Team Heretics are the first team to bow out of the Summer Split. With this loss, their year ends abruptly, leaving no more chances to turn things around.
Team Vitality, on the other hand, move forward into the lower bracket of the playoffs. They’ll have to wait until Sunday evening to discover who will be their next opponent—the loser of the upper-bracket match between Karmine Corp and G2 Esports.
The bees got their revenge for
what happened in the Spring Split, when Heretics had blocked their path to playoffs in a tie-breaker. This time, the tables turned, and the punishment was harsher. TH finish in 7th-8th place, a result that can feel disappointing and doesn’t quite reflect the flashes of gameplay this talented roster managed to show this year. 8th in Winter, 6th in Spring, and now 7th-8th in Summer: that’s how the Spaniards’ LEC journey comes to a close.
Vitality sting back
Meanwhile, Vitality have found new life. Barely ten days ago, they were just shy of securing a top-two finish in Group A while everyone wondered if they could go closer to a Worlds qualification and disrupt the league's top four teams, and now they’ve given themselves a boost of confidence. Winning 3-1 in an elimination match was no sure thing, as this is the kind of setting where they’ve often crumbled in the past.
Yet, despite dropping Game 1 to a clutch Pentakill from Victor "Flakked" Liroa, they bounced back to take the next three: two dominant stomps and a final game that was a little closer but never out of their control. Stronger both as a unit and individually, the spotlight shone on a deadlier Matyáš "Carzzy" Orság, a Kaan "Naak Nako" Okan who consistently outperformed and outpaced Carl "Carlsen" Carlsen throughout the series, and a Kadir "Fleshy" Kemiksiz who seems to have gained even more confidence while locking another Pyke support in game 4 and ending in 6/0/11 with style.
The victory is reassuring for the bees, but they’ll need to scale even further. Their next challenge will be against the loser of KC versus G2, meaning there are no easy opponents ahead. Another loss would spell elimination and the end of their season. That would also crush Vitality’s dream of returning to Worlds, a stage they haven’t reached since
their lone appearance back in 2018. For now, though, they’ve already outdone their previous results this year by finishing higher than seventh. The next round will decide the future of a roster whose potential still feels far from fully explored.
Header Photo Credit: Wojciech Wandzel/Riot Games
