London Esports defeated MNM Gaming in a battle of two top UK-based esports organisations this evening in the UKLC finals.
London won 3-1, though as always a UK League of Legends final delivered, with plenty of excitement, and game four could have swung in MNM’s favour.
Game one was a dominant performance from London, who won 22-10 at the 30-minute mark with a 10k gold lead, but MNM came out swinging in game two, with a 21-8 win and 11k gold lead at 24 minutes.
London turned up the head in game three, with a 23-3 stomp and 12k gold lead ending at 22 minutes, but it was game four that was the closest and most tense.
Whenever London looked to take a lead, MNM would get a few picks to level things up, keeping the gold difference relatively even. MNM were in the lead at the 20-minute mark, but London took baron to keep the fight going.
Both teams clearly wanted to win, and this resulted in some lengthy and insane teamfights:
Just when it looked like London would make the final assault on MNM’s Nexus, they somehow managed to fight tooth and nail to stay in the game:
But London would return a few minutes later, and despite a valiant effort from MNM, it was London who secured the victory.
It must have felt sweet for London Esports, who fell to Resolve 3-2 in the most recent Spring 2021 UKLC finals.
London were the underdogs going into the final, with MNM’s LoL analyst Milo offering some smack talk before the match, telling London they will get defeated in ‘a quick 3-0’ and ‘to have fun’.
It looks like this may have fired the London boys up, who did have some fun in the finals – and in the post-match gloating on Twitter:
All fun and games aside, it was hard to pick a standout MVP from the series, with all players stepping up at different points throughout the finals, but play-by-play caster Hiprain highlighted Beeley as being the UKLC player that is ‘most NLC-ready’.
Colour caster Jamada also gave a shoutout to Beeley’s London Esports teammate, No Name:
Both teams have now qualified for the Telia Masters, where they will face other champions from the Nordics European Regional Leagues (ERLs), as well as the bottom teams from this season’s NLC, for the chance to qualify for the next NLC.
As Jamada said, the Telia Masters is a completely different ball game, and while it’s the second time London Esports have made it to the Telia Masters (them and UK side Resolve failed to progress back in March), he said he feels more confident about their potential performance this time around.
For now, London are enjoying their victory:
Elsewhere in the UKLC, Resolve Academy lost 2-0 to MNM in the first semi-final and NVision lost 2-1 to London in the other.
The final standings in the Summer 2021 UKLC were as follows:
The rosters tonight were:
- London Esports: Akkers (top), Noname (jungle), Beeley (mid), Manki (ADC) and JeppeHou (support)
- MNM Gaming: Eragon (top), Gaduniker (jungle), Vango (mid), Jopa (ADC) and Cl0x (support)
Further reading: Interviews with Jamada and Hiprain on casting in the LEC, plus an interview with London Esports CEO Alfie Wright
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.
