G2 Esports are Out to Smash MAD Lions in Their Rematch on Saturday

Only the most diehard MAD Lions fans or the biggest G2 haters believed that MAD Lions would knock off G2 Esports two weeks ago. G2 were -1500 favorites per the League of Legends betting odds in their first-round series, but MAD Lions shocked the LEC with a win in five games to advance in the winner’s bracket. They were unceremoniously swept by Fnatic in the winner’s bracket, and they will look to repeat history with another unexpected win over G2 in order to challenge Fnatic for the 2020 LEC Spring Split title.

SATURDAY, APRIL 18

G2 ESPORTS -650

MAD LIONS +475

Although MAD Lions defeated G2 two weeks ago, the reigning champions are heavy favorites on the Esports betting odds. Many analysts believe that the MAD Lions victory was a one-time thing, but let’s see if that’s the case as we break down the matchups between these two teams.

Top Lane

Orome was not asked to do much against Wunder in the first series between these teams. He was on a safe tank champion for four of the five games, and MAD Lions largely just wanted him to stay even with G2’s Wunder. Orome did show some skill on Neeko in Game 3 of the series though, and that’s an encouraging sign for the upstarts.

G2 will probably try to push their advantage up top this time around though. For whatever reason, G2 had Wunder play tanks for the first four games of the series, and they only opted into a skill matchup in Game 5 when Kalista was flexed into the top lane. That pick worked well before overaggressive play caused G2 to fall behind, so look for G2 to look for more winning matchups for Wunder this time.

Jungle

This was the big difference two weeks ago. Shadow had the series of his life in the jungle for MAD Lions, constantly affecting every aspect of the game. His 6.3 KDA was nearly twice as high as every other player in the series, and he played a different champion in each game. He took advantage of G2’s tendency to opt into fights no matter the game state more than anyone else, so Grabbz will either ask his team to rein it in or find a way to neutralize him.

Jankos had one of the worst series of his life against MAD Lions, and it’s unlikely he’ll struggle that much again. He will likely have a pocket pick in store at some point this series, and G2 might tinker with their draft to prioritize better picks for him in this matchup.

Mid Lane

One of the few bright spots for G2 two weeks ago was Perkz. He continually got the better of Humanoid in the mid lane, and he was the only player on the defending champions to finish with a KDA above three. He has a ton of flexibility with his deep champion pool, and he has largely been the rock for G2 this split. Perkz should win this lane again on Saturday, but there is something to watch.

G2 banned away LeBlanc in each of the first three games of the series. Humanoid had made some impressive plays on the champion throughout the Spring Split, so G2 didn’t want to deal with her pick potential. They might decide to let her go through the ban phase and prioritize other champions instead since Humanoid didn’t play LeBlanc in Game 4 or 5.

Bottom Lane

Carzzy came up big when it mattered the most two weeks ago. He needed to have a big series for MAD Lions to pull off the upset, and he did just that with more kills than any other player in the series per Games of Legends. Carzzy averaged nearly eight kills a game, and he even showed he could take a mage into the bottom lane and succeed with his play on Syndra.

Meanwhile, Caps continues to look a bit like a fish out of water in his transition into the bottom lane. That move hasn’t been as seamless as it looked with Perkz last year as Caps continues to play the lane too aggressively and makes questionable decisions. This lane will once again be the main win condition for MAD Lions.

Prediction

At this price, you have to bet on MAD Lions to repeat the feat. G2 should not be this large of a favorite given how they have played over the last couple weeks, and MAD Lions might just be a bad matchup for them.