With all the roster moves that happened in the off-season, the LEC 2023 Winter Split will be fascinating to watch. Apart from some unexpected transfers, a couple of new faces from different nationalities joined the league alongside the rookies who are expected to smurf against their experienced opponents. Considering all the new rosters going into the LEC 2023 Winter Split, power rankings have also changed compared to the last season, and here is what we think about the upcoming split!
The LEC is the top European competition for League of Legends, attracting millions of people throughout every split. LEC power rankings are also very important for the fans to understand and weigh teams’ strong and weak sides before betting on them.
This year, the organization decided to make format changes, so if you have questions about this, you should go and check our LEC betting guide to better understand the new structure. The guide provides a useful overview of the event. Mixing the information you gather from the power rankings and the guide will give you insights into the upcoming LEC season.
LEC Winter Split Power Rankings
- G2 Esports
- KOI
- Fnatic
- Team Vitality
- MAD Lions
- EXCEL
- Team Heretics
- Astralis
- SK Gaming
- Team BDS
Place your bets wisely
This year, LEC betting will again be on top of the “most popular esports tournaments to bet on” list. The rosters look even stronger than last year, which will create a unique competitive environment. Some teams look a lot better on paper and some don’t.
The odds will change according to teams’ performance throughout the LEC 2023 Winter Season, and reading this power ranking article will give you insight into the rosters and how they look on paper.
Favorites of the LEC 2023 Winter Trophy
Firstly, we expect to see a toe-to-toe competition between the top three teams on the list. G2 Esports, KOI, and Fnatic look very close to each other in terms of roster quality which is currently the only parameter to guess who the champion will be.
G2 Esports
G2 Esports made a radical change prior to the season by parting ways with the legendary jungler Jankos. The Polish player left the team after five years but left a great legacy behind. G2 filled his shoes with the rookie jungler Yike, who has shown nothing but talent and consistency during his time with LDLC OL.
Apart from the jungler position, the organization also changed its bot lane. Hans sama and Mikyx are two of the most experienced players in the region and they have united to form one of the best bot lanes in the league. One of the best top laners in the league, Broken Blade, remained with the team for another year. Moreover, Caps is also still on G2 Esports, which makes them even stronger. Looking at G2’s roster, they have some of the top talents in each role which makes them the favorite of this split. G2 might even be one of the most serious representatives of the EU at LoL Worlds.
KOI
Despite being the defending champion, KOI is second on our list. Not much changed from last year, but the top lane. Odoamne left the team and joined EXCEL, while KOI signed Szygenda to complete the roster. On paper, this looks like a downgrade and considering G2’s roster improvements, these aspects made us move the defending champion to second place rather than having it as the favorite.
Fnatic
Fnatic is right behind KOI on the list with their new bot lane consisting of the legendary ADC Rekkles and the rookie support Rhuckz. Rekkles’ return was one of the biggest moves of the off-season not only in EMEA but also all around the world. Last year he won EU Masters with Karmine Corp, and the Swedish ADC has shown that he is still one of the best in the region.
Rhuckz, on the other hand, had a chance to show his capabilities at Worlds 2022 for a couple of matches and got a passing note from the authorities. Keeping the top and mid lane core, Wunder, Razork, and Humanoid, was also crucial, as all three players had impressive performances last year.
The “Anything is Possible” folks
Team Vitality
These teams start with Team Vitality, and all those on the list could either represent the region at MSI or get eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. This is also one of the reasons why LEC will be one of the most exciting LoL tournaments in 2023. Team Vitality’s new rosters look very strong on paper. Except for the mid laner Perkz, the VIT board decided to change every player on the roster.
The top and jungler players, Photon, and Bo, are two of the upcoming talents of the scene. Photon joined from T1 Challengers and the Chinese jungler Bo arrived last year. Neon and Kaiser filled Carzzy and Labrov’s absence. The German support has proved that he is one of the best in his role and Neon had great performances with Misfits Gaming. Every player on the roster is very talented on the individual level, but their chemistry will decide their place on the standings.
MAD Lions
MAD Lions is also another example of this group of teams. Elyoya stayed with the team even though it was rumored that many teams wanted to acquire him. Nisqy also remained with the organization, but the rest of the lineup changed. Armut and UNF0RGIVEN went to NA, and Kaiser joined Team Vitality. The South Korean top laner who spent the last season in ERL, Chasy joined the organization.
Before coming to Europe, Chasy spent a year with DWG KIA as their academy’s top laner. Crazy returned to the team after being apart for one year and Hylissang is his support in the lane. Both players are very talented and arguably one of the best bot laners in the league. Chasy’s individual performance will be one of the important aspects of MAD Lions’ success this year, and all the new players have different play styles compared to last year’s MAD roster. It will be interesting to watch them compete together.
