The first week of the 2023 League of Legends EMEA Championship has just concluded, and if the first three days of the competition are anything like the rest, fans can expect a very exciting Summer Split.
Before the last split of the season had even begun, LEC teams had gone through some roster changes that rekindled fan hype for them, and the exciting changes to League champions and items made for a split to look forward to.
Legendary Electroshock
A shocking welcome back for all LEC teams was given by a long-lost item. Three years after its removal, Statikk Shiv was reintroduced into the League item store and then buffed just in time for the competition which began on June 17th. The legendary item did not go unnoticed for long, as Fnatic took advantage of its powerful energized electroshock on their debut on the Summer stage.
Humanoid rushed the Statikk in their match against Astralis on June 17th, instead of going for a more traditional first mythic item choice, and ended up dealing almost 7,000 damage throughout the game with the item alone. At 24 minutes, Humanoid’s Statikk not only did more damage than the Kraken Slayer of the team’s ADC, but also succeeded in canceling an opponent’s recall.
Then Vitality’s mid laner Perkz surpassed Humanoid’s damage dealt with the Statikk by over 1,000 in his match against SK Gaming just one day later on June 18th.
On the last day of the first week, June 19th, Team Heretics’s support Mersa said be believes nothing can counterplay the combination of Statikk Shiv and Le Blanc, the only way to win against it is to match it with another champion that can buy—and pop off with—the legendary item. And that’s what they did.
It’s safe to say LEC fans will see more champions picked just to build this League item during the next few weeks of the competition.
Old friends back together
Both Fnatic and G2 Esports kicked off the split with a clear win on day one, but while Fnatic went on to conquer their second victory the following day, G2 were defeated by MAD Lions in the designated Match of the Week. Coming into day three, both old friends looked for a win to solidify their position in the rankings, and more importantly for Fnatic a win would lock in an undefeated start to Summer. But that would not be the case.
After a shaky start, Fnatic struggled to regain control of the map, leaving G2 the majority of the neutral objective which helped the samurais grow a small gold lead from the ten minutes mark. Successful team fights allowed G2 to snowball their lead to the point that not even Razork stealing the Baron buff for his team could stop Fnatic’s downfall.
The two old friends are now tied on the LEC scoreboard with two wins and a loss each. But fans will have to hope for both teams to move to the next stage before seeing them face off once more.
The Undefeated
It’s not surprising to see the Spring Split champions and MSI representatives MAD undefeated after the first week of the Summer Split. But it is surprising to see Heretics claim the same accolade.
While the former always reached the podium of the past two splits, the latter struggled to find its identity from the beginning of the season and was even eliminated during Spring’s regular season. But the various roster changes ahead of the Summer clearly gave Heretics all they needed to fully unlock their potential, and now they aim to reach the playoffs to have a shot at this year’s World Championship.
Despite both Heretics and MAD reigning undefeated after week one, there is still room for improvement for both teams. The two will eventually meet in the next two weeks, which precede the Summer group stage. When that happens, only one will come out still undefeated, and the result might surprise LEC fans again.
The Winless
On the other side of the rankings, Excel stands alone as the only winless team after the first week of the split—again. Six matches separate Excel from the possible end of their competitive season, and while they did not come in as favorites in the matches of the first week, the requirements to make it to the playoffs demand Excel pull off a near-perfect run now.
While their opponents came on the Rift prepared and combative, Excel did succeed in putting up a fight during the first three matches. It just wasn’t enough.
The new LEC format doesn’t give Excel much time to fix their issues: if they fail to qualify for the group stage of the Summer Split, which is only in two weeks, Excel would have to wait until Jan. 2024 to play again.
The Good, the Bad, and the Chameleon
After three days of competition, only three champions have a 100 percent pick or ban rate: Milio, Vi, and Neeko. The latest champion released by Riot Games on the Rift, Milio, is highly wanted by all teams as the current meta is centered around the bot lane and its powerful AD Carries. Along with the much despised cat Yuumi, Milio is the support of choice for all ten LEC teams thanks to his ability to grant bonus attack range to one of his allies.
But this Summer, one champion seems to be more loathed than Yuumi. If fans in the LEC studio vehemently ask teams to “ban the cat,” teams seem to be more concerned about a certain Piltover enforcer. In fact, Vi is the only champion with a hundred percent ban rate after the first week of the LEC Summer Split.
As the competition progresses, fans might see her walking on the Rift, punishing her way through the top of the priority picks, but she’s been denied so far.
There’s also a chance fans might see two Vi on the Rift thanks to another highly valued champion. With Neeko’s recent gameplay update, it’s become a necessity to have her on the team. Neeko’s updated passive allows her to transform into anything that has a health bar, giving LEC teams plenty of room for stealthy ganks and sneaky attacks.
The LEC will continue with the second week of the regular season starting June 24. Fans can catch all the action on the League esport website or follow along for scores and updates with Dot’s coverage hub.
