The stage that MAD Lions needs to reach MSI

Photo by Wojciech Wandzel via Riot Games

The initial stretch of MAD Lions in 2023 has been marked by going from more to less during the Winter and the spring season. The lions have gone from being second to reaching the group stage, having to overcome a tiebreaker on the last day. many fans of the League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) do not see MAD winning the spring season to qualify for the Mid-Season Invitational (M: YES). However, the club can reach the international tournament despite not being proclaimed European champion.

First of all, the initial step that MAD Lions needs is to beat Fnatic on the next matchday. By being in the lower zone of the classification, the lions are only worth the victory to fight for the MSI. A defeat would mean goodbye to the season, a situation also applicable to the black&orange. In addition, the British organization also seeks to achieve a great comeback to participate in the next international tournament, which will be held at home: London, United Kingdom. The only thing worth winning for FNC is spring season.

Beyond beating Fnatic, if MAD Lions fails to become the LEC champion, they need G2 Esports to revalidate their title. The samurai already have a guaranteed place in the MSI after proclaiming themselves champions of the winter season, however, becoming European champions again would see second place in the region decided by championship points. The lions are the ones who start with the greatest advantage if this situation occurs since being runners-up gave them a total of 100.

Finally, in the event that the qualification to MSI was by championship points, MAD Lions must wait until Team Vitality is not runner-up in the LEC. In a hypothetical scenario in which the team beat Fnatic and G2 Esports was champion, a second place would make the French get more points than the lions (150 vs 140 in the worst case). A third position would leave Vitality with 130 points, 10 less than MAD in the case of finishing sixth. Therefore, a victory for Team BDS over the French is vital for the Spanish organization.

Two playoff spots at stake

Currently only Team BDS and Team Vitality have closed the qualification for the LEC playoffs. While MAD Lions and Fnatic will fight alongside Astralis in group A. Instead, SK Gaming, G2 Esports and KOI will do the pertinent in group B. If the lions fail to qualify for the knockout phase, only one of the four teams participating in the playoffs of the winter season would repeat appearance in this spring season.

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