Three of the four major League of Legends regions will determine their Spring Split champions this weekend. Korea (LCK), Europe (LEC), and North America (LEC) will crown their champions and subsequently their representatives for the Mid-Season Invitational in Iceland next month.
However, while Korea will have a traditional winner-take-all series, it’s a bit different in Europe and North America. In the two Western regions, the semifinals will be played on Saturday with the winner of that series going on to face the top team in the finals.
LCK (Korea)
The 2020 World Championship winners have been the team to beat in Korea all season. DWG Kia have not missed a beat despite the loss of star top laner Nuguri to FunPlus Phoenix in China. They went 16-2 in the regular season, but one of those losses came to Gen.G at the end of the Spring Split.
Khan has been great in the top lane. Opponents have had to take Sion away from him because of his ability to start favorable team fights with that champion. Canyon is arguably the best jungler in the world and ShowMaker might be the second-best mid laner in the world aside from Chovy. Ghost has had a lot of success in the bottom lane and BeryL is the type of instigating support that thrives in this meta.
Gen.G were dominant in their win over T1. They swept their long-time nemesis as Bdd thrived in the mid lane and Ruler dominated in the bottom lane. We’ve seen that out of Ruler before since he helped lead Samsung Galaxy to the 2017 World Championship, but Bdd might have reached another level. He will need to play at a high level again to send Gen.G to MSI.
LEC (Europe)
Eight-time champions G2 Esports have won four straight LEC titles. However, G2 will have to win two series to win the 2021 LEC Spring Split. They were upset by MAD Lions in the Winners’ Bracket last week, so they will have to knock off Rogue on Saturday to earn a rematch for all the marbles.
Rogue lost to G2 in both of their meetings during the regular season. They have reason to be optimistic against G2 this time around though. G2 have not looked strong on this patch, and Wunder and Jankos are both really struggling. Inspired has been great in the jungle for Rogue, and Larssen can outplay Caps in the mid lane.
For G2 to defend its 2019 MSI title, they need a strong performance from Rekkles in the bottom lane. The long-time Fnatic AD Carry has been fantastic, and he can outplay Hans sama.
It won’t be easy for either team to beat MAD Lions. Armut is in fine form in the top lane and Elyoya is thriving in the jungle.
LCS (North America)
The three biggest brands in the LCS qualified for the Mid-Season Showdown. Cloud9 awaits the winner of the series between Team Liquid and Team SoloMid on Saturday, and they are more than likely preparing for Liquid after they throttled TSM in their first series a couple weeks ago.
Liquid probably has the highest ceiling of any of the three teams. They have an elite player at every position, but they have yet to really come together as a team. While Jensen continues to be solid in the mid lane, Santorin hasn’t been as impactful as expected in the jungle and Tactical has regressed in the bottom lane.
If TSM are going to pull off the upset, they need SwordArt and PowerOfEvil to play at a high level. SwordArt was the reason Suning Gaming made it all the way to the finals of Worlds last year, and POE has the talent to take over in the mid lane.
The winner will have a decent chance to knock off C9. Cloud9 have a great jungler in Blaber and Perkz is still playing at a high level. However, Zven and Vulcan are beatable in the bottom lane and Fudge is not the best top laner.
