LEC Winter Split Week 3, Day 3 Recap
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.
The Top 8 for Group Stage have been determined. Excel Esports and Fnatic are the two teams eliminated from the Winter Split. Fnatic face their worst split performance since 2017. Vitality and MAD Lions take 1st and 2nd seed and will get to select their opponents in the upcoming Group Stage.
Here’s a complete cover for everything you might have missed from Week 3 of the 2023 League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) Winter Split.
Current LEC Standings (Week 3)
LEC Winter Split Week 3 Standings. Image screencapture Strafe Esports.
Day Three Match Results
BDS vs Team Heretics [1-0]
Despite a long-fought battle between them, BDS emerged as the victor in 37.53 minutes, with a 9.5k gold lead. BDS “Adam” wrestled all game with Heretics’ “Evi”, with the crocodile failing to be ruthless enough to overcome The Boss, who ended with a 5/6/7 scoreline that fails to capture his full impact.
Strafe Player of the Series: BDS Crownie
KOI vs Astralis [1-0]
An unusual Kledd pick for Astralis’ top side “Finn” fails to help net them their final win of the week. KOI pick up the victory in 30.46 minutes with a 16k gold lead. Solid game from KOI’s mid laner “Larssen” helps to close out their second win of the weekend, securing the place in Groups.
Strafe Player of the Series: KOI Larssen
SK Gaming vs Fnatic [1-0]
It’s the end of the road for Fnatic’s Winter Split run as their last chance to qualify slipped away with the loss to SK in 29.56 minutes, with a 6.1k gold lead. A fantastically well-played game for SK, with especial note towards “Exakick” and “Doss” on the Lux, who managed to generate an immense lead in the bot side. Despite the best efforts of “Wunder” and “Humanoid”, Fnatic was never able to come out ahead.
Strafe Player of the Series: SK Exakick
G2 Esports vs MAD Lions [0-1]
MAD Lions secure a 3-0 weekend with their 24.50 minute win against G2. G2’s unusual comp unsurprisingly lost to MAD with an 8.6k gold lead. After a decisive dragon pit fight goes the way of MAD, they began snowballing with an aggressive five-man rush against G2’s comp. The rest of the game as they say, was history.
Strafe Player of the Series: MAD Chasy
Excel Esports vs Team Vitality [0-1]
In what could only be described as the most unexpected best game of the regular season, it took Vitality 54.06 minutes to close out against Excel. Despite their position at the bottom of the board, Excel decided to go out swinging, with stellar performances across the board from all 10 players. Vitality would end with a 2.3k gold deficit (not that it mattered at that stage).
Strafe Player of the Series: VIT Perkz
Notable Stats from LEC Week 3 Day 3
- MAD Lions are the only team in Week 3 to go 3-0.
- Coincidentally, Fnatic and Excel go 0-3, a repeat performance for Excel most notably.
- Swain was 1st time played in the LEC Winter Split 2023 by “Caps” in the G2 vs MAD Lions game.
- Vitality vs Excel is the longest game of the Winter Split regular season, at 54.06 minutes.
- Fnatic fail to make Groups for the first time in their LoL history.
Image credit: LEC/ LoL Esports