It’s time to find the last European team that will qualify for the 2020 World Championship, and it will be either MAD Lions or miracle team FC Schalke 04.Â
MAD Lions has been a dominating force throughout the 2020 LEC Summer Split, but has fallen off in recent weeks. The team took a bad loss to G2 Esports and are now fighting in the lower bracket where no more missteps can be allowed.Â
Schalke has been completely opposite after starting out the split as the worst team in the league. This was followed by a miracle run that led the team to barely make playoffs. Schalke took down SK Gaming in its first lower bracket match, but they will have to keep the momentum up to stand a chance against MAD Lions.Â
The teams went 1-1 against each other in the regular split, with Schalke winning the most recent match between the two. This leaves the series wide open, but there is no doubt that Schalke is going into the match with the most confidence between the two sides.Â
Schalke has stepped up in every position on the map, but Felix “Abbedagge” Braun and Eberk “Gilius” Demir have been a particularly deadly duo. The team will most likely try to snowball through the mid or top lane during the early game, so Zhiqiang “Shadow” Zhao must be ready to react appropriately.Â
MAD Lions on the other hand has proven itself strong in the bot lane, where Norman “Kaiser” Kaiser has been the key player. His team fights especially have been important for MAD Lions, with the team winning several fights through his great engagements. The bot lane at Schalke has been solid, but it’s still a position which other teams could potentially abuse. Matyáš “Carzzy” Orság and Marek “Humanoid” Brázda must get back to their regular split performance, where they showed that they are world-class players.Â
On paper, this match could end up being the closest we have seen so far in the summer playoffs. A MAD Lions win currently gives odds 1.7, while Schalke is at odds of 2.02. It doesn’t get much closer than this, which means that we could potentially end up with a game 5 to decide which squad goes to Worlds.Â
The match will begin on Friday, August 28, where the winner will keep its championship hope alive.Â
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