
D – Rogue
While many expected Rogue to struggle going into the LEC, nobody could anticipate the dire performances the team showed throughout the spring split. Dead last from week 1 all the way until the conclusion of the split, picking up two wins along the way, was about as disappointing as possible from one of the league’s newest faces.
However, the organisation has (thankfully) made multiple changes heading into summer, including the much-hyped, recent school graduate Emil “Larssen” Larsson in the mid lane. The three new additions to the main roster – Inspired, Larssen, and Woolite – can all be considered “side-grades” at the very least and will no doubt motivate a team that needed a huge lift following an abysmal start to the season.
It’s unlikely that Rogue will push for playoffs in the summer split, but at the very least we can expect an improvement on their spring split performance, so don’t be shocked if they reach three wins this time around!
D – Misfits Gaming
Many LEC viewers will have suffered from a severe case of déjà vu in the latter stages of the spring split regular season, but it wasn’t something to see a doctor for, it was in fact just Misfits’ mid-season collapse returning for the second consecutive split. Much like in summer 2019, a promising start for Misfits Gaming was flipped on its head resulting in a very disappointing start to the season for what was an extremely hyped roster before the split began.
Initially, this team looked to be challenging for the top two spots going into playoffs. Then came the Misfits collapse resulting in 2 wins in their final 4 weeks. Perhaps combining 6 EU LCS titles, 3 LCK titles, 3 Worlds runners-up medals, and 4 Worlds semi-finals appearances into one roster wasn’t the best idea after all?
There’s no doubt that this super-team has the talent and ability to produce outstanding results in the summer split, it’s just a matter of whether their mental is in the right place to do so. Bringing in a new member in the jungle, Thomas “Kirei” Yuen, might be the perfect solution to boost both Maxlore’s performances, as well as the team as a whole. However, it will be tough to get too excited about Misfits’ playoff chances due to the severity of the collapse suffered in the spring split.
D – Excel Esports
The UK lads’ first split in the big leagues didn’t pan out as well as they’d liked, with the Excel Esports team battling it out with Rogue to avoid the dreaded 10th place finish. Fortunately the clever substitutions of Exile and kaSing for Special and Mystiques mid-way through the split saw a turn in form for the new boys in the LEC, but it was only enough to claw back some dignity as they finished with a poor 5-13 record.
Changes were necessary, and Excel have acted on that fact during the mid-season break, picking up veterans Son “Mickey” Young-min and Petter “Hjarnan” Freyschuss to occupy the mid lane and AD Carry roles. While Dae-han “Expect” Ki and Raymond “kaSing” Tsang offered experience and guidance in the spring split, it seems that Excel have decided that there can never be too much of a good thing and have built a starting roster with over 18 years of top-level competitive experience between them.
Despite the positive changes and clear message that Excel will not settle for 9th place in the summer split, it’s a question of whether these new recruits are good enough to change the fortunes of the British org in such a short space of time. Reaching playoffs is obviously the goal for every LEC team, but it would be an incredible achievement for Excel to go from 9th in spring to playoffs in summer with their current roster.
Do you agree with this tier list? Do you have any changes you’d make? Let us know in the comments below!