Team Vitality vs MAD Lions

In these trying times where favorites are dropping games left, right, and center, we naturally gravitate to those who've impressed us the most with their play, in an attempt to find a bit of stability. As far as the LEC goes, the most consistent, dominant, and commanding team has been none other than MAD Lions.

And that's strange, frankly. They're have four rookies and even their mid laner, Humanoid, hasn't been playing on the LEC stage all that long. But you would never be able to guess based off of their play and team-wide cohesion. They're like a well-oiled machine, clean in execution, commanding from start to finish, with each and every player carrying his fair share of the weight. They're absolutely mesmerizing in action and have shown no signs of slowing down. They're young, hungry, and they want to leave a mark -- and they won't stop until they succeed. With an insanely stacked coaching staff behind them, they're equipped with all the right tools to get the job done. If there's one team that deserves your undivided attention, it has to be MAD Lions. Their synergy overcomes even some of their biggest flaws, like their tendency to go a bit overboard with their constant skirmishing and unrelenting aggression. Still, they're insanely talented and have their sights set on the LEC throne.

The fact that they actually have a puncher's chance of winning is what's most surprising. After all, G2 Esports is still around and they're as stacked as ever, and so is Fnatic. But these current and former champions lack the youth and hunger that is so entrenched in MAD Lions and some of their peers like Rogue. They've seen it all, had it all, and have already reached the pinnacle of competitive League. What else is there to fight for, now that they've already etched their names in history?

Opposite MAD Lions, we have none other than Team Vitality. The French-based organization had a couple of solid performances over the last couple of weeks, but their good games were few and far between. Gauging their power level and overall potential is an incredibly hard thing to do, but they aren't all that great when compared to most of their peers. In fact, one could make an argument for them being the absolute worst team in the region, with Excel Esports, Schalke 04, and Misfits Gaming performing above expectations. Vitality is good. Heck, sometimes they can even look great if Comp and Labrov get agency in the pick and ban phase (i.e. pick priority that results in Ezreal and Bard). If that doesn't happen, however, Vitality is a pretty meek and unimpressive challenger that's also inherently flawed. They have a palpable skill ceiling, and without heavily changing their roster they simply won't be able to accomplish much in the grand scheme of things. This time around they're up against the most aggressive and flexible team in the region, and there's very little they can do to stop the MAD Lions. They're just not equipped for the task at hand.