Photo: LoL Esports
The Worlds of League of Legends will begin in a few days and we can feel that the tension is rising within the community. Predictions and Tier Lists are popping up everywhere and everyone has their own commentary. Overall, only two regions impress: the China (LPL) and the Korea (LCK).
But if the two Asian ogres have the favor of bettors, this is not a reason to underestimate the other competitors. On our side, we will obviously pay close attention to the performance of our teams. LEC. Among them, MAD Lions will try to confirm its revival since the addition of Nisqy. The latter has transformed the team since his arrival, before the Summer Split. How far can he carry the Lions?
MAD Lions, the Nisqy diff has its limits
We used and abused the narrative arc around Nisqy and MAD Lions. The Belgian arrived as a savior in the team, after a very dull spring for both parties. The player was stuck on the bench at Fnatic watching the competition from his bedroom. The team, meanwhile, was having a dismal Spring Split, with no playoffs. But since the summer started, the midlaner has put smiles back on the faces of the structure’s fans. On the field, he was impeccable and we found a player in top form, but the importance of the player goes further! He shotcalls in hot moments, he guides his teammates and he brings good humor. To sum up: it improves an entire collective. Nisqy therefore did not steal his title of MVP of the Summer Split. While he has already experienced the Worlds with Cloud9 and with Fnatic, his experience will be invaluable to get out of the Play-In… The spine has not changed compared to last year with the trio Armut/Elyoya/Kaiser. As a reminder, MAD Lions had made top 8 at Worlds 2021.
But before getting too excited, it should be remembered that MAD Lions seemed out of breath during the Summer Split playoffs, with two defeats against Snape (2-3) and fnatic (1-3). In the end, the team will not have won a single Bo5 this year to qualify for the Worlds. Nisqy sublimated the collective, but at the world, all the players must raise their level of play to hope to do well. We don’t worry too much about Elyoya who also showed an excellent level. In contrast, Armute and Kaiser got us used to better and we don’t know how a rookie like Unforgiven under pressure. The Nisqy diff has gone on long enough and we will have to show solidarity.
Team strengths and weaknesses
MAD Lions has shown an interesting collective strength in Europe. In some hot moments, the team was also able to count on efficient decision-making. We would therefore rather tend to highlight thecollective intelligence players, who can count on an inspired mid/jungle duo and effective support.
Unfortunately, these strengths weren’t enough to aim for the sommer in the LEC… so we can legitimately think that it won’t be enough to go far at Worlds either, where the opponents are even stronger. A player seems particularly in difficulty lately: the top laner Armute. In his defense, playing weak side is not easy. But too often he gets caught sidelaning for no reason. Let’s hope for MAD Lions that he finds the hair of the beast at the best of times!
What ambitions for MAD Lions?
Aiming for a top 8 like last year seems totally unrealistic. MAD Lions must above all succeed in reaching the Main Event, which will be far from a formality. Placed in Pool B of the Play-In, the team must stuff themselves RNG (China) and XRD (Korea). The first place therefore seems complicated to obtain and it will surely be necessary to win one or two Bo5s to integrate the main draw.
The main objective is therefore to qualify for the “real” Worlds. The rest is just a bonus, especially if the team ends up as expected in Pool B…
esport-lol
Steven “Hans sama” Liv has ended his adventure with Team Liquid and has announced that he is returning to France to recharge his batteries. It remains to be seen what his future will be like… A return to Europe is more than likely, after missing the Worlds of League of Legends.