The first two days of the LEC Summer Finals in Madrid saw the home favourites win on both occasions. Fnatic’s Spanish duo were willed on during their stomping of Karmine Corp, before Movistar KOI — the real home team — beat them to reach the finals. G2 will enter a hostile atmosphere in the Caja Mágica, one that got the best of them in Spring’s roadshow.
The crowd buff is no myth
The LEC’s tendency to host its split finals in Riot’s Berlin studio over the last few years has left the competition starved of arena events. And of those year-ending grand finals, few create confrontational atmospheres.
Grander finals of old in ‘neutral’ locations, where most attendees were more so fans of the league rather than diehard supporters of any particular team, meant that both teams on any given day were competing on even ground — the nerves playing on a huge stage would’ve been there regardless of fan behaviour, but they were equally welcomed.
Now 2025’s Madrid finals have changed that tune, where viewers in the arena, while not overtly aggressive, make their bias abundantly clear. The booming support of the Spanish players is enough to give those performers a boost as it is, but French visitors Karmine Corp had to play pantomime villains on the first day.
KC players were booed and whistled as they entered the stage. Caliste made the most of it, putting a finger to his lips in opposition — all in good spirit as he played up to being the heel.
But it’s hard to imagine that it didn’t have a negative effect on KC. Every kill for Fnatic was cheered, loudly, and their players heard it. No doubt Karmine Corp’s would’ve heard it too.
The French org succumbed to the inevitable, crashed out 3-1, and on came the depressing air around the side as fingers pointed and an inquest into their Worlds qualification failure quickly began.
KCorp had their issues before Madrid, the crowd isn’t all to blame, but when that crowd — who had been staunchly behind Fnatic and its Spanish pair — switched to the ‘home favourites’ Movistar KOI on day two, then suddenly the Black and Orange could not find the same inspired performance either.
Instead, it was MKOI who thrived in the arena, going from strength to strength through the evening as their supporters grew in confidence alongside them.
Fnatic were not booed, not jeered; in fact, the crowd was still cordial, but there was no denying the stark difference in reaction to their opponent’s plays. The same could also be said for the organisation’s roadshow in Spring, where their performance was also fuelled by those screaming in the stands. On that occasion, G2 looked shaken.
G2’s toughest LEC Summer Finals
For G2, the job could not be more difficult. While the team has steadily improved in recent weeks — well timed during dips in form for their rivals — form will mean very little when they step on the Caja Mágica stage.
For all of G2’s trophy collecting over the last few years, no final will have been anything like what faces them in Madrid. The majority of their victories came in the LEC studio with very little difference in atmosphere from any other regular season gamedays — nerves should have been of little issue.
Despite their lack of an LEC title this year, G2 still enter the grand final as the kings of EU. Any typical final would be theirs to lose.
Now they must perform atop the Caja Mágica mountain, with a long way down to the bottom and thousands of spectators who would love nothing more but to see them crash and burn as Movistar KOI ascend to the peak of EU League of Legends.
