One LEC team snuck into the 2023 Spring Split group stage with the second-lowest KDA in the league

With only three weeks in the regular season, the 2023 LEC Spring Split has brought plenty of ups and downs for the European League of Legends fan base. Some popular teams had to battle tooth-and-nail for their spots in the group stage, including MAD Lions, who barely made it to the next round after having to win a tiebreaker match against Team Heretics.

Even though the popular organization managed to make the group stage, its roster still has plenty of work to do if they wish to make a long run through the rest of the tournament, especially after finishing the regular season with the second-lowest KDA in the LEC and the most deaths of any team in the league.

MAD ended the season with an abysmal 0.66 KDA over 10 games, which is less than Team Heretics and barely over last-place Excel Esports, according to competitive League stats aggregate Oracle’s Elixir.

The former LEC champions also had a whopping 184 total team deaths, with the third-highest average combined kills per minute, showing that although they are willing to scrap it out, they aren’t finding much success with their various skirmishes.

Their early-game efforts haven’t been exactly inspiring, but their real faults lie in their mid-to-late game decision-making. In multiple games, MAD have squandered leads by getting caught out of position and giving away free kills, or simply getting outplayed in teamfights through better coordination.

Related: This veteran LEC jungler was arguably the best-performing player in his role—and still missed the 2023 Spring Split group stage

Even in their final regular season match against Heretics, MAD stumbled on the way to the finish line after a scary teamfight loss near the end of the game. If the Lions are hoping for a deep playoff run, they’ll need to use this upcoming week to clean up their team play in the later stages of their matches, or else they risk throwing away leads to stronger, more cohesive teams in a best-of-three setting.

The 2023 LEC Spring Split group stage will begin in two weeks on Saturday, April 8, where MAD will be facing off against one of the best-performing teams of the regular season, Team Vitality.