Our prediction for the LEC Winter Split

After a very busy preseason, the LEC 2023 Winter Season is less than two weeks away, and fans are getting set to watch the finest teams in Europe in action. We'll get another chance to assess everyone's fitness at the Kickoff event the following week, but a split is ultimately a marathon, not a sprint, at least for the teams that place in the top 8 after the first stage and move on to the winter split proper.

However, there are three groupings of teams at this point: the undisputed favorites, the dark horses, and the likely underdogs. Here is our best prediction of the teams' positions at the end of the split:

Bringing up the Rear

• Team preview for the LEC Winter Season: Fnatic
• The top five junglers in the League of Legends Spring Split 2023
1. SK Gaming
2. Astralis
3. Team BDS
4. Team Heretics

It's impossible to predict who will finish up where in the lower part of the ranking because numerous low-ranked teams have made significant changes to their lineups, especially because two of those teams will be eliminated after the first round robin. SK Gaming is still likely to come in last, in our opinion. They are all rebuilding their squads, along with Astralis and Club BDS, although the German team may now have the worst of the three. We placed Team BDS ahead of Astralis in eighth position based on their decision to retain the majority of the academy lineup that came close to winning the Summer's EU Masters and the chemistry they had there.

It's impossible to predict who will finish up

We believe that the extremely unreliable Team Heretics lineup, which has added a veteran top laner from the LJL known for bending the meta and perhaps the best European jungler Marcin "Jankos" Jankowski, is most likely to surprise us. However, taking into account the other roosters, we tend to place them slightly outside the Top 6.

The Dark Horses

1. MAD Lions
2. Excel Esports
3. Team Vitality

Three teams sit in the center of the table, and any one of these outcomes is pretty plausible. These teams have the potential to be incredible or crash and burn. By teaming Matyá "Carzzy" Orság, a similarly gung-ho ADC, with the aggressive support of Zdravets "Hylissang" Galabov, MAD Lions have placed a genuine wager on what may turn out to be one of the most explosive teams this spring. The team's jungle and midfield should show to be somewhat dependable, while the sidelines can be pretty chaotic.

Team Vitality has cut its star-studded lineup in half, Luka "Perkz" Perkovi remains

Excel Esports has significantly changed their lineup, rebuilding it around AD after finally making the playoffs and narrowly missing Worlds. Transport Patrik "Patrik" Jr. Excel is vying for first place with top-tier talent in the top and mid lanes and a developing support player. How well jungler Andrei "Xerxe" Dragomir will perform on a team with big expectations is one thing we're interested in seeing.

While Team Vitality has cut its star-studded lineup in half, Luka "Perkz" Perkovi remains. Although the Croatian mid-laner has had moments of brilliance, he hasn't yet entirely duplicated his performance from before moving to NA. This time, Mat "Neon" Jakubk, a very low-economy AD carry, is teamed with two lesser-known but ostensibly incredibly good import players in the mid and jungle. This squad might easily crack the top 3, but for now, we're going to leave them outside of it if Vitality's bets pay off.

The Top Three

1. G2 Esports
2. Fnatic
3. KOI

Without the seasoned Jankos in the jungle and Carlos "ocelote" Rodriguez Santiago in charge of the organization, G2 Esports has undergone a change. However, they still have Rasmus "Caps" Borregaard Winther, and in the bot lane, Steven "Hans Sama" Liv and Mihael "Mikyx" Mehle, two former Misfits, will reunite. When everyone gels, this squad should be fearsome, but we're not quite convinced they'll be at full strength just yet.

As both of them are well-known to the organization, Fnatic has an advantage over its former opponent because they only made adjustments to the bot lane. Rúben "Rhuckz" Barbosa, a former academy player who made headlines after his one-day intervention for Fnatic in the Play-Ins, is now their support. Martin "Rekkles" Larsson's comeback is undoubtedly a hot addition to the club, but we anticipate that he will finally succeed.

Our prediction for the LEC Winter Split

The squad that produced an incredible playoff finals weekend and then went on to have the greatest performance of all LEC teams at Worlds was retained by Rogue, who may have changed their name to KOI, with the exception of one player. Although the departure of seasoned player Andrei "Odoamne" Pascu is significant, Mathias "Szygenda" Jensen has had several strong performances and appears at ease playing both carry laners and weak-side champions. While the rest of the team has already shown itself capable, we are interested in seeing if Emil "Larssen" Larsson can maintain his impressive play from the World Championship. We believe that KOI has the most potential to win the winter split.

On January 21st, the LEC 2023 Winter Season gets underway. In the interim, before the start of the new split, don't miss the Kickoff event on Tuesday and Wednesday, which will highlight the finest of the many areas!