MDK Secures Worlds Spot with 45.45% Win Rate This Year

Mad Lions KOI is officially one of the three European teams qualified for Worlds 2024. What makes their qualification peculiar however is that they had a rollercoaster year where their split's results have been quite uneven. This led them to qualify for Worlds despite losing more games than they won. Indeed, MDK only won 30 out of the 66 games they played so far this year.

As a comparison, Team BDS has a 56,8% winrate this year in LEC, Fnatic is at 59%, and G2 Esports logically tops at 75%.

This situation is largely due to the current LEC format, which allows teams to qualify for the Season Finals by being among the top 6 and accumulating enough Championship Points. While G2 and Fnatic have consistently dominated the league - and Karmine Corp and Rogue often finished in the bottom two - MDK managed to qualify for the Season Finals with their 2nd-place finish in Winter. Despite finishing 6th in Spring and 7th in Summer, MDK earned enough points to end up 4th in the Championship Points standings overall.

Still, the team’s resilience is impressive. They began the year strongly with a roster featuring four rookies alongside Javier "Elyoya" Prades. Despite losing momentum for a few months, they revitalized their unique playstyle by drafting unconventional champions at crucial moments. This strategy helped them secure a decisive victory in Season Finals over the reigning European champions, G2 Esports, and clinch the final spot for Worlds.

As Head Coach Tomás "Melzhet" Campelos Fernández said in a previous interview for Sheep Esports: "This is a long-term project, we need to have highs and lows, and I hope we finish the year with a good note for every single one of you." Playing at Worlds 2024 in front of their own European fans seems to be a fantastic way for them to end the season.