Today, we take a look at the second competitive day of the week in the 2021 League of Legends European Championship (LEC) Summer. We’re still careful with predicting the games, as the early-split volatility still seems to be present, and with the combination of the games on the schedule, none appeal to us at the offered betting odds.
LEC Summer Week 2 – Day 2
When: Saturday, June 19 – 17:00 – 21:00 CEST
Number of Games: 5
It was a brutal day yesterday for our LoL LEC Summer Week 2 – Day 1 picks. MAD Lions completely fell apart against Excel, whereas Misfits – in their own fashion – threw away a game that they had in the bag. I guess the “better jungler wins” holds true for competitive play as well, but more on that later.
Team Vitality vs SK Gaming
Saturday, June 19 – 17:00 CEST
Team Vitality are priced as low as 1.37 to defeat SK Gaming at 3.150. If we were to compare the individual talent on the teams, the odds would make a lot of sense since Vitality are definitely a more stacked roster. That said, I am not convinced with the Bees just yet.
They continue to make mistakes and have yet to show any form of stability that will leave them vulnerable even against an underdog like SK Gaming. They are bound to improve, but it remains to be seen when that improvement will come.
Talking about SK Gaming, they played relatively well against Schalke 04, when they led by over 2.5k gold, but let it all slip between their fingers. It marked the third match of the split where they pulled that off, and I wondered how they manage to do it.
SK can have very explosive early-game, but they continue to get punished in the mid-late game, which makes me very hesitant to bet on them. A smaller position on SK to defeat the unconvincing Vitality might be appealing to some, but I’m not pulling the trigger here.
No Prediction
Misfits vs Astralis
Saturday, June 19 – 18:00 CEST
Misfits suffered a brutal loss against Rogue yesterday. While there is no such thing as an unlosable game, Misfits came pretty close to having just that. They had four drakes, a Baron, a fed Gwen, and were making one final push with a massive minion wave.
Everything looked like they’re going to win within the next minute. That is until Rogue’s jungler Kacper “Inspired” Słoma flew in with a Fiddlestick ult and earned his side a somewhat undeserved victory.
Even though Misfits ended up losing, they were clearly the better team and are still a team I’m very bullish on this split. They’re playing well and haven’t really made any major mistakes in their losses. What happened yesterday was relatively out of tier control, so we should take that loss with a grain of salt.
Astralis continue to impress with their showings. They ended up losing to G2 Esports yesterday, but they showed solid resistance and made sure to give G2 a hard time. The game was one-sided in the end, but it’s worth noting that Astralis were in a winning position for about 10 minutes.
As much as I like Misfits, I don’t fancy betting against Astralis with the form they’ve been showing. I still believe Misfits should win here, but I won’t be betting on them at the offered price.
No Prediction
Schalke 04 vs MAD Lions
Saturday, June 19 – 19:00 CEST
Schalke 04 are slowly improving and are looking like a solid-mid table team. They struggled a bit agianst SK Gaming yesterday, but turned a 2.5k gold lead upside down thanks to a well-executed teamfight and to some degree SK Gaming’s misplays.
MAD Lions lost to Excel, largely thanks to Matyáš “Carzzy” Orság who had an atrocious performance. We have seen this side of him last split (up and down), and it seems like this will continue into the LEC 2021 Summer. Still, their small slip-up doesn’t change things in the long term – MAD Lions are still top-six teams, whereas you could argue that Schalke 04 have yet to prove themselves as playoffs contenders.
After MAD’s performance, some might consider playing Schalke 04, but I don’t believe that makes a lot of sense. MAD Lions can have their off-games, but they’ll easily beat teams like Schalke 04 in the long run.
A -6.5 kills bet on MAD Lions would be the play here, but I won’t be taking kill handicaps here.
No Prediction
Fnatic vs Excel
Saturday, June 19 – 20:00 CEST
Excel stunned MAD Lions yesterday and secured their second win of the split. It was a solid effort from a team that hasn’t produced anything of note for the first week of play. But I’m not sold on Excel.
They’re far too inconsistent with their performances and seem to only do well against teams that underperform. That should work in their favour here as Fnatic are not exactly known for their consistency, even though we have seen a massive improvement in that department this split.
Fnatic are tearing through the LEC and are playing much better than initially expected – especially with the roster moves and the role swap. They obliterated Vitality yesterday, which is a solid result, but you can’t really say that Vitality put up much resistance.
Still, Vitality are a better team than Excel, and Fnatic are better than Vitality. Hence, Fnatic should win today. I fully expect them to, but with how volatile the game is with picks like Gwen, Viego, and Akali, I’ll rather pass than take Fnatic at 1.436.
I was looking at a -5.5 kill handicap bet at 1.8, but it doesn’t appeal to me at the game’s current state.
No Prediction
Rogue vs G2 Esports
Saturday, June 19 – 17:00 CEST
Rogue came away with another steal yesterday. They were outclassed by Misfits and should have lost, but managed to salvage an unwinnable game thanks to a heroic play from their jungler Inspired. It was Rogue’s second steal of the season – after what they’ve done to Team Vitality in Week 1.
Rogue were one of the most consistent teams during LEC 2021 Spring, but have yet to show that side of them this term. They’re not playing well, and while they are 3-1, they could have (and should have) easily been 1-3.
G2 Esports aren’t a shining star either. They have had their struggles, but unlike Rogue, they have earned their wins – some only barely. Yesterday we got to witness a typical “G2 game”, where they start strong, gain leads, then fool around for a bit and eventually close it out.
Outside of Inspired’s heroic play yesterday, Rogue haven’t shown anything. Emil “Larssen” Larsson was terrible, managing to have a negative impact on Lucian (2/4/6) and it’s not like his teammates performed any better.
You could make an argument for G2 Esports here, but for me, it really only comes down to the fact that G2 historically do well against Rogue (11-1). Neither side have impressed me this term, which leads me to believe this match can easily swing either way.
No Prediction
