Image credit: LEC Flickr (Michal Konkol/Riot Games)
Riot Games has commented on MAD Lions winning the Spring 2021 LEC and how ending G2’s reign as European champions reflects the tougher competition in the league.
Yesterday, MAD Lions beat Rogue 3-2 in the LEC finals. In doing so, they became the first League of Legends European champions in six and a half years outside of G2 and Fnatic.
The only other team to have won a European LoL title (EU LCS or LEC) was Alliance, back in Summer 2014 (you can see the full list on esportspedia.com, with Fnatic having seven titles and G2 eight).
“Congratulations to MAD Lions for becoming the 2021 LEC Spring Champions after a truly memorable and historic victory against Rogue. This year’s Spring Split marked the end of the dominance of G2 and Fnatic in the LEC, highlighting that the depth and strength of the competition is becoming increasingly fiercer each year,” said Alberto Guerrero, Riot Games director of esports – EMEA.
“Despite the challenges we continue to face as a result of the pandemic, we have broken new ground this Spring Split and have even managed to welcome teams back to the LEC Studio in Berlin.
“This is something that would have been impossible without the efforts of all our incredible production staff. We want to thank our incredible fanbase and amazing partners for their ongoing support and can’t wait to celebrate the success of the event together when it is safe to do so.”
“Now we are the new kings of Europe, the other teams will try even harder than before to beat us. This title feels good, but it will feel even better if we can defend it at the LEC 2021 Summer Split.”
Javier ‘Elyoya’ Prades Batalla, League of Legends Jungler for MAD Lions
Marek ‘Humanoid’ Brázda, League of Legends mid-laner for MAD Lions, commented: “Winning this title means that we can finally play to win every single split, instead of just getting stomped by G2 or Fnatic every time we make the playoffs.”
Rogue mid-laner Emil ‘Larssen’ Larsson added: “If I played better we would have won – that’s a fact. It’s really hard after having my mind on the trophy for so long, but this will make me stronger for summer.”
After losing the first two matches in the best of five series, MAD Lions came back to complete the reverse sweep over Rogue, winning the series 3-2 and claiming the first ever LEC championship win in the organisation’s history.
The team will now turn its attention to the Mid Season Invitational where MAD Lions will bid to secure the LEC’s third consecutive victory in the competition following G2’s wins in 2019 and 2020.
For the first time in more than a year, the LEC welcomed back six teams to the main stage at the studios during the Spring Split Playoffs last weekend.
The LEC team have carried out other activities outside of the LoL match broadcasts, including obscure treasure hunts, an 8Bit Rift microsite with mini-games, quizzes and prizes, a new LEC music video and more.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
