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LEC 2023 Winter Split Playoffs: MAD Lions vs SK Gaming Recap

MAD Lions vs SK Gaming Recap

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by

Paul Goño
in

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MAD Lions and SK shook the LEC stage with the strongest bo5 series yet.

The second match-up in the playoffs fought in a tense bo5 series that decided which team got knocked out of the competition.

Preceding the games were news about the upcoming Spring Split. The finalized tournament start date and the official ticket prices were revealed, along with the March dates for the Group Stage, Playoffs and lastly, Spring Finals. The official LEC account posted the full update on the League of Legends esports website. For the whole article, click here.

With the 2023 Winter Split finals within reach, MAD and SK fought like hell for a spot on Match 3. View the current standing amongst the top 4 qualifiers below.

MAD Lions vs SK Gaming (Game 1)

A crazy aggressive early game snowballed into a win for MAD Lions. The heavy focus on Irrelevant was apparent as MAD wanted to delay the toplaner’s power spike. While some smart trades were seen in the early game, it took 3 champions to fully isolate SK’s Gnar. From there, Chasy’s K’Sante and his team’s mid laner was able to exercise control over their lanes. After that, effective roams down botlane meant that Exakick’s Varus couldn’t do anything but play under their turrets.

Being comfortable enough to take Nashor gave the blue team an impressive 2k lead in 13 minutes. Coming into the midgame with 2 dragons under their belt, MAD stayed on the offensive while SK focused on damage control. A third dragon allowed MAD to continue their assault into the midlane, but SK’s ability to punish their opponent’s mistakes constantly threatened to turn the situation around.

Very soon, the raw strength on MAD’s side grew too big. The late game swung around after the Lions successfully peeled for Baron. Taking advantrage of SK’s passive macroplay, they turned around to obliterate the German team with a well-timed flank from Chasy. Powerful crowd control from Zoe’s sleep bubble and Elyoya’s Elise made it extremely difficult for SK to contest for any of the objectives. After getting soul point, Hylissang’s team bolstered themselves with an insurmountable advantage to slowly end the game with brute force.

  • Teams: MAD 1 – 0 SK
  • Time: 32:09
  • Kills: 13 – 6
  • Turrets: 9 – 3
  • Gold: 59.8k – 50.4k
  • Dragons: 4 – 0
  • Barons: 1 – 0

MAD Lions vs SK Gaming (Game 2)

All of Markoon’s past Sejuani games have resulted in victories, and this was no exception. After their Gnar scored the first kill of the game, bottom side was able to crash the wave despite being up against Carzzy’s Lucian/Nami. Even without her ult, Sertuss’ Akali was able to zone a triple roam in bot lane so that Markoon could escape the gank. All the while, despite having an even scoreboard, MAD earned an uncontested first drake while the enemy Sejuani roamed for better lane control. both teams entered the midgame tit-for-tat with no real score gap.

Each midgame skirmish resulted in stalemates until SK scored a big kill lead in a turnaround teamfight down mid. MAD Lions answered with a Herald crash on the top lane tier two turret while SK simultaneously got their first Dragon. Better jungle control by Markoon gave SK enough vision to avoid any surprises. Irrelevant kited for his life while escaping a risky 2v1 before SK worked on contesting the Baron. With Nashor’s buff in their pocket, Sertuss’ Akali scaled tremendously and had no problem strategically picking off any champ. From that point, an 11k gold lead was enough to overwhelm their opponents and to close the second game. MVP for Sertuss’ Akali!

  • Teams: SK 1 – 1 MAD
  • Time: 32:36
  • Kills: 20 – 7
  • Turrets: 9 – 3
  • Gold: 62.8k – 53.1k
  • Dragons: 2 – 2
  • Barons: 1 – 0

This unfinished article is continuously being updated. Refresh the page for the latest recaps!

 

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