The 2019 Spring Split LEC quarterfinal is right around the corner; making it the perfect time to take a look at what it has to offer. These aren’t your everyday, run-of-the-mill match-ups — these are exceptional brawls, at least on paper. Saying that they should deliver top-tier high octane play would be an understatement. We are going to see some of the best teams in the region duke it out in a format that leaves no question unanswered.

The 2019 LEC Spring Split delivered on all fronts. In fact, this was one of the best (if not the best) splits in the region’s storied history. Fortunately for all fans of high-quality League of Legends, the fun didn’t stop with the regular portion of the split. Far from it. If everything goes “according to plan,” we should be in for one heck of a ride starting with the two quarterfinal match-ups this weekend.

So without any further ado, let’s take a closer look at what awaits us!

Fnatic vs. Team Vitality — Friday

Starting out, we have a highly-anticipated clash between the defending champions Fnatic and Team Vitality. Had this match-up happened just two or three weeks earlier, predicting the final outcome would have been much harder. We would have to go over a lot more information in order to attain a concrete prediction, and things would have been a lot closer.

Right now, however, it’s basically impossible not to side with Fnatic. In fact, no one’s expecting this match to go any different than a swift, dominant 3:0 victory for Fnatic. Their recent resurgence is downright mind-blowing, and it is something that only Fnatic — with all of their immense strength and grit — had the capacity to pull off.

They were a bottom-tier dweller for a good majority of the split.  They went from the finals of the World Championship — the largest and most prestigious League of Legends stage in the world — to sharing a spot with the likes of Rogue and Excel Esports. Their downfall boggled the mind, especially considering the fact that they had lost a mere two players — only one of which was a starter.

But as with any grand narrative, Fnatic fought as hard as they could in order to rewrite the ending everyone saw coming. They practiced, worked on their flaws, and adapted with each passing game. It couldn’t have been easy, but they were able to attain so much international success for a reason, and they never go down without a fight.

In short, their improvement was spectacular.

In the last couple of weeks, they took down basically everyone in the region, and with relative ease as well. That includes G2 Esports, Origen, Team Vitality, Splyce — you name it. They weren’t just scraping by — they were blowing their opponents out of the water.

Fnatic is currently the best, most versatile and capable team in the region, and betting against them would not only be ill-advised but also ludicrous. They’re not perfect, that’s for sure, but they’re looking like a world-class team right now and one can only imagine their in-depth preparation for just a single opponent — in a Best of 5 format as well.

They’re gonna go all-out, and you do not want to be in their way once that happens.

Vitality, on the other hand, has lost four of their last five games. That’s a pretty underwhelming conclusion for a team that has hovered around second place throughout the entire split.

But much like a ferocious beast, Team Vitality is rarely down for the count. Just when you think they’ve dropped and have become vulnerable, they find the strength to go for a couple of extra rounds. They’re incredibly inconsistent, and they’re used to their frequent downfalls. Losing is like the average day at the office for them. They know it’s never the end, and that is precisely what enables them to come back a week later and just mop the floor with their opposition.

That’s also one of the main reasons why they’re so widely loved and respected. You can never count them out, and even though it’s easy to side with Fnatic and predict a shellacking, Vitality deserves a lot more respect.

That said, Fnatic’s current form is downright staggering, and they’re showing no signs of stopping. We wouldn’t exactly say that they’re just as good as they were in 2018, but they’re darn close. They’re so commanding when ahead, decisive and resilient, and even when they don’t have the biggest of leads they still find a way to win — either through incredible individual performances or team-wide synergy and shot calling. They’re the best team Europe currently has to offer, and they have their sights set at defending their LEC throne.

Will they be able to do so against a game Team Vitality? Absolutely. That said, it shouldn’t be as one-sided or as quick as many predict.

Splyce vs. SK Gaming — Saturday

This quarterfinal clash isn’t exactly as alluring as the one preceding it, but make no mistake — this match-up has just as much potential, if not even more than the Fnatic vs. Vitality one. But why though? The reasoning is rather simple. Both of these teams are relatively close when it comes to strength and potential. They’re also incredibly aggressive and rarely shy away from a challenge. When you pit two skirmish-heavy teams against one another, fireworks are almost a given.

That said, Splyce absolutely has the edge all things considered. They’re a team that’s filled with veterans. Names like Tamás “Vizicsacsi” Kiss and Kasper “Kobbe” Kobberup are all you should need to hear in order to pick a side. They’re not perfect — not even close, but their mid and late game team fighting is absolutely phenomenal. Splyce is one of the rare teams that play like they’re ahead even when that’s not the case.

No matter the deficit, once something clicks within them, they will engage like a well-oiled machine and throw caution out the window. That’s why everyone loves them — although there is a sizeable number of people who disapprove of their passive, more subdued early game.

They’re versatile and highly flexible in the current meta. They’re also all unhinged, kind of crazy starting from the pick and ban phase all the down to the way they play the game. That’s not always a good thing, but it could be an element of surprise. Their jungler Andrei “Xerxe” Dragomir is perhaps their biggest question mark — but in the best possible way.

He has a unique pathing style, and his champion ocean knows no bounds. How do you ban out a guy that can play anything in the game and still find success? He’s been at the top of the region for so long for a reason, and he’s still as hard to read as he was back in 2017 Spring Split when he got the “Rookie of the Split” award.

On the opposite side, we have SK Gaming. Even though they’re a new team, they do have some existing synergy between three of their players — Jorge “Werlyb” Casanovas Moreno-Torres, Oskar “Selfmade” Boderek and Juš “Crownshot” Marušič. This synergy helped them out immensely once the split began, and sure enough, they developed into a very solid mid-tier contender.

That said, they do have a palpable skill ceiling. If they don’t put Selfmade on an aggressive, playmaking carry, they tend to fall apart fairly quickly. Without ample amounts of engage, they’re not as capable nor strong. They’ve looked better as time went on, and they’re definitely hard to read, but we’ve seen their dips in performance, and they’ve never had to play a Best of 5 as a five-man roster.

Keep in mind, winning a Best of 5 is its own particular beast. It requires resilience and a ton of mental fortitude. Not to mention a ton of versatility and multiple drafts and team comps. Those things come from experience — and they don’t have a lot of it. Splyce, on the other hand, has more than enough.

SK Gaming is a momentum-based team, and they play with a lot of emotion. If things don’t go according to plan and they fail to impose their playstyle from the very get-go, they will surely fall apart. They’re all young players that are trying to maintain a certain level of play. Finding that balance requires time, so no one’s really giving them any benefit of the doubt. They are, however, deceptively strong, and they definitely have the tools to make this into one heck of a series.

Splyce also look like a different team every time they step foot on the stage. You never really know what to expect from them, which makes preparation that much harder. So far, Splyce is 2:0 in their head-to-heads with SK, so they already know what they’re going up against.

At the end of the day — they should, by all means, be able to take SK Gaming down. It probably won’t be a one-sided affair, but they should get the win regardless.

That’s it for our LEC quarterfinal preview! Make sure to tune in this week on Twitch or YouTube because you do not want to miss out on how the playoffs further develop.