Great article! Very excited for the new season, rosters overall are very competitive on paper, very hard to predict who will come out on top! Lots of great new players to the LEC as well, curious to see Bo and Evi, and especially the return of Rekkles!
Thanks to @ Jovy for the signature!
You need to log in before commenting.
Introduction
Hello everyone and welcome to the first of our series of articles covering the LEC Winter Season and our EMEA Fantasy Tournament! This article will serve as a little introduction to our fantasy tournament, the LEC itself, and to all of the amazing players who are waiting to show off and win big in the Winter Season.
Intro To The Fantasy Tournament
If you participated in our Worlds Fantasy Tournament last year then you know what to expect. If not, here's a quick breakdown of MOBAFire's EMEA Fantasy Tournament:
You will create a team of pro players from different teams playing in the LEC this year. You will then earn points based on the real world performance of the players you've chosen. Put together the best team you can and see how many points you can earn while you're enjoying the LEC. Some frequently asked questions and our answers for you...:
That’s something that this article should hopefully help you with! Essentially, you’re meant to pick players that you think are going to do well in the LEC. You earn points when the player you’ve chosen has gotten a kill, an assist, has killed a minion, and you lose points when the player has died. Additionally, you’ll earn points when the player’s team destroys a turret, kills the Dragon or Baron Nashor, achieves First Blood, and, naturally, when the team wins an LEC game.
Sounds tempting to just pick up every player from the historically most dominating team, right? Well, there are two restrictions to keep in mind:
💰 What are the prizes?
The prizing distribution has been updated since our latest fantasy tournament to reward more players:
🏁 How do I get started?
To curate your team, head on over to this link!
Intro To The LEC
To make the best decisions about your team, watch the LEC! The European League is considered by many to be the best of the west, both production and game quality wise. After all, the only non LCK/LPL Worlds Win ever was done by a European team, waaay back in Season 1. We don’t need to go into specific details about that, just know it was really impressive.
Anyhow… The LEC has implemented some changes to its format this year. To sum up, instead of having two splits - the Spring and Summer split, the LEC now consists of three Splits - Winter, Spring, and Summer. Each Split is structured the same, and it starts with a Regular Season where teams duke it out in a series of BO1s. The top eight teams will move on to the Group Stage, where they will be separated into four seeded pools before being randomly drawn into two groups of four. These eight teams will now fight in a series of BO3s. Only four teams will come up on top (the top two of both groups) and advance to the Playoffs, which will now feature BO5s which will end in one team being crowned the Split Champion!
If that was a little difficult and too wordy to understand, please see the video to your left which should help you visualise and understand everything regarding the new format, narrated by the one and only Quickshot.
LEC Team Breakdwon
Below you'll find an introduction to each team playing in the 2023 Season. The first eight teams are returning to the stage, whereas the final two, Heretics and KOI, are brand new. This breakdown should help you gauge how likely any given team is to do well this Split. However, do check out the "Players To Watch" section further below for more specific ideas on what players to add to your fantasy roster!
If you haven't watched the LEC in a hot minute, the roster might look a little strange. Fnatic has been undergoing changes these last few splits, parting ways with the iconic sOAZ and Caps in 2018, Broxah in 2019, Rekkles in 2020 (who has since returned), and now Hylissang. Not all these changes have been for the better, as Fnatic has been struggled in the LEC in the past few years, having earned their last win in 2018.
Following this 2018 victory, Fnatic had great difficulties, only finding their footing in the Spring of 2021. That year, they took second place, and have continued to end in the top three since. This year, we're sure they're aiming for #1 though, and with a roster as stacked as this one, they have a good chance.
Like Fnatic, G2 have undergone some significant roster changes, parting ways with the iconic Polish jungler Jankos this year, and signing Yike, who will be playing in the LEC for the first time. G2 can fall back on their veterans of BrokenBlade, Mikyx, Hans Sama, and, of course, their ace in the sleeve, Caps.
Though G2 hasn't managed to snag a Worlds win (yet), they are one of the most dominating teams in the LEC. They've taken the LEC trophy home 5/8 times of the last 8 Splits. They’re hoping to retake the throne, having lost to Rogue in the Summer Playoff Finals in 2022.
They really hit their stride in 2021, however, with the roster of Armut in the top lane, Elyoya in the jungle, Humanoid mid, and bot laners Carzzy and Kaiser. In 2021, they earned first place in both the Spring and Summer playoffs.
Since then, they've struggled a bit, and, to battle this, introduced some roster changes with varying levels of success. In 2023, they've got a new roster, and are looking to reclaim their former glory with returning bot laner Carzzy, and Fnatic's former star support Hylissang. In spite of what some might call Carzzy's weak-ish performance in the last year, this bot lane spells success, and we're looking forward to seeing how it will elevate the team.
This year, they've managed to snag former Misfit Vetheo, EU's MVP of the 2022 Spring split. The young mid lane is known for spicy plays with assassins and mages, and may be just what Excel needs to pull ahead in the 2023 split.
Odoamne has also joined Excel this year, having just lifted the LEC trophy in the Summer of 2022 while on Rogue. The top laner has been noted to be one of the best in the EU and his trophy was said to be long overdue.
Though this poor track record may dissuade you from picking their players for your fantasy team, Excel does have a really impressive roster this year and could surprise everyone.
