the bitterness soon turned to exhilarating smiles, as their victory against Fnatic the day before meant that Fnatic had to win their match against SK to progress, which, fortunately for us, they did not. This is the first time that Fnatic has placed 9th in a split, and their loss meant that we locked our top 8 position, granting us the pass to continue our journey.
The groups were drawn following the final match-up on Monday, February 6. We have been placed in Group B, and our first match will be a BO3 against MAD Lions.
Group A
- Team Vitality (1st seed)
- SK Gaming (3rd seed)
- Team Heretics (6th seed)
- KOI (7th seed)
Group B
- MAD Lions (2nd seed)
- G2 Esports (4th seed)
- Team BDS (5th seed)
- Astralis (8th seed)
The full schedule is yet to be published.
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