EXCEL
The third in the group is EXCEL. To speak realistically, EXCEL has been one of the most unsuccessful LEC organizations in the last four years. Throughout the franchise’s history, the team only made it to playoffs twice, both last year. For the upcoming season, EXCEL formed one of the league’s most “promising” rosters. The only player remaining is the ADC Patrik, who now has new teammates. Odoamne is an experienced top laner, and his fellow countryman Xerxe has proved his worth in the EU and NA.
Vetheo won many MVPs last season and carried his team on his shoulders, while Targamas returned to LEC under the G2 Esports banner. He used to play for Giants Gaming back in 2018. EXCEL’s new roster is very unpredictable, and they surely can surprise everyone, but once you give it a second thought, you understand how hard it might be for the team.
Team Heretics
Last on our “Anything is Possible” list is Team Heretics. This is the first split of the organization at the highest League of Legends division in Europe. The Spanish team signed Jankos to make a strong start to the season and made one of the biggest off-season moves. Just like EXCEL, Heretics also decided to keep its ADC, JAckspektra, who was a member of the EU Masters winning roster of the team. The Japanese top laner Evi left his country for the first time in his career to join a European team.
Heretics’ new mid laner is Ruby, who previously played for Unicorns of Love Sexy Edition. Ruby played in LPL and PCS before coming to Europe. Lastly, Jackspektra’s partner on the bottom side of the map is Mersa. It looks like Team Heretics’ chances of making it to higher places on the standings rely on Jankos and Ruby. If the jungle and mid duo of the team have decent chemistry, Heretics have a huge chance to make it to the top seeds.
Weak links
Astralis
After looking at all the rosters, there are three teams that have very less chance of making it even to the playoffs. These teams might not be helpless, but they need to write a fairytale against all these opponents they have. Astralis might have the highest chance out of all three. Astralis made two changes by signing Finn and the young Turkish jungler 113 before the 2023 season. The rest of the lineup is still the same with Dajor, Kobbe, and JeongHoon.
The remaining pieces have shown consistent performances before; however, the top side of the map is a question mark for Astralis. On top of that, Astralis looked way behind its opponents last season with Dajor, Kobbe, and JeongHoon. Even though these three players had decent performances, they were still behind many of their opponents. Finn and 113 might bring a new environment and game understanding to the team. Even if they do that, Astalis is still not likely to write any fairytale.
SK Gaming
SK Gaming’s new roster is pretty modest compared to other teams in the league. All the players are either young or don’t have too much experience in the highest division. Sertuss is the only player from last year’s roster, and all the other players joined the team this year. Irrelevant joined from Misfits Gaming and had a decent split with the team. He was a member of the academy team and got promoted to the main team before the LEC 2022 Summer Season, and he played at the highest division for only one split. Markoon is the new jungler of the team who previously played for EXCEL. He played in LEC for one year and qualified for the playoffs in both splits.
The young jungler’s synergy with Sertuss will be interesting to see as he played with a very experienced mid laner before, Nukeduck, and now both players are young and have different visions within the game. Exakick and Doss are the new bot laners of SK. The French ADC has never played for any LEC teams before, and he is a rookie. On the other hand, Doss played for Misfits Gaming in the past but couldn’t keep his pace in the LEC. The duo played for LDLC OL together last year and made it to the EU Masters Grand Finals.
Team BDS
Last on the list is Team BDS. It is probably not surprising to see BDS in the very last place. The organization had rough times last year, and the roster is not very different than the previous one. Adam and NUCLEARINT, also known as nuc, have remained and Sheo, Crownie, and Labrov joined. Sheo played for BDS’ academy team, and this will be his first year in LEC. Crownie, on the other hand, has had chances to show his capabilities in LEC but never really reached his potential.
The Slovenian ADC was also a member of the Team BDS Academy roster last year. Lastly, Labrov will be his support. The Greek support had ups and downs last year at Team Vitality. Vitality failed to meet the expectations, and Labrov was a part of the roster with some kind of “bad fame”. Team BDS doesn’t give any pulse on making it to the playoffs.
Which team to bet on
If you want to keep it safe and have a guaranteed bet, then the best option is G2 Esports for sure. However, G2’s odds are a lot less than the rest. If you have an adventurous personality, Fnatic and Team Vitality could be your go-to. There is also another option, rewriting history. Remember the guy who bet on Leicester City’s Premer League Championship odds and won it miraculously? If you want to try your luck to be that person, you could either go for Team Heretics, or a little safer pick would be MAD Lions.
Some of the teams above will most likely make changes during the season. However, these roster changes have made slight differences in past iterations most of the time. The championship race will be very competitive, but Team Vitality, MAD Lions, EXCEL, and Team Heretics’ fight will be even more interesting. If they make a decent start to the season, we might see them at top places if they build up the chemistry right.