Rogue and Astralis broke both their records in the LEC on Friday. Before this match, Rogue were 9-0 and undefeated, taking down every team that they went up against in dominant fashion. On the other hand, Astralis were 0-9, losing every game since the start of the split. On Friday, everything changed.
Rogue and Astralis break their streaks
In the second match of week 5 in the LEC, Rogue were set to face Astralis. These teams were on opposite ends of the league standings, with Rogue in first and Astralis dead last. It seemed like an obvious win for Rogue. However, Astralis did not go down without a fight. They were able to take advantage of their early engage composition with Jarvan IV and Leona.
A well-coordinated gank with Nikolay “Zanzarah” Akatov’s Jarvan IV and Oliver “Dajor” Ryppa’s Vex allowed for a quick kill onto Kim “Malrang” Geun-seong early in the game. Astralis got another pick on Emil “Larssen” Larsson’s Ahri, which really got the ball rolling. The game continued with Astralis getting a Mountain Drake. A few more pickoffs, including one on Larssen, slowly reduced the map control for Rogue until they were under their tier two turret.
Astralis slowly stacked dragons, looking for a Dragon Soul win condition. At 31 minutes, they secured an Ocean soul and pushed through the Rogue top lane. Despite getting pushed back, Zanzarah was able to steal a Baron Nashor from Rogue. Kasper “Kobbe” Kobberup put the finishing touches on the Rogue Nexus to secure Astralis’ first win of the season.
LEC Twitter was up in arms after the upset. A sigh of relief for Astralis, and the shattering of the 18-0 dream for Rogue. Caster Aaron “Medic” Chamberlain had the memes ready for one of the most surprising results of the season.
You'll get them next time @Rogue pic.twitter.com/xhKgfwzuNg
— Medic (@MedicCasts) February 11, 2022
The Rogue Twitter account even made fun of themselves, talking about their season three years ago where they also got their first win at the 0-9 mark. Rogue are no strangers to having difficult starts to a season.
Rogue 2019
Astralis 2022 pic.twitter.com/K7gx1g0uJb— Rogue (@RoguexOfficial) February 11, 2022
In the overreaction Olympics, Andy “Vedius” Day talked about whether this meant Astralis was going to Worlds, or if Rogue would end up last and lose every game from this point forward. If Astralis do win Worlds, let it be known that Vedius was the prophet.
So whats the play here, do I tweet that Rogue will be last place or that Astralis are winning worlds?
— Andy Day (@Vedius) February 11, 2022
