The second week of the
LEC Versus delivered no shortage of surprises across the eighteen matches played over the weekend.
Karmine Corp emerged as the sole leader of the standings
after posting three wins, while the race for playoff qualification intensified, fueled
in particular by Los Ratones’ return to form and the underwhelming performances of several other teams.
After these three days of competition, Sheep Esports presents the five key takeaways from the matches, highlighting standout individual performances, team trends, and storylines that have carried over from the offseason.
Los Ratones come from afar
Heavily criticized, mocked, and written off after the opening week, everything pointed toward a long and difficult split for Los Ratones. After starting the season with four straight defeats,
Marc "Caedrel" Lamont’s squad finally secured its first victory by taking down
Team Heretics on Sunday. As often happens, success did not come alone, as the Rats followed up the next day by reversing
Shifters.
While both matches were admittedly aided by costly throws from their opponents, LR could nonetheless rely on a strong Tim "Nemesis" Lipovšek and even a decisive Simon "Baus" Hofverberg against Shifters, making Caedrel burst with joy and emotion after the first hard days of his team in LEC.
nuc is not happy
Judging by the posts from midlaner Ilias "nuc" Bizriken on X following the loss to Los Ratones, Shifters appear far from their best form. Defeated three times this week, the Swiss lineup, which had shown promise in Week 1, largely undermined itself in Week 2 by letting two games slip away that seemed well within reach.
Outstanding in the opening week, nuc was unable to carry his team to victory this time around, and in a series of three posts on X, the Franco-Moroccan midlaner openly expressed his frustration with his team’s level of play, as fans began to target the head coach Yanis "Striker" Kella and the jungle-support duo, who still seem to be struggling with coordination early in the season.
Double Ice cold
A double pentakill, an extremely rare feat in professional play, was achieved by Yoon "Ice" Sang-hoon during Team Heretics’ match against Team Vitality. In a game that initially appeared difficult, the Korean AD carry turned the tide with a pentakill on Aphelios during a Baron Nashor fight, aided in no small part by Paul "Stend" Lardin’s Thresh.
Moments later, Ice repeated the feat by eliminating all five Vitality players in their base to close out the game and secure the win for the Spanish side. While the rest of the week offered little consolation for Team Heretics, this performance—matched the following day in the LCP by Trần "Artemis" Quốc Hưng a few hours later—still provided fans with a highlight.
The not-so-blind monk
Last week, Sergen "BrokenBlade" Çelik mentioned in a post-match interview that he hoped to unveil a new pocket pick soon. In solo queue, he had been heavily practicing toplane Lee Sin. He chose this week’s match against Karmine Corp to put that plan into action and surprise Kim "Canna" Chang-dong—without much success.
Canna’s Rumble secured a solo kill after a failed dash-ward from BrokenBlade, and the latter was subsequently unable to find enough impact to swing the game, handing Karmine Corp the headline matchup of the week against a still-disjointed G2 lineup. Speaking on the broadcast afterward, Caliste "Caliste" Henry-Hennebert explained that the team had already identified BrokenBlade’s pick and prepared for it: "We asked Canna if it would be a problem for him. He said no."
"I own them," but not quite
In the clash for first place between Karmine Corp and NAVI, the French organization struck first by securing two early kills, before Enes "Rhilech" Uçan’s Aatrox picked up a triple kill to rebalance the game. Brimming with confidence, as reflected in both his gameplay and his performances since the start of the season, the Turkish jungler screamed "I own them!" to his teammates.
Unfortunately for him, that was not enough to derail Karmine Corp’s plans, as KC leaned on their individual talent—particularly through Canna and Caliste—to turn the game around and shut NAVI down. With Movistar KOI losing shortly afterward, KC claimed sole possession of first place, leaving their Spanish rivals alongside GIANTX, Fnatic, and NAVI one win behind.
January 24
- Los Ratones 0-1 GIANTX
- NAVI 1-0 Karmine Corp Blue
- Team Vitality 0-1 Team Heretics
- Shifters 0-1 G2 Esports
- SK Gaming 0-1 Karmine Corp
- Movistar KOI 1-0 Fnatic
January 25
- Team Vitality 1-0 Shifters
- SK Gaming 0-1 NAVI
- Team Heretics 0-1 Los Ratones
- Movistar KOI 1-0 Karmine Corp Blue
- Fnatic 1-0 GIANTX
- Karmine Corp 1-0 G2 Esports
Januray 26
- SK Gaming 1-0 Karmine Corp Blue
- Shifters 0-1 Los Ratones
- Team Vitality 0-1 Fnatic
- Team Heretics 0-1 G2 Esports
- NAVI 0-1 Karmine Corp
- Movistar KOI 0-1 GIANTX
