2022 LEC Summer Playoffs: Rogue Punch Their Ticket to Worlds After Win Against MAD!

Rogue take down MAD Lions and punch their ticket to Worlds in a back and forth banger that goes the distance, featuring popoffs from both solo laners Larssen and Odoamne!

Game 1

What a banger to start off the series as Rogue versus MAD goes down to the wire in Game 1, with MAD Lions pulling out the win with some very good teamfighting out of Nisqy and UNF0RGIVEN.

Both Malrang and Elyoya traded kills in the early game, but MAD Lions established a definitive lead all throughout the Herald and Dragon fights, outplaying Rogue in critical skirmishes to get themselves a lead that resulted in Hextech Soul.

Malrang was able to find a key dash + flash combo onto Lucian with his Jarvan at a Baron fight that put Rogue back in the game, giving Comp’s Zeri three free kills and preventing MAD from closing the game out.

However, their win was short lived as even with Elder Dragon, Rogue were not able to find a decisive fight to clinch the game, as Armut found decisive dash knockups on Ornn to pick off Comp and close the game out in favor of MAD in game 1.

Game 2

It will be interesting to see how the top lane meta develops for Armut in the coming games, because he was simply awful on the Kennen in Game 2, going 0/6 as Comp leads Rogue back to tie the series 1-1.

MAD banned the Ornn out themselves to priority pick the Lucian, but Comp was on his game this time around and was able to kill off Lucian in the early stages with his Sivir.

While most of the teamfights came down to the wire, with Sivir’s superior teamfighting and Armut being unable to find good ultimates, MAD Lions slowly lost them out more and more of these fights.

Armut on tanks seem to be the best bet for the MAD Lions, since the Turkish top laner has been a liability all split on carries.

Game 3

Comp’s unwillingness to play Lucian came back to bite Rogue in the behind as UNF0RGIVEN almost flame horizons the Rogue ADC with his priority Kalista pick.

The Kalista was unleashed thick and fast into the game as Comp’s Jhin was unable to find any sort of appreciable lane pressure, going down ~50 cs in the mid game owing to the fast acceleration of the MAD Lions.

With Nisqy leading the charge on Sylas, MAD Lions were able to fully utilize the ADC diff in this game and use UNF0RGIVEN to win out in these teamfights since Rogue were severely lacking in damage.

Comp will need to pick up the Lucian if MAD invest both Zeri and Sivir bans as they did in Game 3, otherwise take Kalista for themselves.

Game 4

Rogue answer back in and force the Game 5 after a complete annihilation of the MAD Lions here in Game 4!

Comp answers back the questions from last game with the Lucian priority and has himself a stormer of a game on Lucian.

Although UNF0RGIVEN got ahead in the early game again on his Kalista, Odoamne’s gorgeous Ornn ultimates were able to stifle the MAD Lions’ acceleration and bring the game back into Rogue’s favor.

Larssen also had himself a very clutch performance whilst backed up against the wall, using his Ahri to near perfection and finding key pick offs that enabled Rogue to continue their snowball and eventually close out the game in dominating fashion.

Game 5

Rogue come from behind the 1-2 deficit to clinch the series and punch their ticket to Worlds!

They got off to a hot start owing to a featherbrained top turret dive by MAD that put them behind for the majority of the game.

While Nisqy and Elyoya were able to find key engages to push MAD back into the game, they also got caught out trying to make those plays later on in the game, which eventually led to a numbers disadvantage that cost MAD both Elder and Baron.

I want to give the series MVP to Larssen after a very good series, especially in Game 4 and Game 5 when he was down 1-2. Often called a choker for his inability to translate his regular season dominance into playoff success, the franchise player for Rogue stepped up massively alongside Odoamne and Comp to keep cool in hectic moments and lead Rogue to a Worlds berth.