Image credit: Riot Games/Michal Konkol/Riot Flickr
Mad Lions British head coach James ‘Mac’ MacCormack says League of Legends esports has entered a new ‘age of lions’ after his team won the Summer 2021 LEC yesterday.
Mad Lions, OverActive Media’s professional League of Legends franchise, have won back-to-back championships after Mad won the Spring 2021 LEC – an achievement that Riot said ‘marked the end of the dominance of G2 and Fnatic in the LEC’.
Mad took the first-place finish in the LEC finals yesterday after beating Fnatic, who made a superb run in the lower bracket to reach the final, 3-1.
They are now the second-ever LEC team to win back-to-back championships since the LEC was franchised in 2019.
“We head into the World Championship not only proud to represent Europe but looking to shake things up.”
Mac, Mad Lions
Mad Lions have not lost a domestic best-of-five series in 2021. The route to the grand final saw Mad Lions defeat Rogue 3-0 in the winner’s bracket final on August 21st. They finished the regular season in third place, with Fnatic fifth.
Over the year, Mad Lions were 4-0 against Fnatic and in yesterday’s match, were dominant, with one of the largest gold leads at 30 minutes. Mad’s top laner Armut was named MVP of the final once again.
Head coach, James ‘Mac’ MacCormack, said: “Despite the adversity we’ve faced this season, the team has proven themselves as one of the best in the world.
“We head into the World Championship not only proud to represent Europe but looking to shake things up.”
“The team has made significant strides over the past year, solidifying themselves as the new dominant force within the LEC scene,” added Adam Adamou, chief strategy officer at OverActive Media. “Our approach to building the team has been very intentional. We’ve invested in support structures, local talent, and the players – and it’s working.”
Mad Lions’ Danish assistant League of Legends coach Patrick ‘Pad’ Suckow-Breum, recently spoke about his ‘mind-blowing’ transition from UK League of Legends to playing against the world’s best teams.
Mad Lions have secured an early group stage berth in the 2021 League of Legends World Championship, starting late September in Europe. The tournament is the crowning event of the season, welcoming an expected 24 teams across 12 regions in a race for the Summoner’s Cup. According to Riot Games, last year’s World Championship recorded more than 1bn hours watched – a new record.
Fnatic have also qualified for Worlds, and Rogue will start in the play-ins stage.
Fnatic remained optimistic after their defeat in the final:
Mad Lions’ success this season is the result of a long collection of efforts, including the support of marketing partnerships in Europe. Mad Lions partners include SEAT, EPOS, Razer, Warner Music Spain and Kappa.
Earlier this year, Mad Lions parent company Overactive Media revealed details around its planned $500m esports venue in Canada.
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.
