LEC 2019: Salty Tiers Part 2 – Who will take the top spot?
By Michael Salt
In part 2 of the LEC 2019 Spring Playoffs tier list, I’ll put forward who I think will make playoffs and who I think will take home the coveted top spot!
Following on from last week, we find ourselves looking forward to the 2019 LEC Spring Split. Old legends resurface and new teams battle for their spot in the annals of history. Today we look at my projected spring playoffs teams, the lucky ones who will battle it out to take home the trophy and the unlucky ones that will return home empty-handed licking their wounds and preparing for the next assault.
6. Splyce
Now I know last week I put FC Schalke 04 in 7th and I know that was controversial but I genuinely believe that the 2019 Splyce roster has more promise to it. The majority of this is despite all of Abbedagge’s hype from the TCL, I forsee Marek “Humanoid” Brázda performing better than both him and new Fnatic mid-laner Tim “Nemesis” Lipovšek.
Looking at the top side of the map we find ourselves in the safe hands of Tamás “Vizicsacsi” Kiss. A steadfast presence in top-lane, I expect Vizicsacsi to fulfil a very similar role to what he provided Schalke in Summer 2018, mainly on tank duty (for the love of all that is good and holy opponents… BAN POPPY), with picks like Maokai, Cho’Gath and Ornn – allowing for his carries in mid, jungle and bottom to put on their carry pants and play a more standard 4-1 team-fighting composition.
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I fully expect Tore “Norskeren” Hoel Eilertsen and Kasper “Kobbe” Kobberup to be a safe bet at the bottom of the map. This would allow for their mad genius jungler Andrei “Xerxe” Dragomir to play those volatile off-meta picks that he became renowned for and I am so excited to see what a dangerous pairing he and Humanoid make.
All in all, with 4 solid veterans and a uniquely promising mid-lane talent I have high hopes for this Splyce roster and want to see them upset the teams at the top of my predictions.
5. Team Vitality
Coming off an extremely strong performance at Worlds 2018 where they took games off of tournament favourites Royal Never Give Up (RNG) and eventual semifinalists Cloud 9. Under the guiding hand of coach YamatoCannon; who gave an extremely impassioned speech rallying Europe behind Fnatic & G2 just after Vitality were knocked out of Worlds.
Looking towards 2019, the majority of the roster remains the same with former Afreeca Freecs jungler Lee “Mowgli” Jae-ha moving in and taking over from former junglers Kikis and Gilius before him; this can only be an upgrade. Mowgli is known for his early-game aggression and will often find himself in skirmishes alongside his mid-laner. With Daniele “Jiizuke” di Mauro; the Italian Stallion as his mid/jungle duo partner, we’re going to see some absolutely bloody games.
Lucas “Cabochard ” Simon-Meslet will sit up in the top-lane as a stalwart presence, holding there until the team needs a perfectly timed teleport play. The Vitality bottom lane is where Vitality’s bloodthirsty reputation really comes from; Amadeu “Attila” Carvalho & Jakub “Jactroll” Skurzyński are a duo to be reckoned with.
With Jactroll on playmakers like Thresh, Alistar or Leona and Atilla on picks like Draven or Caitlyn, they can truly take over the bottom half of the map and really get the team snowballing.
Instead of blowing up their roster, Vitality realised that their team was already one of those “X-Factor” teams, whose high-variance volatility could find them catapulted up to the top of the tables… Fingers crossed they don’t go the other way.