Schalke 04 stepped up today and scored a huge upset against the established roster of Misfits Gaming in Europe’s LEC.
This win doesn’t affect S04’s place in the standings too much since not enough games remain for them to qualify for the playoffs, but it impacts Misfits’ hopes of reaching the postseason.
S04’s mid laner Abbedagge had a strong performance on Azir against Misfits’ mid lane Ornn. His late-game play around the dragon pit sealed Misfits’ fate. He managed to slay four Misfits players, which allowed his team to push and end the game.
S04 went through a rough start of the season. After picking up legendary ADC FORG1VEN in the offseason, they were unable to find any wins. Three weeks into the split, FORG1VEN announced that he’d no longer play on the main roster due to the team’s unwillingness to make roster changes.
S04 decided to promote academy ADC, Nihat “Innaxe” Aliev, to the main roster. While their first game with the new ADC in week four against Rogue wasn’t impressive, they did impress on the second day of the week against G2 Esports, giving the superstar roster their first loss of the season.
Motivated after a win against the leader in the standings, S04 improved drastically over the next couple of weeks, achieving multiple wins. But due to their poor start of the season, they’re unable to pick up enough wins to qualify for the playoffs. The squad can go all-out with crazy tactics, though, to show how fearsome they are after finding synergy over the past couple of weeks.
This loss puts Misfits at risk of missing the playoffs. If Misfits lose tomorrow and Excel Esports step up and pick up two wins against Fnatic and G2, they’ll knock Misfits out of playoff contention.
Tune in to the official Riot broadcast today and tomorrow to see the return of the LEC.
