LEC player of the week, spring split Week 6: Misfits Vetheo

Each week, Upcomer highlights one player in the League of Legends European Championship for their outstanding performance in the weekend prior and crowns them player of the week. Lifting his team up to a second place in the current LEC standings, the LEC player of the spring split’s Week 6 is Misfits Gaming mid laner Vincent “Vetheo” Berrié.

Vetheo excels against EXCEL Esports

Although Misfits’ performance had steadily improved in the weeks prior, there was no room to slouch on Friday. EXCEL had also gradually increased in strength after a mid-split substitution on the roster and looked more aggressive than ever in their chase for their first-ever LEC playoffs appearance.

In the draft phase, Vetheo bided his time. His lane opponent, Erlend “nukeduck” Holm, locked in LeBlanc to provide burst magic damage for his team. In the second half of the draft phase, EXCEL surprisingly chose Tryndamere. Assessing his enemy’s composition, Vetheo opted for Ryze to provide assistance to his team early on and, later in the game, help Misfits tactically navigate around the map with Ryze’s ultimate.

Five minutes into the game, both teams’ bot lane and junglers got involved in a brawl just when Vetheo had recalled. That fight played out evenly, and so did the rest of the early game as Vetheo shifted across lanes to help his team. After ten minutes, Vetheo first showed the power of the Ryze as he helped his team get two kills and the first drake of the match.

Misfits had the upper hand following this play and controlled Summoner’s Rift. They secured a second drake, but EXCEL pushed back and evened the kill score when Misfits pushed in the mid lane.

Misfits played cautiously to reacquire a comfortable position in the game, and Vetheo purchased a Winter’s Approach to be more durable in teamfights. Later, he added a Force of Nature and a Frozen Heart to his inventory.

At 21 minutes, his build was put to the test. EXCEL searched for a kill in the mid lane and found support player Mertai “Mersa” Sari. Vetheo did not let that aggression go unpunished and raked up two kills of his own.

Misfits used the turnaround to kill Baron Nashor and, because of Vetheo’s double kill, could still contest EXCEL for the Mountain Drake that had spawned. Though Misfits did not get the drake, the Baron buff still allowed them to push in the lanes and siege EXCEL’s base.

Patience, that is what Misfits needed to have. If they overextended, they would provide their opponents a window back into the game. But Misfits played with the patience of a saint. After securing a second Baron they rounded up EXCEL and prepared themselves for a final push to end the game. While the end was chaotic, Vetheo repeatedly locked down his enemies and cleared waves with a simple push of the button, closing out the match.

“We knew what our win condition was,” Vetheo said in a post-game interview about the chaotic start to the game. “Whatever happens, bot dying or whatever, it really doesn’t matter. You can stick to your win condition and just play the game how we should.”

Vetheo helps Misfits turn around against MAD Lions

With both Fnatic and G2 Esports losing their games on Friday, Misfits were presented with a golden opportunity on Saturday. Should they win against MAD Lions, they were guaranteed a shared top-two spot in the LEC standings given that Fnatic and G2 were fighting against each other on the same day. One of them had to stumble, and Misfits could overtake them.

Playing on the red side, Vetheo waited even longer to assess what his opponents would bring to the table. After seeing Steven “Reeker” Chen pick up Vex, Vetheo chose Corki.

The start of the game was horrible for Misfits. A three-person dive on the MAD Lions’ bot lane saw all three Misfits players die without taking down a single enemy. MAD Lions accelerated their lead and 20 minutes into the game had seized control. Vetheo was patiently farming up in the mid lane to quickly approach Corki’s power spike. It wasn’t until 25 minutes that Misfits first put their foot down.

MAD Lions still had the kill advantage and a small gold lead, but Misfits gained more ground as their composition reached the later stages in the game. They had taken down more drakes and more towers. With three of his items complete, Vetheo’s Missile Barrage blew any MAD Lions player to pieces.

Baron Nashor followed. Vetheo picked off Norman “Kaiser” Kaiser with devastating rockets, and Misfits pushed for the finish. In doing so, Vetheo put two more MAD Lions corpses in his body bag and propelled his team to second place in the LEC.

Elated by his own performance, Vetheo commented on Twitter with “Quick faker cosplay,” and made his objective for the LEC playoffs very clear: “Second 2-0 in a row, aiming for this winner bracket.”

Quick faker cosplay. Second 2-0 in a row, aiming for this winner bracket. Thanks everyone for the support I love you ❤️

— Vetheo (@Vetheo_lol) February 19, 2022

Chasing the spring split MVP title

The weekend marked yet another fantastic performance from Vetheo. The young Frenchman, whose debut last year came with growing pains, has been a real leader for Misfits this year. As caster Andy “Vedius” Day noted on broadcast, it is hard to find a bad performance for Vetheo across his 13 games so far.

“I’m really happy, to be honest, about my consistency compared to last year,” Vetheo said on the LEC broadcast. “It’s really important for me to not have a single bad game so my teammates can trust me and know that, whatever happens, they will say ‘Vetheo will be there.’”

In the offseason, Vetheo named his League account “2022mvp” to reflect his bold ambitions. While he has changed his account name since, that desire still burns. Vetheo is well on his way to be named the 2022 LEC Spring Split MVP, just three splits into his career.

Honorable mentions

Another duo made a great combined effort last week. The mid/jungle duo of SK Gaming, Daniel “Sertuss” Gamani and Erberk “Gilius” Demir, was instrumental to their team’s 2-0 weekend.

Against G2 Esports, Gilius enabled his team on Volibear. He did not give his opponents much time to breathe and dead-sprinted around the map to secure objectives. Although he didn’t rake up kills, Gilius set his team up for success. Bot laner Jean “Jezu” Massol in particular took off and deleted G2 with the help of Gilius.

SK Gaming had a much more difficult time with Team BDS on Saturday. Although SK claimed two early Rift Heralds, BDS secured the first four drakes. Piloting the Corki, Sertuss knew his spike would come later. At the Elder Drake, SK deleted BDS, and SK got Baron to boot. Two pushes later, they closed out the game. SK Gaming’s start to the spring split was terrible, but in the past two weeks the team has forced itself back into playoffs contention.