MAD Lions vs Vikings Recap – Worlds Play-In Stage Day 1

September 25, 2024
| Tags: League of Legends
| Author David Hollingsworth

MAD Lions vs Vikings kicks off Worlds 2024, as the European side looks to get off to a good start as Worlds heads to Europe.

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It’s that time again, Worlds 2024 kicks off as the top League of Legends sides in the World head to Europe. MAD Lions are the home side during the Play-In stage and they’ll need to make that advantage count. Game one of their Play-In journey is against Vikings Esports from Vietnam. Vikings are the second seed from the region, with GAM Esports taking up the other spot.

Below is our recap of the series with all games in the Play-In round being BO3. The article will be updated throughout the series.

MAD Lions vs Vikings Recap
MAD Lions vs Vikings Game 1

A big game one of the series, and one that MAD wants to come away from with a win. They are the favorites, and they mustn’t get caught out early on. As for VKE, this is a free hit and a chance to cause a day-one upset.

A tight early game saw MAD pull ahead with a small lead despite VKE getting the first blood. Taking into the mid game and MAD remained ahead as VKE had run out of ideas. A near full-team wipe meant MAD could claim the Drake, with VKE respawning and trying to stop the Baron. Baron was stopped, as VKE looked to claw their way back into the series. They survived till the next Drake, where they managed to steal it and almost managed to win a split 5v5.

With the Soul Drake on the Rift, VKE tried to force MAD’s hand, but it backfired as they handed it over to the European side. It was a play to salvage the game by VKE, but it ended up being how they lost Game 1.

Teams: MDK — VKE
First Blood: VKE
Game Time: 36:50
Gold: 70k – 65.6k
Kills: 17-9
Turrets: 5-1
Dragons: 3-3
Barons: 0-1

SNIPED pic.twitter.com/TmDC27qzRW

— MAD Lions KOI English (@MADLionsKOI_en) September 25, 2024

MAD Lions vs Vikings Game 2

MAD claimed a big victory in Game 1, but they’ll need to clean up their execution for Game 2. VKE is not going to lie down and die easily.

It was another early lead for MAD who looked to get this series wrapped up ASAP. While MAD continued to make progress towards the victory, VKE was not willing to lose silently; keeping the gold gap at just 2k by 10 minutes. While a large lead, they’ve avoided MAD snowballing too fast.

While VKE tried, ultimately by 15 minutes it already looked over for the underdogs. MAD moved to a 5k lead as they looked to clean up Game 2. MAD continued to push for victory, playing it safe to avoid any VKE comeback. At 24 minutes, Baron was secured for MAD as it looked like the final nail in the coffin for this series.

Somehow, VKE managed to stay alive a little longer, though they overstretched which gave MAD a way to recover from poor positioning inside the base.

BIG BRAIN SUPA DODGING THE JARVAN WITH HERALD pic.twitter.com/x0LXkkNacP

— MAD Lions KOI English (@MADLionsKOI_en) September 25, 2024

Teams: MAD — VKE
First Blood: MAD
Game Time: 30:50
Gold:61.7k – 52.2k
Kills: 25-10
Turrets: 12-3
Dragons: 2-1
Barons: 1-0

MAD Lions vs Vikings Game 3
There was not game 3.

Teams:
First Blood:
Game Time:
Gold:
Kills:
Turrets:
Dragons:
Barons:

David has written for games media outlets for the last ten years. With his first major esports role being with Esports News UK covering mostly UK League of Legends. David is also a member of the British Esports Association and is an advisor to them on World of Warcraft Esports. More recently David has worked for Esports Insider and Red Bull as an esports journalist.
David later became Editor at ESTNN and now leads the current team.