LEC 2023 Winter: Regular Season Week 1, Day 3 Recap

The LEC Winter Split loudly closed its first weekend after the strongest victors took a 3rd and final win.

The LEC's series of grudge matches continues as Vitality's Kaiser goes up against MAD Lions – both teams being undefeated so far. The EMEA league undoubtedly saved the best game for last this time.

On the hunt for a 3-0 start:#LEC is back TODAY at 17:30 CET! pic.twitter.com/VQ5pUd6MEi

— LEC (@LEC) January 23, 2023

Many questions flooded the minds of the 23k people that sat down to watch the fiercest match-ups of this week. Would Fnatic end their first superweek with zero wins? Would G2 take first place among the 8 teams moving onto Groups? And can Excel pull another miracle steal for a game-winning objective?

Here are all of the best plays from Day 3 from the regular season!

Contents

1 Heretics vs SK Gaming
2 Team BDS vs Excel
3 G2 Gaming vs Astralis
4 KOI vs Fnatic
5 MAD Lions vs Vitality
6 CURRENT SCORES

Heretics vs SK Gaming

Positioning and engagement were strong traits for the meta comps used by either side in Game 1. A strong focus on teamfights was necessary due to the low mobility across the board, albeit strong players like Ruby's Azir having phenomenal disengage options.

Evi's stylish first blood turned into a K'Sante double kill that beautifully started things off for Heretics. The action was non-stop with a strong push on botlane led by Exakick, solidifying an impactful lead that lasted before the teams traded 1-for-1s into the midgame.

SK's Zeri followed closely behind Markoon's set and picked off more kills to retake the numbers advantage. With 2 dragons under their belt, SK kept their lead but couldn't stop TH's Baron execute. From there, SK's 10-kill lead was enough to brute force their way through TH's fortified teamplay comp.

Teams: TH 0 – 1 SK
Time: 32:05
Kills: 12 – 22
Turrets: 6 – 9
Gold: 56.0k – 61.6k
Dragons: 2 – 2
Barons: 1 – 1

it was at this moment pic.twitter.com/Rq2tqr5QMH

— LEC (@LEC) January 23, 2023

Team BDS vs Excel

Game 2 was an absolute battle of attrition. Odoamne's Jax pick was a strong one, especially considering that the past two instances he's gone with with the champion has never ended in a loss.

Everybody got into a small scrap at the bot lane right at the start, but did not end in a full-out level 1 brawl. A smart but risky flash gank by Sheo forced Excel's ADC to expend his flash next, setting up Crownie to grab a double kill. Nuc's smart bottom late roam kills made his Akali a menace that gave BDS an early-game advantage.

XL was in danger of having a 0-3 opening week once BDS doubled the kill score and objective leads. Fortunately, a successful soul point gave XL a new sense of hope to close the 4-kill gap in the late game. Afterwards, a game-ending clash over Nashor ended in an 11 – 4 snowball for Team BDS, but XL didn't waver. After two hard-won Elder Dragons, Excel was armed with enough to keep the dream alive, and make it come true!

Teams: BDS 0 – 1 XL
Time: 46:11
Kills: 18 – 11
Turrets: 8 – 11
Gold: 79.5k – 84.7k
Dragons: 1 – 6
Barons: 1 – 1

📈📉📈📉 pic.twitter.com/1qsKiX7UaD

— LEC (@LEC) January 23, 2023

G2 Gaming vs Astralis

Caps' expert plays in the early game allowed his ADC to assist in G2′ double kills less than 5 minutes in. G2 piled the bodies after winning multiple won teamfights, all before 10 minutes. Afterwards, AST focused on getting single picks together instead to safely even the score. To counter this, the opposition focused on taking objectives to build their strength, and summoned a Herald that knocked AST's bottom lane tier two. After getting their 4th drake, the game winner was pretty much decided. Caps' and BrokenBlade's domination this match confirmed wild rumors around G2's challenging scrims, and won them Game 3.

Teams: G2 1 – 0 AST
Time: 24:51
Kills: 23 – 5
Turrets: 9 – 2
Gold: 53.7k – 37.5k
Dragons: 4 – 1
Barons: 1 – 0

On the board pic.twitter.com/w7OquEFOYA

— G2 League of Legends (@G2League) January 23, 2023

KOI vs Fnatic

Fnatic claimed their first, much-needed win in a seemingly-lost match that got turned around with staggering effort.

An aggressive start winded down into patient trades and smart ganks. Trymbi and Comp pushed the bot lane and crashed the tier one tower off the bat. This set the tone for the midgame, but unfortunately for the UK team, it didn't last for long.

Massive plays by KOI split FNC up and picked off the stragglers while diving into Wunder hard. This change of dynamic wrecked the formations involving Razork and Humanoid's Jayce.

The goal of midgame was diving for Humanoid for a chance of evening the odd, but the skill difference was too large. Throwing pokes and leveraging range was constantly on FNC's mind, and adjusting their playstyle paid off.

They finally overtook the killscore at minute 27 after a scrappy clash, and even stole a Baron Nashor. A couple of won teamfights thanks to Trymbi's vision helped the team adapt and overcome until they wiped KOI off the map and destroyed their first Nexus in the Winter Split.

Teams: KOI 0 – 1 FNC
Time: 34:32
Kills: 8 – 14
Turrets: 3 – 9
Gold: 54.2k – 66.2k
Dragons: 0 – 4
Barons: 0 – 2

BARON STOLEN BY @RAZORKLOL! #LEC pic.twitter.com/BTdIpkXGay

— LEC (@LEC) January 23, 2023

MAD Lions vs Vitality

The clash of the undefeated teams rounded out the LEC's first superweek.

Nisqy's flash forward down mid sub-minute 5 ended poorly, but was traded for 2 when Hylissang and Elyoya ganked the same lane soon after.

Team VIT's mid and jungle carries completely controlled the map for the entirety of early game. Given the level advantages, each team raced to complete objectives before focusing on mid lane. Vitality kept the pressure going, and things started looking bad for MAD Lions.

In dominant fashion, VIT secured their top spot on the LEC table whiteout breaking too much of a sweat.