G2 Esports have won the League of Legends LEC Winter 2024 playoffs this weekend.
They turned around a 0-1 deficit to defeat Mad Lions Koi 3-1 in the best-of-five final at the Riot Games Arena in Berlin.
In doing so, they will progress to the LEC Season Finals 2024 as well as the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) 2024, where they will face some of the best teams from other regions around the world.
G2 top laner BrokenBlade was awarded finals MVP, while jungler Yike secured a Pentakill in game four to help lead G2 to victory.
UK League of Legends personality Caedrel, who recently signed to Fnatic, was co-streaming the LEC final as seen above.
It wasn’t smooth sailing on the broadcast, however, as Riot’s stream crashed during the final game for a few minutes, with many viewers switching over to the Caedrel and Ibai co-streams.
Some viewers complained on the LoL subreddit about the stream crashing, and criticised Riot Games for its recent layoffs, with some on the LEC broadcast affected.
There was also a bug in the match, with a blast cone being used twice. A blast cone should usually disappear after being used.
Regardless, Esports Charts reported that the LEC Winter 2024 playoffs reached 830,816 peak viewers.
G2 impress in LEC Winter 2024 playoffs
G2 had a clean run through the upper bracket of the LEC Winter 2024 playoffs, beating GiantX 2-0 in the quarter finals, Fnatic 2-1 in the sem-finals and BDS 3-0 in the upper bracket final.
Mad Lions, on the other hand, had to fight harder to reach the final. They were knocked into the lower bracket by Fnatic 2-0, before beating GiantX 2-0 and Vitality 2-0. In the lower bracket semi-final and final, they defeated Fnatic 3-2 and BDS 3-2 respectively to face G2.
G2 reached the playoffs after finishing top of the regular season table, with seven wins and two losses.
Top-laner BrokenBlade also thanked Welsh former pro player Alphari, who stepped back from competitive play in late 2022.
Following the LEC Winter 2024 playoffs, the next LEC Spring 2024 Season will begin on March 9th.
LEC Winter 2024 Split breaks viewer records
Riot Games said the 2024 LEC Winter Split has broken records, ‘marking a significant milestone for the LEC’.
Viewership has increased since 2023, seeing Riot achieve the highest Average Minute Audience (AMA) for an LEC Split (at 338,000 throughout the split, and 519,000 during the finals).
This marks a year-on-year rise of 30.5%.
Maximilian Peter Schmidt, Director of League of Legends Esports EMEA, said: “The successful viewership metrics we’ve seen in the LEC this Winter Split have been years in the making. The introduction of our new format last year, the ongoing enhancement of our co-streaming offering, the emergence of new teams, as well as the growth and strengthening of others, have all played a role.
“In addition, the LoL Esports ecosystem in EMEA, which offers a combination of amateur circuits and European Regional Leagues (ERLs), have been integral to achieving these heights. This ecosystem fosters the development of local players, teams and tournaments and cultivates communities of LoL Esports fans.
“When it comes to viewership specifically, there is no doubt this has been the best LEC Split in our history.”
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.
