LEC 2026 Summer Playoffs begin on September 5 with Team Vitality vs G2 Esports and Karmine Corp vs GIANTX.
League of Legends EMEA Championship 2026 Summer enters the playoff stage on Saturday, September 5, with the first two fixtures as Karmine Corp clash with GIANTX, followed by an interesting affair between G2 Esports and Team Vitality.
At Esportbet, you can find free LoL betting predictions and expert picks for the two fixtures, with odds from the top-rated esports bookmakers for betting on the LEC.
G2 Esports are listed as -200 favourites on the best LoL bookmakers to defeat Team Vitality, despite looking very rough during the regular season.
This is nothing new with G2 Esports, as they are known to play around during the group stage and step it up a notch when it matters the most, but there is no guarantee that this will happen again.
Since changing their coaches, G2 Esports have not looked like themselves and have been in a bit of a slump, notably losing to GIANTX and Fnatic.
In those losses and even in some other games, G2 did not seem like they were on the same page, and their star player, Rasmus “Caps” Borregaard Winther, has not been in great shape either.
On the other side, Team Vitality have looked great since the opening week of LEC Summer, when they lost to G2 Esports and Karmine Corp.
Since then, they have racked up seven straight victories, and they have looked very good in the process.
Vitality have a deep champion pool, can play different styles, and appear to be a very adaptable team.
The improvement this split has been noticeable, and while there remains a question of how they will fare against LEC’s top dogs in G2 and KC, Vitality have shown enough to give hope.
Based on the regular-season performances, Team Vitality have performed better than G2 Esports.
And while G2 might again flip the switch and make a run in the playoffs, they have not shown enough to justify taking their side at these numbers.
Team Vitality to win
Karmine Corp ran through the regular season with ease, accumulating nine straight wins with an 18-2 map record.
They have been by far the best team in the region and have already crushed GIANTX once before this split.
Even their performance numbers are through the roof, averaging over a 3100 gold lead at 20 minutes and a +460 gold differential per minute.
GIANTX have not managed nearly as impressive figures, nor have they looked as dominant on the Rift.
They have held on well enough to place fourth, but have been fairly toothless against LEC’s elite, which includes Karmine Corp.
There is nothing to suggest Karmine Corp will lose on Saturday unless they produce a major fumble.
Even then, it is fair to question whether GIANTX have the tools to take advantage of it.
Karmine Corp -2.5 maps
Mark Prezelj
Esports Betting Analyst
Mark Prezelj is a Slovenian esports betting analyst with over 3,500 articles at EsportBet and the founder of Lines64.com — someone who has been reading odds longer than most readers have been watching esports.