.
To that end, Astralis has totally revamped their team for the upcoming Winter split. They've signed two new players in December 2022 - Finn and 113 and are hoping they can turn things around. While 113 will be playing the LEC for the first time ever, Finn has previously played for Rogue, Excel, and briefly for NA's CLG in the last couple of years. Hopefully his experience can help steer Astralis in the right direction this time.
.
In spite of what was marketed as a superteam of a roster, Team Vitality failed to fly in 2022. The team fumbled the bag in both Spring and Summer, ending the LEC 2022 Summer season in 7th place, and missing Playoffs.
Only Perkz is left on the roster, but he is now joined by former Misfit Neon and former MAD Lion Kaiser in the bot lane. While Phonton has no experience in the LEC, he has played in the academy teams of two prestigious LCK teams, Gen. G and T1, and we expect great things from him. With these changes, Team Vitality might be able to deliver on the expectations fans had for them last year.
SK Gaming brought Gilius on in December of 2021, and he's the only remaining player from their 2022 roster. Additionally, he's the only player on the roster who has any extensive experience playing in the LEC. Irrelevant and Markoon have played a split and two splits, respectively, in the LEC, and the remaining members of the roster are going to be playing on the big stage for the first time in 2023.
While this roster is very green, it was arguably a necessary shake-up for a team that hasn't really seen much success in recent years. That said, it's impossible to predict how successful this new lineup will be.
.
Like SK, BDS knew things had to change. That's why for this Split, they've near totally revamped their roster. They've signed on a new top laner, jungler, and a completely new bot lane. Of th newcomers, fans may remember Crownie, previously known as Crownshot, one of the highlights of the 2021 Team Vitality roster. Labrov, who played on Vitality for two years as well, has joined BDS. Sheo, BDS's new jungler, will be making their debut in the LEC this year while nuc and Adam have some experience on teams like Schalke and (briefly) Fnatic.
All in all, does this team have potential? It's hard to say. Their track record is not good, but the changes they made were pretty drastic. If there's hope to be had, it's likely in the bot lane though.
Their LEC roster includes Evi, top laner who has spent the last five years playing for DetonatioN FocusMe, the most dominant team in the Japanese league. In the jungle, the one, the only, Jankos. Jankos has made himself a household name during his five years at G2, and in spite of his advanced age (I kid), he's sure to be an incredible asset to Team Heretics.
Mersa, Heretics' support, played for Misfits in the 2022 Season, but Ruby and Jackspektra are, just like the team itself, making their debut in the league. While we can't be as confident in these two players, we can believe that Jankos and Evi will be able to lead well and give the Heretics a great first season.
In the top lane, KOI has Szygenda, who had played for Team Vitality before they forged their superteam in 2022.
The rest of the roster might seem familiar. Malrang, Larssen, Comp, and Trymbi all played for Rogue last year with great success, having earned the team their first Split championship. These four have already built up some synergy together that they're hoping transfers nicely to KOI.
Considering they're on a bit of a hot streak, we're very much looking forward to what KOI can do!
LEC Players To Watch
Fantasy Tournament Tips & Tricks
Assign the right captain. Captains will earn you 1.5x more points across the board, so do a little research once you've assembled your team to figure out which player should be made captain. In general, mid laners and bot laners tend to make great captains, as they tend to garner the most kills and creep score across the games. Supports, on the other hand, may be a bigger gamble because they are comparatively weaker which could spell dying a lot.
.
Choose teams that you predict will do well. Sounds obvious, but basically, you'll earn points if your fantasy players' teams win. Moreover, if your fantasy player is on a team that keeps losing, they'll probably not be able to deliver on fantastic stats. It's a lot harder to not die when your whole team is losing inhibitors by the 15th minute mark. There are players that tend to do well even on underperforming teams, but make sure to have at least a few players on your roster that are on winning teams.
.
If you do end up in a situation where you've selected and captained a player that, against all odds, is now on the 10th place team, you can always sell them. You have one sell token per stage, so this is a precious resource and you should treat it this way though. Some teams/players might take a little to get their groove on, but others will show you by the second or third week that it might be best to call it and move on.
.
Invest more $$ on mid lane and bot lane. As mentioned previously, these are the key roles when it comes to KDA. You won't be able to purchase five $200+ cost players, so focus your funds on mid lane > bot lane > .... > supports. While supports can have great KDAs, and often do, most of the supports cost less than $200 and are actually fantastic. This is one category where it's totally okay to go low and not feel like you're missing out at all.
.
Conclusion
Phew! That's it from us this week. We hope this article helps you finalize your choice before the games start later today. Whether you're an old LEC fan or totally new, this Split should prove to be very interesting. There are lots of great players, and lots of storylines are waiting to unfold. Will Rekkles’ return herald a new dawn at Fnatic? Will Team Vitality deliver on the promises of superteamdoom from last year? How will all of the new players settle into the league? There are so many stacked rosters and expectations that it's truly hard to predict how it'll all play out.
Credits go to LoL.fandom Wiki for their collection of player portraits, up-to-date statistics, overviews and all-around fantastic work documenting LoL esports. A huge thank you to Silverman who helped me craft this article, and gave me lots of inspiration from when he covered Worlds.