LEC Spring Split Week 1, Day 1 and 2 Recap

League of Legends

13 Mar

Foo Zen-Wen

The LEC is the European League of Legends professional circuit, with a total of 10 teams competing across three split: Winter, Spring, and Summer. The top 8 teams at the end of each split will advance to the Group Stage.

Vitality and Astralis (surprisingly) are undefeated going into Day 3, G2 continue their good form from the Winter Split, and Fnatic continue their poor form despite roster changes.

Here’s a complete cover for everything you might have missed from Week 1 of the 2023 League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) Spring Split.

Current LEC Spring Split Standings (Week 1)

Leaderboard for LEC Spring Split 2023 Week 1. Image capture from Strafe Esports.

Day One Match Results

Fnatic vs Excel Esports [0-1]

Fnatic continue their string of losses with their first in the Spring Split at 30.11 minutes, with a 5.8k gold deficit. “Oscarinin” had a tough debut game in the LEC against veteran top laner “Odoamne”, ending the game with an 0/4/0 scoreline to “Odoamne’s” 5/0/3. “Rekkles” looked marginally better in the botlane, but the botlane still struggled to have impact into the late game.

Strafe Player of the Series: XL Odoamne

SK Gaming vs BDS [1-0]

A powerhouse performance from SK Gaming, who continue their indomitable form from the Winter Split, as they close out their first game against BDS in 35.57 minutes, with a 7.5k gold lead. SK’s botlane however, may potentially be their downfall, as “Exakick” found himself the focus of early ganks and focus. “Sertuss” had an incredible game on the Akali however and allowed SK to snowball their lead.

Strafe Player of the Series: SK

MAD Lions vs Team Vitality [0-1]

A roaringly successful first game for Vitality, as they close out their first game against MAD Lions in only 28.04 minutes. Vitality ended the game with 12.7k gold lead. “Upset” meanwhile, had an incredible return performance, posting a 7/0/7 scoreline against “Carzzy”. MAD Lions had a collective kill count of 3, and “Carzzy” went 0/6/0.

Strafe Player of the Series: VIT Upset

Astralis vs KOI [1-0]

Surprise contender Astralis continue their late blossom from the Winter Split, as they take down KOI in 28.22 minutes, with an 8.4k gold lead. “Kobbe” delivered another stellar performance in the botlane, dropping a 4/0/3 scoreline. “Lider”, however, was incredibly clutch on the Ryze, allowing for daring plays from Astralis’ side.

Strafe Players of the Series: AST Kobbe

G2 Esports vs Team Heretics [1-0]

The most dominant win of the night goes to G2, as Heretics fell in only 23.40 minutes. G2 finished the game with an 11.1k gold lead as well. “Caps” pulled out the Malphite mid, faced off against the Jayce of “Ruby”, posting a 3/3/10 against “Ruby’s” 1/5/2. G2 look incredible clean, especially “Hans Sama”, who was given the Draven, and managed a 9/0/2 score.

Strafe Player of the Series: G2 Hans Sama

Day Two Match Results

BDS vs MAD Lions [1-0]

BDS claimed their first win of the season in 32.06 minutes, with a 10.6k gold lead. An early lead for MAD Lions, with consistent ganks and playmaking from “Elyoya” and “Hylissang”, went up in smoke as the game progressed and BDS began to outscale on the Zeri and Viktor.

Strafe Player of the Series: BDS Crownie

Excel Esports vs Team Vitality [0-1]

Vitality claims another win, this time against Excel in 30.53 minutes. The game ended with a 12.9k gold lead in favor of Vitality. Vitality showed great improvement with the bot side upgrade, as Bo could be seen pathing bot more frequently to get his AD Carry ahead. “Upset” ended the game with a 9/0/7 scoreline.

Strafe Player of the Series: VIT Upset

Fnatic vs SK Gaming [0-1]

Fnatic continue to shatter despite the rebuild, with SK taking their second win of the week. The game ended in 31.48 minutes, with a 9.6k gold lead. “Oscarinin” might be one of the fastest professionals to be out of a job if he continues this run of form. The new Fnatic top laner drops a 0/7/3 scoreline against “Irrelevant” in their latest game.

Strafe Player of the Series: SK Irrelevant

Astralis vs G2 Esports [1-0]

It wouldn’t be G2 without inting some of their games. Astralis continue to surprise with another win for the week, ending the game in 33.08 minutes, with a 6.4k gold lead. Astralis led the way for the majority of the early game, with an aggressive game plan involving huge ganks and playmaking to stifle the G2 side lanes from the start. This was aided by “Caps’” choice of Malphite in the mid lane, that lowered his own carry potential by a large amount.

Strafe Player of the Series: Astralis 113

KOI vs Team Heretics [1-0]

Heretics lose their second game of the week in 46.52 minutes, with a 900 gold deficit. Early plays by “Jankos” once again failed to pay off as Heretics struggled to make use of the early leads gained, especially “Evi” in the top lane, who began with a 2/0/0 scoreline, and ended with 6/4/4.

Strafe Player of the Series: KOI Szygenda

Notable Stats from LEC Week 1

G2 holds the Winter Split record for the fastest game completion, at 18 minutes and 40 seconds against Team Heretics. G2 has since set the current Spring Split record for the fastest game completion, at 23.40 minutes, again against Team Heretics.
The longest series of the Spring Split 2023 now goes to KOI vs Team Heretics at 46.52 minutes.
Vitality has three of their members in the top KDA charts for the LEC, with "Upset" posting a record 16/0/14 game, "Bo" at 6/0/22, and "Perkz" at 7/0/18 across the two games thus far.
Vitality and Astralis are currently the only two teams to remain undefeated this week.

Image credit: LEC/ LoL Esports