MAD Lions upset Fnatic, nab third place in 2021 LEC Spring Split

MAD Lions ended the fifth week of the 2021 LEC Spring Split with a win against Fnatic and secured the third-place spot in the league. 

One of the most anticipated matches of the 2021 LEC Spring Split's fifth week was between Fnatic and MAD Lions, who were both fighting to secure the third-place spot. On paper, it was a hard match to predict as Fnatic lost an unexpected match against Vitality in the first game of the week. The unexpected loss dropped Fnatic back down to earth, giving MAD Lions a chance to get the upper hand. 

So far in the 2021 season, Fnatic has been hyper-aggressive and one of the most bloodthirsty teams in the league. Pulling out this playstyle against MAD Lions often means a lot of action, and that was also the case in this game. It took the teams six minutes to get the action going, starting out with a close fight in the bot lane. As MAD Lions engaged on the Fnatic bot lane, jungler Oskar “Selfmade” Boderek came to the rescue on Lillia which resulted in two kills for Fnatic and an early lead.   

Fnatic has previously shown that a small lead is enough to snowball the game out of control, so the two early kills for Fnatic in the bot lane already made it difficult for MAD Lions to gain control. The solution for MAD Lions was to bring aggression of their own, which got them back into the game and even secured a small gold lead for the mid game. 

Going into the later stages of the game on even footing, it all came down to execution and decision-making. Both teams have previously proven that clean macro play isn’t their biggest strength, so instead, MAD Lions kept going for fights and ultimately secured a solid gold lead as a result. MAD Lions’ young jungler Javier “Elyoya” Batalla was the catalyst in most of the fights, pressuring the Fnatic carries on his Udyr and avoiding any punishment. 

Even though Fnatic tried to make the comeback, MAD Lions never gave Fnatic the chance to win a fight. As soon as MAD Lions secured the Baron, it didn’t take long for an ace to come and close out the game. 

Despite a bloody and chaotic game with over one kill per minute, MAD Lions came out victorious and will now enter next week in third place. MAD Lions is still a few games behind Rogue and G2 Esports at the top of the tables but can’t be underestimated against anyone in the LEC. MAD Lions already proved themselves worthy in 2020 and are looking to repeat that success with its current momentum. 

MAD Lions will face SK Gaming and Vitality next week, who seem like great opponents for MAD Lions to keep the winning streak going. 

Who is on MAD Lions' 2021 LEC roster?

After failing to perform at the 2020 World Championship, MAD Lions decided to make changes for the top and jungle position in 2021. The changes have given MAD Lions a renewed energy, and the team is ready to chase a trophy in 2021. 

The MAD Lions 2021 LEC roster is: 

• Top - İrfan “Armut” Tükek
• Jungle - Javier “Elyoya” Batalla
• Mid - Marek “Humanoid” Brázda
• Bot - Matyáš “Carzzy” Orság
• Support - Norman “Kaiser” Kaiser

Where are MAD Lions from? 

MAD Lions is a professional esports organization based in Spain. The organization was previously known as Splyce, but rebranded back in November 2019. Besides League of Legends, the organization also competes in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.