LoL - LEC: Team Vitality upset Karmine Corp to shake up Group A, G2 Esports lock 1st in Group B, Natus Vincere eliminated

Team Vitality took down Karmine Corp, handing them their first loss of the Summer Split. As collateral damage, Natus Vincere became the first team officially eliminated from the LEC 2025, even though they still have one last match to play, next week, against GIANTX.

The second series of the day was a stomp. G2 Esports dismantled Team BDS to secure first place in Group B, automatically locking Fnatic into second. The remaining three teams, GIANTX, SK Gaming, and Team Heretics, are now left fighting for survival, with one about to see their season — and their year — come to an end.

Maybe everyone saw Karmine Corp as a little too perfect. In a best-of-three format leaving little room for upsets, Vitality prevailed 2-1. After getting stomped in Game 1, they answered with a controlled stomp of their own in Game 2, thanks to a well-crafted draft around winning matchups that gave them map control on the sidelanes. Everything came down to a decisive Game 3, where Vitality pulled off a brilliant comeback, absorbing Karmine Corp’s trademark teamfights again and again, while gradually bringing Matyáš "Carzzy" Orság’s Xayah back into the game.

Mateusz “Czajek” Czajka, the series MVP, explained in the post-match interview that Vitality now plays with complete freedom, without worrying about where opponents are on the map, without being driven by fear, and guided only by instinct. This carefree energy is clear in their voice comms: players sing, shout, and joke as if they were streaming instead of playing an official match. It's a total contrast to Karmine Corp’s more pressure-laden approach, fuelled by their Winter title and their conviction that they’re the LEC’s best.

The Blue Wall got a reality check here, but a top-2 finish for them in Group A remains guaranteed. Vitality’s victory, however, could have serious consequences for the Worlds race, which is the true spice of this Summer Split. With so few games played, and with the top two of each group jumping directly into a Worlds-deciding best-of-five, Vitality just cracked open some fascinating scenarios.

With NAVI now officially eliminated, GIANTX already locked into the 3rd–4th slot, and with Karmine Corp finishing at 3–1, next weekend’s clash between Vitality and Movistar KOI will be decisive in shaping the Group A standings. Here are the possible outcomes:

G2 Esports kept the momentum going. Game 1 was bloody and hard-fought—contested largely by Ilias “nuc” Bizriken’s mechanical edge in midlane early, but Game 2 was much cleaner. For the second series in a row, Sergen “BrokenBlade” Çelik shone like in G2’s golden days, unleashing a monstrous Dr. Mundo who crushed every skirmish and teamfight. A quadra kill in the midgame left him unkillable in the front and unstoppable in side lanes.

Answering to the former ADC Jakob “Jackspektra” Gullvag Kepple after the match, BrokenBlade smiled and said: “I’m not gonna lie. After watching Bwipo playing Singed, I got inspired… Dylan Falco used to play Singed a little bit. Maybe if he teaches me, you’ll see it in the coming weeks.” The team seems to have found its confidence again, a far cry from their rocky Spring regular season.

There’s no contest: G2 are locked into first place in Group B, no matter next week’s result. Their future opponent remains unknown, since Group A has yet to be decided. But G2 looks unfazed. Asked who he’d rather face, the toplaner answered: “MKOI, Fnatic, KC — they’re always strong, but I’d say the biggest enemy is ourselves.” With the awareness that they’ve already dropped more games than they wanted this year, maybe G2 is finally ready to lift their first trophy of 2025.