After only a few weeks of competition, Vitality.Bee and Joblife have been eliminated in the second round of the Swiss Stage in this LFL Flash In. The Bees were thoroughly dominated by Galions, who put on a much stronger performance than in their first BO3—highlighted by the first pentakill of the year in the league by Tolga "Serin" Ölmez on Azir—while JL were knocked out by the GentleMates, who convincingly regained their confidence.

An extremely unforgiving format

In all the most popular tier lists, VITB was ranked among the top teams, making their elimination in 7th-8th place one of, if not the biggest surprise of the year so far in the LFL. Despite being the only undefeated team in the first group stage of this split, they were among the first to be eliminated. While the team performed at a lower level than expected, the final result is quite punishing for a team that only lost two consecutive BO3s.

Additionally, it's worth noting that, for the first time in the league’s history, teams had to adapt to BO3s and the fearless draft format. With only a few games to practice in this new setup, it’s fair to assume this was a destabilizing factor. We can think back to Vincent "Vetheo" Berrié’s Lee Sin, which ultimately lacked impact in their first Swiss Stage BO, or to other moments that didn’t go as planned.

Currently, M8 and Galions are sitting at 1-1 and will compete next week for a spot in the final playoff stage of this Flash In. They will find out their opponents tonight after the BO3 qualification matches between BK ROG and Ici Japon Corp, as well as Karmine Corp Blue vs. Solary at 6 PM CET.