Last week, the LEC began its spring split. The LCS, on the other hand, still has a bit to go before the spring split begins but went through the quarterfinals of the pre-season Lock-In tournament over the weekend, narrowing the field from eight teams to four.
The LEC season began with an extended week; instead of playing two games per week, teams played three games during week one, resulting in a bit more separation in the standings than would’ve been otherwise possible. Leading those standings through three games, unsurprisingly, is G2 Esports, who seems to be getting along just fine without their long-time midlaner Perkz, who of course is now with Cloud9.
Rekkles, formerly of Fnatic but now G2’s botlaner, has seemingly fit in well with his new roster, a reunion with his old midlaner Caps. He finished the weekend 25-1-22, dying just once to Excel and showed why G2 was so eager to pick him up. If Rekkles can keep this form and be the Rekkles he once was, absolutely carrying his team with his own skills, every other LEC team should be terrified. There’s a reason that Rekkles has been considered one of the best LEC botlaners for years.
Rogue, who last summer finished first in the regular season and third in the playoffs, has also started with a strong 3-0 record, the only other team to be undefeated thus far. They also only have one roster change this year; veteran toplaner Odoamne has replaced Finn, who is now a part of CLG. Keeping 80% of their relatively young roster means that they were able to maintain the unity and cohesion they showed off last year, while getting an upgrade in the top lane in the form of Odoamne.
While the top of the standings so far isn’t crowded, the bottom certainly is. Besides G2 and Rogue, there is only one other team, Misfits, who has more than one win. They are in third place one week into the season, while the other seven teams in the league are all in a massive tie at 1-2. Although this is certainly not going to continue throughout the season, it is very interesting to note that a lot of the teams seem to be on a similar level this season which might cause some chaos in the lower ends of the playoff race.
Heading into this week’s games, Misfits will be playing Rogue, a game which is sure to show whether the top two teams are miles or inches ahead of those below them, of whom Misfits so far is certainly the highest. If Misfits wins, or even just performs well, they’re setting themselves up well for the rest of the split.
After the LEC struggled at Worlds last year, missing the Grand Finals for the first time in several years and watching MAD Lions go out very early, the league’s best teams will be fighting to claim their places at the top of the standings. The Mid-Season Invitational is still a long way out—and that’s assuming that there are no coronavirus-related issues. But the path to being Europe’s representative there has already begun, and it will become very clear over the next few weeks which teams have a legitimate shot and which will stay at the bottom of the barrel.
