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Week 1 of League of Legends European Championship 2021 Spring league is underway. Day one saw some of the top teams from the region in action.
The LEC 2021 Spring Split is the first split of the third year of Europe's rebranded professional League of Legends league. Ten teams are competing this year, and the tournament is following a double round-robin group stage. Matches are being decided based on a best-of-one matchup. The top-six will qualify for the playoffs.
The opening day of LEC 2021 featured brilliant team battles and solo-kills among 10 European heavyweights. Some shockers followed as well. All matches were telecasted live on LEC official Twitch and YouTube channels in ten different languages.
Each of the five League of Legends matches on the first day of the tournament featured at least one rookie player.
League of Legends LEC 2021: Day 1
Day one of the LES 2021 oversaw five matches with ten European League of Legends teams in action. The matches that took place on Day one were:
- G2 Esports vs MAD Lions - G2 Esports emerged victorious in a 32-minute game of League of Legends
- Astralis vs SK Gaming - SK Gaming secured a 34-minute victory.
- Rogue vs Excel Esports - Team Rogue secured a comfortable victory in the 31st minute.
- Team Vitality vs Schalke 04 - Schalke came out victorious in this 48-minute marathon.
- Misfits Gaming vs Fnatic - Misfits Gaming emerged victorious in the last game of the day in a 26-minute bout of League of Legends.
The first game of the day between G2 and MAD was close. MAD Lions looked good as they found a few kills, and took over objectives in the early stages of the match.
However, once G2 made it out of the laning phase, the game started to take a drastic turn. G2 Esports clinched their first win of the tournament defeating MAD in the 32nd minute. G2's Danish top laner Martin "Wunder" Nordahl Hansen was the MVP of the opening game.
The second game between SK Gaming and Astralis saw an end-to-end display of strategic play. SK Gaming's support player Erik "Treatz" Wessen was the star of the game with his brilliant Thresh-showcase.
Astralis fought hard till the very end, but it was SK Gaming who had the last laugh.
Following a disappointing run at the 2020 League of Legends World Championship, Rogue successfully began their 2021 LEC Spring Split by grabbing a clean win over Excel on the season's launch day.
Excel drafted an unexpected composition, including Ivern in the top lane and Udyr in the jungle. While Udyr has been picked as a jungler before, it was the first time Ivern was seen as a top laner in a competitive match. Rookie Felix “Kryze” Hellström had a tough challenge upfront.
XL fell behind in the early game and never got the lead. Rogue executed better rotations in the game, which allowed them to get more turrets, plates, and minion gold. They also executed some clean fights around neutral objectives throughout the game, and the match was comfortably won by Rogue in the 31st minute. Swedish mid-laner Emil "Larssen" Larsson was elected as the MVP.
Schalke 04 won the fourth game of the day against Vitality after a 48-minute League of Legends marathon. The Germans had a win for the first time since the start of LEC
Slovanian bot laner Matúš "Neon" Jakubčík was the MVP of the match after his brilliant solo play with his Aphelios, gaining five enemy-slains.
The last match of the day between Misfits Gaming and Fnatic saw an explosive 35-kill League of Legends tie. The match was close from the very first minute. However, it was Misfits’ new-look roster that emerged victorious after 26 minutes.
It didn’t take long for both teams to start clashing. By 10 minutes, there were already 11 kills across the board, with only an Ocean Drake as the lone objective taken in that time span.
Both lineups were jumping into fights whenever they could, and as the game moved forward, Misfits came out victorious in the skirmishes. Mid laner Vatheo was elected the League of Legends MVP after a splendid killing rampage with Zoe.
The League of Legends 2021 season in Europe is finally up and rolling. The tournament began on January 22nd with the grand final scheduled to be held on April 11th.
