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The League of Legends EMEA Championship kicked off the 2023 Winter Season this past weekend, with the first 15 matches of the season taking place January 21st-23rd. The first week of play showed a ton of parity among the league’s teams as nine of the ten teams left the first week with a win, while only G2 and Vitality managed to end Monday with a 3-0 record.
The meta the past week proved to be somewhat open right now as we saw a healthy amount of champion diversity in the first 15 matches, as there were 57 different champions played and 62 different bans. Fans can expect the pros to continue to experiment with different picks as they try to figure out the best team comps. A third of the champions used this year have only seen a single game showing that meta is more open than in recent League of Legends history.
The Highlights of Week 1
When looking for players who came out in Week 1 and put on an absolute show, you don’t have to look any further than Perkz. Perkz had a great weekend which included an 11-kill game against Vitality and a 9-kill game against Team Heretics, both of which were on Azir and are in the Top 5 single-game performances in kills early on in this season.
G2 had a near-flawless win over Fnatic as they dismantled Fnatic’s Nexus in 23:55, making the game the quickest of the weekend. It came off the back of Hans Sama’s Draven, which went on a 7/1/9 tear. Mikyz had a perfect game on support Nautilus going 0/0/16, assisting all but 3 of G2’s kills.
Team BDS and Excel Esports gave us a thrilling 46:13 game which saw Vetheo’s Twisted Fate keep Excel Esports in the game despite his top Odoamne and ADC Patrik dying 5+ times each. Excel Esports ultimately was able to find the comeback and win the game off of excellent map control and six dragons which included two elders, despite being down 18-11 in kills.
Standings, Schedule, and Odds
After one week of play, the teams are all signs of competitiveness, with all teams except Astralis able to find a win in week one. With half the teams tied at 1-2, you can expect some fiercely competitive matches this upcoming weekend. All times listed are in ET.
Standings
1 – G2 Esports (3-0)
1 – Team Vitality (3-0)
3 – KOI (2-1)
3 – MAD Lions (2-1)
5 – Excel (1-2)
5 – Fnatic (1-2)
5 – SK Gaming (1-2)
5 – Team BDS (1-2)
5 – Team Heretics (1-2)
10 – Astalis (0-3)
Schedule:
January 28
Team Vitality (-769) vs Astralis (+455) 12 PM
Fnatic (-476) vs Team BDS (+329) 1 PM
KOI (-278) vs Team Heretics (+202) 2 PM
G2 Esports (-500) vs SK Gaming (+330) 3 PM
Excel Esports (-118) vs MAD Lions (-118) 4 PM
January 29
Astralis (-109) vs Team BDS (-123) 12 PM
SK Gaming (+330) vs Team Vitality (-500) 1 PM
G2 Esports (-455) vs Team Heretics (+301) 2 PM
KOI (-172) vs MAD Lions (+127) 3 PM
Fnatic (-227) vs Excel Esports (+165) 4 PM
January 30
Excel Esports (-345) vs Astralis (+250) 12 PM
Team BDS (+238) vs MAD Lions (-323) 1 PM
KOI (-345) vs SK Gaming (+250) 2 PM
G2 Esports (-137) vs Team Vitality (+102) 3 PM
Fnatic (-323) vs Team Heretics (+238) 4 PM