MAD Lions KOI knock down G2 Esports in LEC Season Finals

The opening week of the LEC Season Finals did not pan out as expected for G2 Esports. After a long and hard-fought battle against MAD Lions KOI, G2 has dropped to the lower bracket as they were handed a 3-2 loss by the Spanish squad.

Following their surprising victory, MDK is only one best-of-5 away from qualifying for the 2024 League of Legends World Championship.

G2 struggle with consistency

Despite a fantastic start to the series by G2 which saw them dominate MDK and take game 1 in just 27 minutes of play, the team once more proved unable to maintain that level of play.

After losing the second game to a fantastic performance by Alex "Myrwn" Villarejo on Corki in the toplane, G2 were able to complete yet another miracle comeback to claim game 3 of the series.

G2's nexus stood one hit away from destruction while the team cleaned MDK from their base in dramatic fashion. Ultimately winning the deciding team-fight later on, G2 took the 2-1 lead and stood only one game away from setting up yet another best-of-5 against European rivals of Fnatic.

Fate, however, had other plans. With nothing left to lose, MAD Lions KOI decided to put it all on the line for the remainder of the series. Struggling to keep up, G2 was left without answers to MDK's pace and aggression for the final two games.

MDK's display ultimately showed many holes in the G2 system. For MDK fans, however, the series showed just what this team is capable of when they get to play their game.

The shocking victory came largely off the back of Myrwn in the top lane. Elected player of the series, the Spanish top laner played five unique champions across the series, with games on Lulu, Corki, Zeri, Smolder and Nidalee. 

Result: G2 Esports 2-3 MAD Lions KOI

G2 heads for the lower bracket

Now in unfamiliar territory down in the lower bracket early on, G2 is set to face GIANTX on Sunday (August 18th) at 5 pm CET.

While G2 has already qualified for Worlds, the series will mean do or die time for GIANTX if the team has any aspirations of representing the LEC at Worlds.

G2, however, will not have taken kindly to their loss against MDK, and are sure to come into next week looking to remind everyone why they are still the Kings of Europe.

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Image source: Wojciech Wandzel/Riot Games

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