What you missed from LEC Summer Week Two

Another week of League of Legends EMEA Championship Summer games are in the books, and with that in mind, here are some of the biggest thoughts we took from the match-ups.

The terrible trio were even worse this week

Tormenting metas globally, the trifecta of Milio, Yuumi, and K'Sante were out in even stronger force this week, with all three champions having a 100% pick/ban rate. Interestingly, many teams seemed happy enough to let K'Sante through the draft, having prepared counter picks to varying degrees of success. Renekton continued to be a handshake pick with mixed results, and Gwen emerged as a counter with a combined KDA of 8/4/8 vs K'Sante across two games (1W1L).

The game's most powerful enchanters went hand in hand for the most part in pick/ban, with draft trades showcasing either support or ADC focused ban patterns. If one was let through, both would be, and typically this was true for bans as well. When free, Milio was the first pick, but this often allowed for a matchup of Yuumi/Aphelios or Zeri into the weaker-ADC-stronger-support pairing of Milio/Jinx.

That isn't to say Jinx is weak in this meta, as when paired with Milio the champion can fire rockets from absurd range, dealing enough splash damage to steal a Baron (as showcased by Carzzy D3G2).

Backup supports picks are leaning towards engage tanks

With Milio and Yuumi frequently banned, the LEC seems to only truly value Lulu as another enchanter pick in the meta, with engage supports such as Rakan, Leona, and Nautilus commonly drafted this week.

With a heavy emphasis still on the ADC role, champions that are able to peel for your player and create successful picks onto the enemy are seeing a resurgence, despite the buffing of enchanter items. Excel's Limit in particular found success with these kinds of support picks this week.

G2 are back to cooking, and it smells good

Following on from a reliance on a Lucian Nami duo that has been quietly absent from this week's pick/ban, G2 have showcased a new and dangerous bot lane duo over the weekend. Picking the scaling, long-ranged DPS machine that is Kog'Maw with a Braum to protect it, G2 has often fallen behind in the early game this week but have always come out on top in the late game.

As with many champions that are taking advantage of Guinsoo's Rageblade Kog'Maw lacks mobility, but when left unchecked has a near-unmatched attack speed, which pairs excellently with Braum's passive. Able to find engages from range, disengage with its ultimate, and shield Kog'Maw from damage outright, the Heart of the Freljord is the perfect pairing for this DPS monster in both the early and late game. Hans Sama ended the week with a KDA of 9/1/5 across two games on the pick.

Mid laners everywhere cheer as they can play mages once more

Following on from the mixed success - but constant threat - Neeko provided in week one, teams have been experimenting with mid lane picks over the course of week two, with Syndra and Azir emerging as the go-to champions.

Syndra provides phenomenal burst damage and widespread crowd control with her abilities, as well as being able to break through protect the president style team compositions with a well-timed use of her high damage, point and click ultimate ability.

Azir, on the other hand, has a weaker laning phase but significantly stronger scaling. Able to independently peel and lay down just as much damage as any ADC in late game team fights, Azir works well as a secondary magic damage pressure point in the bot lane centric meta.

Neeko is also still present in the meta, and had two especially good showings this week. Despite not being able to find a win, Nisqy put on a masterclass as Neeko in D2G5, particularly utilising Yuumi to find a phenomenal disguised roam bot at 6:35. Video's Neeko was impressive in D3G1, with a scoreline of 4/0/5 and a gold lead of over 4000 by the game's end. Excellent for providing crowd control and anxiety to the enemy team, Neeko is an interesting pick let down by its poor scaling into the late game.

Larssen takes the ADC centric meta and runs with it

Deciding one ADC wasn't good enough, Larssen pulled out his pocket pick of Tristana not once, but twice this week. With a combined KDA of 12/1/8 over two games, it's safe to say Larssen looked menacing on the Yordle Gunner. Despite only being able to pick up one win, I wouldn't be surprised to see this pulled out again, and potentially developed into a flex pick for Comp.

If a Maokai falls in the jungle...

The jungle meta continued to develop this week, marking a split from some of the diversity showcased at MSI 2023 with crowd control tank/bruiser picks such as Maokai, Sejuani, and Wukong being extremely prevalent.

Able to frontline effectively, find engages and disengages and bully lanes in ganks, it's likely we will see more of these exceptionally useful picks as the split progresses. With some such as Sejuani and Amumu even able to benefit from the buffed support items, expect more big ults, big engages and big teamfights in the LEC and globally.

The Iron Ambassador shuts down dash-heavy compositions

Poppy, the heavily-armoured Yordle with the oversized hammer, has been a standout in the LEC this week. Many teams in the league have picked up on the stifling power of this pick, both in game and in draft. Whilst it can be hard countered (such as G2's Trundle pick vs VIT D1G4) Poppy found a significant amount of success in week two, with obnoxiously powerful front lining capabilities and the ability to shut down any dashes.

When drafted early, Poppy forces the opposition to rethink their composition and avoid making it too draft heavy - this eliminates some of the strongest picks in the meta (think K'Sante, Ahri, Wukong, Sejuani) who all rely on dashes. A perfect protect the president tool, we'll no doubt be seeing much more of it in the LEC.

The rise of Fnatic continues

A far cry from their form in the previous two splits, Fnatic swept a 3-0 weekend to lock themselves into the group stage emphatically. Noah and Razork continue to be the standouts on the roster, but the entire team seems to understand the meta and their roles within the compositions drafted to perfection. Favouring utility mages in the mid lane, their read is slightly different from other teams, but no less successful.

Noah went deathless in week two, with a combined KDA of 15/0/23 across three games, and Razork was everywhere his team needed him to be, with Trymbi's presence clearly alleviating the shotcalling burden and allowing him to focus on his gameplay. A crucial playmaker, Razork hit 500 LEC kills this week and had a combined KDA of 15/6/28, pulling out a surprise Amumu pick (D3G5) that looked excellent.

Excel find their style and turn their split around

Coming off the back of an 0-3 first week the pressure was heavy for Excel, who bombed out of the previous two splits. Their revamped roster, featuring Abbedagge and new pickup Peach, seemed to be heading in the same direction, however things have taken a dramatic turn. Just in time for Odoamne's 500th LEC game, Excel took down frontrunners Team Heretics, split favourites BDS and the reigning champions MAD Lions to secure a 3-0 week.

Taking the "protect the president" style of play in the meta to heart, Excel drafted frontline picks in all three of their games for the top lane, jungle, and support roles. With a huge amount of health to burn and crowd control to lay down, Patrik and Abbedagge were able to step up and carry their team to victory with mixed physical and magic damage carries respectively.

Patrik found success on Xayah with a combined KDA of 11/3/16 across two games, as well as a standout Draven game where he achieved a KDA of 11/3/4. Abbedagge looked monstrous on Azir with a combined KDA of 14/6/23 across three games.

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