Team Vitality vs. MAD Lions: 2022 LEC Spring betting analysis

William Davis Published 12/01/2022

The LEC is finally returning this weekend and it will feature some banger matches right off the bat.

To kick off the 2022 LEC Spring Split, the newly-formed Team Vitality roster will face off against defending LEC champion MAD Lions. This match is looking to be a great way to kick off the European competitive season, with several returning stars back on Summoner’s Rift in the region.

Mid laner Luka “Perkz” Perkovic and top laner Barney “Alphari” Morris will be the returning players after one year for each in North America. With Vitality signing two big names like that, all eyes will be on this roster and many fans will have high expectations.

Naturally, there will also be a lot of expectations on the shoulders of MAD Lions as the defending champion. With that said, MAD Lions has made some drastic changes in the offseason and is now back with a younger roster in an attempt to develop the next star players of the LEC.

Because of these roster moves, Vitality will be considered the favorite in this match despite never having played an official match with this roster before. This is simply due to the individual star power of the Vitality players. As the LEC’s newest super team, it will be important to find success right from the start as nothing but a great result this split will be acceptable for Vitality.

MAD Lions can approach this match with a little less pressure, as the team will be fielding two rookies in mid laner Steven “Reeker” Chen and bot laner William “UNFORGIVEN” Nieminen. These two players will likely have to adjust to the big stage in the LEC after having played only in the various European Regional Leagues up until now.

What hasn’t changed for either of these two teams is the jungle position, where Oskar “Selfmade” Boderek will be leading Vitality while Javier “Elyoya” Batalla will look to get the ball rolling for MAD Lions. This matchup also seems to be the most important of all, as the junglers will have a lot to say about the result.

Whoever can get off to the best start should be able to dictate the pace of the game and get their lanes ahead. Based on raw skill in the laning phase, the lanes of Vitality will have a big edge so Elyoya has to show up playing at his best in this one.

Team Vitality vs. MAD Lions rosters

Team Vitality roster:

Top – Barney “Alphari” Morris
Jungle – Oskar “Selfmade” Boderek
Mid – Luka “Perkz” Perkovic
Bot – Matyáš “Carzzy” Orság
Support – Labros “Labrov” Papoutsakis

MAD Lions roster:

Top – İrfan “Armut” Tükek
Jungle – Javier “Elyoya” Batalla
Mid – Steven “Reeker” Chen
Bot – William “UNFORGIVEN” Nieminen
Support – Norman “Kaiser” Kaiser

Team Vitality favored to beat MAD Lions in LEC opening match

Based on the raw talent of Vitality and the fact that MAD Lions will field two rookies, the favorites to win will be Perkz and the rest of Vitality. On paper, this Vitality roster looks to be one of the strongest that Europe has ever seen. This will likely make Vitality favorites in most matches this season, which also means that betting on them losing can give some high odds.

As this is the opening match, the odds are pretty close between the two teams, where a win for Vitality gives odds of 1.64. A win for MAD Lions will grant a better return at 2.12.

The match between Vitality and MAD Lions will be played on Friday, January 14.

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