The LEC Spring Split is entering its final stage with Week 8! This superweek, we will be looking at some of the most crucial matches for Playoffs. Currently, there are 4 teams fighting for the last two spots: which teams are more likely to get them?

Let’s find out!

MAD Lions vs Vitality

Starting off with our LEC Week 8 Preview, we have the match between 2021 Summer Champions MAD Lions and Vitality. They are respectively 5-10 and 8-7 in the standings, a record that most fans didn’t see coming at the beginning of the 2022 season.

MAD Lions have lost the last 6 games, compromising their chances of making it to the playoffs. It seems like MAD Lions has been having the same problem for quite a while, that is their mid-late game transition. Last year, their strong early game allowed them to create strong leads that became unrecoverable by enemies. This year, with how the meta has shifted towards scaling and it relies on late-game teamfights, it feels like MAD are not as strong as other teams. Even if they have good proactivity early on, their macro needs some work.

Coming into Week 8, MAD Lions needs a 3-0 week and a ton of luck to barely make it to the Playoffs.

On the other hand, Vitality is hoping to finally make a breaktrough this Split and join the top echalon of teams. They’ve had ups and downs throughout the whole split, and have been really hard to analyze so far. They’ve won against strong teams but they also fell against weaker teams. One thing worth mentioning, however, is that if you don’t consider week 1, Vitality won 8 out of the last 12 games, so overall their level of performance is not that bad.

Here’s seven potential betting markets you should consider:

• Winner: Vitality
• First Dragon: MAD Lions
• Game Duration: over 34.5
• First Herald: Vitality
• Total kills: over 26.5
• First Blood: MAD Lions
• First Tower: Vitality

Excel Esports vs SK Gaming

The other important match for this LEC Week 7 is Excel vs SK Gaming. Before last weekend, SK was on the rise and into Playoffs contention. However, a 0-2 Week put them in a similar situation to MAD Lions. They’ve been having a lot of success with the Graves top and a hypercarry in the bot lane. If the game drags on for a long time, SK Gaming do have a strong win condition up their sleeve.

I really want to see whether SK Gaming get Graves and see how Excel responds to that. If SK can get a good draft, I definitely see them having a strong chance at winning.

XL are much better with their early game setup in contrast to SK. They’ve always had problems with in the past, but thanks to Mikyx’s addition the team is now looking solid. Excel still relies on late-game teamfights to close out the game, and that’s might be what’s favoring them this season.

Both teams work towards their late game win conditions, we might witness a true and lengthy brawl this weekend. That being said, I’m inclined towards XL Esports again. They did win last time the two teams met, and that was before Mikyx even joined the team. Now that XL has had more time to play with their new support, I think that they’re heavily favored in this matchup.

• Winner: Excel Esports
• First Blood: SK Gaming
• Game Duration: over 35.5
• First Herald: Excel Esports
• First Dragon: SK Gaming
• Total kills: over 25.5