2022 LEC Spring Playoffs: Alphari is a one man army as Team Vitality narrowly beat Excel in five game banger.

Vitality’s Alphari and Carzzy prove the haters wrong as they take over the full five game series against the surging Excel lineup.

Game 1: The Irelia “Finnally” Works For Excel

Excel strike first blood in the series with what feels like the best game of Finn’s entire life as the Swedish top laner’s famous Irelia finally lives up to its SoloQ hype. The man completely took over against Alphari’s Gankplank and rendered his opposition as nothing but a pitiful afterthought as he put on a brilliant mechanical display, finding solo kills and turning around numbers disadvantages to propel Excel to the organization’s first ever playoff win.

BlogOfLegends 2022 Spring Playoffs MVP: XL Finn (1)

Game 2: I am The Fast

Selfmade uses the Shurelya’s from Labrov’s Renata as well as the Cloud Soul to commit several speeding offenses within this game as Vitality bounce back owing to the Polish jungler’s aggression, coupled with Carzzy’s good play on the Zeri. Often misaligned in their synergy, Alphari and Selfmade got off to a good start with their coordinated dives against Finn, who could not recreate last game’s magic on the Tryndamere, and rolled them over to allow Carzzy to carry the teamfights.

BlogOfLegends 2022 Spring Playoffs MVP: VIT Selfmade (1)

Game 3: Support Diff

Mikyx demonstrated just how important he is to the Excel roster – and how much Labrov is a burden on the Vitality roster – with a complete support differential owing to his various roams and well-timed hooks that set up Nukeduck’s Corki to tear apart the Vitality squad from two screens away. The Vitality support was constantly not on the same page with his team, getting picked off despite the small comeback that Vitality had made to get back in the game, and one decisive engage from Mikyx sealed his fate and Nukeduck’s excellent teamfighting puts Excel on match point.

BlogOfLegends 2022 Spring Playoffs MVP: XL Nukeduck (1)

Game 4: The 1-2 Comfort Zone

Perkz wins yet another Game 4 in where he is down 1-2 in a series in quite a dominating win through topside demolition by Alphari and Selfmade. Alphari simply destroyed Finn in the Gnar vs Gangplank matchup, a matchup he has beaten Finn in the past, while Selfmade remained omnipresent throughout the game finding picks and setting up his carries to succeed. Carzzy vindicates his Aphelios priority with some absolutely gorgeous teamfighting to push the series to Game 5.

BlogOfLegends 2022 Spring Playoffs MVP: VIT Alphari (1)

Game 5: The Vitality Superteam

Alphari tightens the noose on Excel’s Cinderella run with another one of his patented Camille games – the top lane tyrant started off weak in the series before ramping up to become a monster in do-or-die games to move on to the next round for a date with G2. Excel completely succumbed to the pressure of Game 5 and the strain that a tight best of 5 puts on you, with every player, especially Mikyx, running on fumes and burning out to the slow, but scorching hot flames that were Vitality this game. Carzzy was exceptional on his Aphelios once again and completely shut down Excel’s Caitlyn/Lux lane and robbed the team of their primary win condition, going so far as solokilling Patrik. The team has quite a bit to work on still and I do not think they improved much coming from their three week break as I had hoped, but the talent and clutch factor of this team is inevitable and I look forward to their match with G2.

BlogOfLegends 2022 Spring Playoffs MVP: VIT Alphari (2)

VIT vs XL Series MVP: Alphari

The top lane tyrant of Europe comes up massive after getting posterized in Game 1 to deliver an exquisite performance, especially in Games 4 and 5 where his team was on the brink of a most embarrassing elimination at the hands of Excel. His matchup knowledge and ability to pick off enemies was second to none, as he secured solo kills left and right on Excel members all whilst maintaining the consistent CS lead that he is so famous for. Alphari has come under fire for his inability to translate those CS leads into any sort of tangible advantages for his team, but now backed up by Perkz and a revitalized Carzzy, he was the biggest factor in Excel’s downfall today. His matchup against G2’s BrokenBlade, a man of similar carry potency, will be quite the treat to watch for us League of Legends enthusiasts.

BlogOfLegends 2022 Spring Playoffs Series MVP: VIT Alphari (1)