Vitality clutches first place while LEC 2026 regular season ends in chaotic Madrid Roadtrip

The LEC 2026 Spring Split regular season officially came to an end after one of the most intense weekends the league has seen in recent years. With the Madrid Roadtrip now over, the focus fully shifts toward playoffs and the race for MSI, where only two teams will represent EMEA internationally. While the matches decided the final standings and upper bracket positions, the atmosphere around the event was also dominated by the growing tension between and , both inside and outside the venue.

Even without attending the event in Madrid, secured first place in the regular season after defeated KC on Sunday.

The result officially locked the Bees at the top of the standings with an 8-1 record heading into playoffs, while KC secured second place and joined the podium. The weekend in Madrid also gave fans a much clearer picture of the current form of most of the playoffs’ teams ahead of the road to MSI, especially after several close series and dramatic moments across all three days.

The majority of those dramatic moments were due to the tense public exchanges between MKOI co-owner, Ibai Llanos, and KC’s founder, Kamel "Kameto" Kebir, escalated online following Friday’s opening day. What started as criticism about the event’s attendance turned into direct insults between both communities, eventually leading to Kameto cancelling his participation in the showmatch planned on Sunday.

Friday opened with one of the most anticipated matches of the regular season, as G2 handed KC its first defeat of Spring Split with a dominant 2-0 victory. G2 controlled the first game from start to finish and gave KC very little room to play. In the second game, KC started much stronger and built an early lead, but G2 slowly recovered through better macro decisions and cleaner mid-game execution before completing the comeback.

The result immediately changed the tone of the Roadtrip as KC had entered Madrid undefeated but still fighting for first place in the standings, and the loss suddenly opened the door for Vitality to secure the top seed if KC dropped another series.

The second match of the day had MKOI defeat GX 2-0 in a convincing home-ground performance. Even when GX found early kills, MKOI stayed calm and played patiently around teamfights and objectives. By the end of the first day, Madrid already felt like a playoff environment, both inside the arena and online, where the KC and MKOI rivalry continued escalating throughout the night.

Saturday started with G2 continuing its strong weekend form after another dominant 2-0 win, this time against GX. G2 looked in control throughout both games and once again showed much cleaner coordination than its opponent. Even when GX found a few early advantages, G2 consistently won fights across the map and snowballed the games quickly in classic G2 style. But the main event of the day was the highly anticipated series between MKOI and KC.

After the online friction between Ibai and Kameto exploded across social media, the atmosphere around the match became extremely tense. KC eventually won the series 2-1 after a very close match filled with comebacks and chaotic teamfights where both teams traded momentum constantly.

Throughout the chaos, KC managed to stay composed — at least in game — in the final moments of the deciding game to secure the victory. But that was not enough to rest the fans’ spirits. Outside the venue, tensions between both fanbases also escalated, with reports from Madrid indicating that the venue’s security was called to escort KC fans after the match due to safety concern.

The rivalry had already become one of the biggest storylines of the split, but Saturday pushed it to another level entirely, whether that ignited the LEC fans’ passion or planted the seed for less sportsmanship behaviour in the future is still to be seen.

The last day of the Spring Roadtrip began with one of the biggest surprises of the regular season as GX defeated KC 2-1 in a tense series full of momentum swings. GX looked far more competitive than during the previous days and completed an impressive comeback in the deciding game after recovering from a difficult position. The result confirmed Vitality as the number one seed for playoffs despite not even attending the Madrid Roadshow.

Earlier in the day — off camera — the planned showmatch took place, but without KC representatives after Kameto officially withdrew from the event. Even with the situation calming slightly by Sunday, the tension between both communities remained one of the dominant topics around the Roadtrip.

The final series of the regular season then saw MKOI defeat G2 2-1 in the deciding match for the final upper bracket spot. Constant action and several comebacks were the focus on the match, in classic LEC fashion, with both teams wanting to prove they could still best their opponents even if already qualified for playoffs. MKOI eventually found a better draft in the deciding game, leaving G2 struggling to deal with their durable and highly mobile comp.

With the regular season now over, the LEC Spring Split playoffs officially takes center stage in just a week. Vitality, after one of its strongest regular seasons in years, needs to prove whether it could finally claim an LEC title. KC, G2, and MKOI all showed both high peaks and clear weaknesses throughout the season, but one would be a fool to count any of them out yet. NAVI and GX also had their moments in the regular season, but seemed unprepared for what the playoffs could be.

And even so, after such a chaotic final weekend, the race for MSI feels more open than ever.