The Summer Split of the European League of Legends 2022 kicked off on June 17, with the best teams in the region getting back onto Summoners Rift. It features 10 teams who will play in the best-of-one format in the league stage over a double round-robin format.
This means each team will play a maximum of 18 matches over the course of the next eight weeks, with the top eight making it through to the playoffs. There are no changes to the lineup, with each of the 10 teams from the Spring Split having lined up this summer. The entire split will be broadcast live on Twitch as well as on YouTube.
Competition is bound to be intense given there are three spots up for grabs at the world championships later in the year. The question on everyone’s mind is whether G2 Esports, champions of the Spring Split, can hold on to their crown. They failed to make it through to Worlds last year, so there is that added motivation to get there this time around.
Make sure to check out our guide on all things League of Legends betting and let’s take a look at the event in more detail.
| Team | Odds |
|---|---|
| G2 Esports | +130 |
| Fnatic | +155 |
| Rogue | +175 |
| Team Vitality | +700 |
Odds as of June 19 at Sportsbook.
Favorites
G2 Esports (+130)
G2 may have endured heartbreak at the 2022 Mid-Season Invitational, but like great teams do, they have bounced back by starting the Summer Split with back-to-back wins. You can be critical of their manner of victories, but they will gladly take points on the board. In both games, they overcame slow starts before gathering their wits to win.
Against Excel, they appeared switched on right from the get-go. They have now finished the first week undefeated and carry with them the promise of a more dominating performance in the weeks to follow. Many people predicted G2’s downfall after they parted ways with Rekkles following their inability to reach the world championships last year, but the side has rebounded superbly and set themselves up for an exciting immediate future.
Like all teams, they aren’t without their flaws. In the spring, their inability to identify a preferred play style quickly led to a slower start than they would’ve liked. Also, they seemed pretty dependent on BrokenBlade and Flakked, the key players in the bot lane and mid lane respectively. It’s on them to move on from being dependent on just their stars. How they manage to do this could define their campaign.
The Laggards Who May Just Make The Playoffs
Astralis (+10000)
Astralis endured a nightmare in the Spring Split, ending with a 3-15 win-loss record. As you would have expected, they made several roster changes and upon returning for the Summer Split, they began with two wins in the first week to offer hope for a better season. Yes, there’s lots left to do, but this version of Astralis appears to be uninhibited from their past avatars.
There seems to be no baggage or fear of failure. The addition of Vizicsacsi, Xerxe and JeongHoon seems to have had a galvanizing effect on the team. For Xerxe, the return to Astralis (a rebrand of his 2020 team Origen) is also in many ways a return to European soil after spending one and a half years in the LCS. Since his return to Europe, he has been playing solo queue and scrims against the EU teams.
With their new signings, Astralis has three out of five players from the 2019 Splyce squad that finished second in the 2019 LEC regional finals and got to the playoffs of that year’s Worlds. When they started this Summer Split with a loss to G2, everyone was beginning to go “oh, no, not again,” but their manner of bouncing back since has been seen as a breath of fresh air.
The Dark Horses
Team Vitality (+700)
They don’t have the same aura as G2 or Fanatic, but they’re among the more improved sides lately. They made the LEC playoffs, both spring and summer in 2019, and then fell apart in the following year when they finished 10th and ninth in the spring and summer respectively. The after-effects of this blow-up were felt in 2021 too, even after rejigging much of their roster.
The signing of former Fnatic jungler Oskar “Selfmade” Boderekd and AD-mid specialist Adam “LIDER” Ilyasov gained them a lot of popularity, especially among the fans who hoped for a better season. They somehow made the playoffs after finishing sixth in last year’s summer regular. Even before they could celebrate the playoff spot, they were shown the door by Fnatic.
They have gone bigger this year and made some exciting signings, getting both Barney “Alphari” Morris and Luka “Perkz” Perkovic back from the LCS, while also signing two-time LEC champion Matyás “Carzzy” Orság from MAD Lions. All this, coupled with a good start, brings with it the promise of the playoffs, and potentially a top-five finish at the very least.
