2023 LEC Regular Winter Split Recap

The first three weeks of the 2023 LEC Winter split gave us a lot of pleasant surprises and a bunch of uncomfortable questions. Can the young teams keep up the pace? Will Korean imports become the norm in Europe? And is creating a winning culture more important than talent?

LEC teams in 2023 Winter Group stage

The EMEA format change and the LEC schedule announcement set the stage for an exciting winter split in the LEC heading into 2023. The single round robin format meant that each team was set to play every other team in the league once over a period of 3 weeks. With such a congested schedule, game planning for your opponents becomes nearly impossible. The next stage which includes best of three series might offer a more strategic approach. But the current one is done and the results are not something anyone can expect. 

Fnatic and Excel fail to qualify 

It seems that everyone fell for the reunion story in Fnatic. Fans were ready to see Rekkles dawn the black and orange jersey for a third time. Mid laner Vetheo, who was the 2022 LEC Spring Split MVP,  was another name to look out for. A supremely talented young player who finally had a promising supporting cast. We were also a part of the Excel hype club. But the underwhelming results ended up costing YoungBuck and Nelson, the team’s coaches, their jobs.

Excel 2023 LEC Winter Split

Excel managed to win only one game in the nine outings. And that one was a 45 minute marathon with two Elder Drakes being slain. The only reason they managed to secure that win, was because BDS let them have the second one. You might chalk it up to two inexperienced teams making bad decisions in the heat of the moment. But Excel aren’t that young or inexperienced. Their Romanian top side has played for more than 6 years in this league. But the real issue seemed to be their bot lane. While the entire team failed to meet expectations, it was more than obvious in the bot lane. 

If your bot lane is down by an average of 1200 gold at the 15 minute mark of every game, you know something is not going according to plan. Patrik and Targamas struggled, but the rest of the team didn’t make it easier on them. Maokai was banned in 7 of the 9 games, and they lost all of them with other meta junglers. Odoamne made K’sante look like a balanced champion and threw 2 of his 3 Renekton games where he had most of the gold. Vetheo played 9 unique champions in all 9 games. And the only one they won was on Twisted Fate, which he himself said had never played before. Regardless of how you put it, Excel dropped the ball, big time.

Fnatic 2023 LEC Winter Split

Fnatic didn’t fare much better, with only two wins in the regular season split. One of them came against Excel, and it was one of the Renekton games Odoamne lost. But the main reason Fnatic even won that game was the Kassadin pick. We explained how powerful this champion can be, especially in the late game. And Excel found out the hard way. But Fnatic’s problems started from the very beginning of each game. On average, Fantic was down by 2400 gold at 15 minutes. Not only that, but they also failed to secure a second drake in most of their games . 

In total the team was dysfunctional, and it all stemmed from their personnel. Wunder was another top laner that managed to make K’sante look balanced. But despite being a comfort pick, he also lost most of his games on Gragas. The bot lane was in a similar state to the one of Excel. Both of these teams banned Lucian and Caitlyn in more than half of their games. And the inability of their bot laners to win on poke Varus or to play Zeri and Draven, sealed their team’s fate. 

SK Gaming and Team BDS surprise the LEC in 2023 Winter

For every steep descent, there is a gradual rise. And in this winter split in the LEC, two young teams managed to make an impression. Team BDS spent two years struggling to construct a roster that would compete. SK Gaming have been stuck in the middle for even longer. But two newcomers to the league have changed their fortunes for the better.

SK Gaming 2023 LEC Winter Split

The race for Rookie of the Split is not a race so far. It’s a one man show led by SK bot laner Exakick. The French prodigy is reunited with his running mate from the LDLC days in the French LFL. The addition of support Doss to the roster has enabled Exakick to smoothly transition into the LEC. And it has resulted in 6 wins, four of which, Exakick was named Player of the match. He is tied for most with Vitality jungler Bo, who led his team to the first seed. 

Unlike the two teams mentioned above, SK Gaming didn’t ban Lucian and Caitlyn. They were open to playing them, and recorded 4 games of Zeri and Yuumi. The coaching staff might have been an issue for other teams, but SK played to their strengths. With top laner Irrelevant picking up ‌tank duty and showing significant growth in terms of game sense and making winning plays, SK is one of the most fun teams to watch ‌this young season. Jungler Markoon is not a newbie to the big stage and he helped push Excel to the playoffs the previous season. He has done it again and made his team look better at every position 

Team BDS 2023 LEC Winter Split

Team BDS won 5 of the nine games during this regular split, but that’s already more than what they could muster up for the entirety of 2022. Instead of going for big names and large contracts, Team BDS stayed true to its game plan. They promoted the academy team to the LEC roster, replacing all 5 players that represented the team in 2022. Talk about a change of culture. And the main protagonist of all of this has been bot laner Crownie. The Slovenian bot laner has an astonishing 73% kill participation, which is high by any means, let alone an ADC player that spends most of the game farming.

 He also is the only Team BDS member to do a larger percentage of the damage than the percentage of gold he has taken. This team is giving him the resources and shot calling responsibilities, and he has delivered. The ceiling might not be that high for this flawed team, but they are better than last year. And they are certainly better than the two teams with more established names we discussed previously. 

Favorites for 2023 LEC Winter Split

Three weeks of competition is not enough time to declare a favorite, but these teams passed the early eye test. G2 Esports look to be back on their winning ways, despite finishing tied for third in the standings. In the most G2 way possible, they dropped two games against SK and Team BDS, after winning three in a row. Their losses against Vitality and the MAD Lions might be a cause for concern. But given how dominant they looked when they tried and how hard they made it on themselves on purpose, the confidence seems to be up to par. 

Vitality Bo dominates the jungle role

Apart from G2 Esports, Vitality have looked like the best team in the LEC during these three weeks. Most of it boils down to the performance of their Chinese jungler Bo, who racked up four Player of the Match awards. Bo’s aggressive playstyle has opened many avenues for mid laner Perkz to exploit, and he has done a great job of it. Dishing out 30% of his team’s damage every single game is nothing new to one of the greatest Western players of all time. With a talented and experienced bot lane in Neon and Kaiser, Vitality looks much better than the super team with Alphari that fizzled out in 2022.

2023 MAD Lions redemption arc

The 2023 version of the MAD Lions was always going to be one to watch out for. Given their debacle at the end of 2022, the pieces that remained from that iteration of the roster were due for some harsh expectations. But the mid jungle duo that pushed them in 2022, is back at it again in 2023. Mid laner Nisqy and jungler Elyoya have solidified their position as the best one two punch in the league. Bot laners Carrzy and Hillysang are both looking for redemption, and contributing to MAD’s winning culture.