G2 defeat MAD Lions KOI to reach the Grand Finals of the LEC Season Finals

League of Legends

1 Sep

Martin Arévalo-Östberg

G2 Esports exacted revenge against MAD Lions KOI by defeating them in the lower bracket final of the LEC Season Finals.

Following the convincing victory, G2 are now only one win away from completing the LEC Grand Slam and wining every single major European tournament in 2024.

Set to face Fnatic in the Grand Finals on Sunday (September 1st), G2 will look to retain their title of 'Best Team in Europe' against their fiercest historical rival.

G2 conquer their demons

After losing to MDK in thrilling 3-2 fashion early into the LEC Season Finals, G2 showed up to the lower bracket finals ready to prove they are still the strongest team in Europe.

Game 1

G2 showed up to the series by putting up a wholly unexpected team comp with Gwen in the jungle and Yasuo in the mid lane.

The melee-heavy comp that G2 put up ran into all the usual problems, however. The team's lack of range was heavily exposed throughout the game, with Supa having space to do as he pleased in every team fight.

Finishing the game with an 11/1/7 scoreline, Supa's Miss Fortune proved too much for G2's comp to handle, especially given all the peel the pick was provided with by the accompanying Maokai and Alistar.

Game 2

Incredibly, MDK showed up to game 2 having not learned a thing from G2's mistakes in the previous draft.

MDK’s triple ADC team comp meant that, if the team fell behind, their lack of front line would prove a problem come the mid-to-late-game.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, that is exactly what happened.

Despite being even in kills in the mid-game, G2 pulled ahead in gold thanks to their immaculate macro, which saw the team take down 4 towers to MDK’s 0.

From then on, it became increasingly difficult for MDK to deal with G2's comp. Yike's Brand, more specifically, had free range to let his ultimate decimate MDK's squishy team comp over and over again on his way to ending the game with a 10/0/2 scoreline.

Game 3

The third game of the series turned out to be a very tense game with the two teams constantly answering each other’s punches.

The pivotal moment in the game, however, came around the top lane 19 minutes in. G2 found a pick on to Alvaro and continued to push into MDK, finding Fresskowy and Elyoya as well in the process.

From then on, G2 never looked back.

With Hans sama’s aim sharpened to a superlative degree, Ashe arrows proved to be too much for MAD Lions, as members of the team were being repeatedly caught out of position and punished accordingly.

After G2 deciding to give away the third Infernal dragon of the game to MDK, the Kings of Europe showed off their macro to take down two of MDK’s inhibitors in trade for the single drake.

With their base in tatters, the pressure building up on MDK was too much for the team to handle, and G2 swiftly took down the nexus to grab Game 3 of the series.

Game 4

G2 and MDK loaded up to the fourth game of the series looking thirsty for blood.

First blood in the game came as early as two minutes in, as the two teams’ bot lanes decided to go all out at level 1, before even a single minion was killed. G2 came ahead in the fight, with Hans sama using his fourth shot on Jhin to secure first blood on Supa’s Ashe.

Supa was seemingly never quite able to recover from there, as he ended the game with a 0/4/0 KDA.

The game was marked by BrokenBlade and Caps returning to peak form and putting up admirable performances on Aatrox and Corki, respectively.

With G2 feeling nothing short of inevitable all game long, the team claimed the win in 30 minutes to make it to the Grand Finals of the Season Finals after making a run across all of the lower bracket.

Result: G2 Esports 3 - 1 MAD Lions KOI

When asked in the post-game interview about facing Fnatic in the grand final, BrokenBlade did not need a great many words to send a clear message:

"I mean, now we have the momentum after we won on-stage. They will have to come prepared or they're just gonna lose."

MAD Lions KOI head for play-ins

While G2 looks toward Fnatic, MDK is already thinking about Worlds.

Following their loss to G2, MDK will be attending Worlds as the LEC's third seed. As such, they will have to play their way through the play-ins before making it to the main event of the biggest tournament of the year.

To find out who will manage to take Europe's number 1 seed at Worlds, tune in to the LEC Season Finals Grand Finals tomorrow at 6 pm CET on the official Twitch or YouTube channels of the LEC.

For the latest League of Legends news, follow Strafe Esports. Also, follow the Strafe YouTube channel for exclusive interviews with players and coaches.

Image source: Michal Konkol/Riot Games

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