Heading into this season, Riot Games is making some changes to the League of Legends competition. Accordingly, the LEC is tweaking things up, adding things like a new split entirely. Bearing this in mind, read on to learn How to Watch the LEC 2023 Winter Split below!
Event Background
Overall, the League of Legends EMEA region will be competing for the 9th time under the banner of the LEC.
Prior to this season starting, do note that another change is the likes of Misfits Gaming selling their spot to Team Heretics. Furthermore, KOI merged with Rogue, meaning that KOI will replace Rogue for this season.
In conclusion, here are the 10 teams competing below:
- Astralis
- Excel Esports
- Fnatic
- G2 Esports
- KOI
- Team BDS
- MAD Lions
- SK Gaing
- Team Heretics
- Team Vitality
Hosted by Riot Games, this competition will take place offline at the Berlin LEC Studio. With roughly $90,000 on the line, the event will run from 21st January to 26th February.
However, there’s more than prize pool to play for. In addition, points are up for grabs which are crucial to seed in competitions later down the line. Also, first place will seed to the LEC Finals and have a shot to make it to the Mid-Seasonal Invitational 2023.
Format
With regards to the format, there are multiple stages of competition to look forward to.
Starting with Stage 1, a single round robin featuring all the teams will kick off. With BO1 matches, all 10 teams will play each other one. Furthermore, the top 8 teams advance to Stage 2 at the end of Stage 1.
Accordingly, the top 8 teams from Stage 1 will then be split into 2 groups featuring GSL formats. Within each group of 4, the top 2 will advance to Stage 3, noting that each matches are BO3. Specifically, the top 2 will seed further in two ways:
- 1st team in each group – seeded into Winners Final
- 2nd team in each group – seeded into Losers Semifinal
Once arriving to Stage 3, the final stage, there’ll be 4 teams left. At this point, the LEC will be trialing a new format – the Page playoff system. Involving a round robin tournament, teams will play a mixture of single elimination and double elimination matches.
Here’s an explanation:
- In Game 1, the third- and fourth-placed teams play against each other. The loser is eliminated.
- In Game 2, the first- and second-placed teams play against each other. The winner qualifies directly for the final.
- Game 3, the winner of Game 1 plays against the loser of Game 2. The loser is eliminated.
- Game 4 (the final) is then played between the winners of Games 2 and 3.
Following these BO5 matches, the winner qualifies for LEC 2023 Season Finals and is crowned the regional champion.
Schedule for the LEC 2023 Winter Split
Featuring 3 weeks of competition, there’s a massive schedule to look forward to.
We recommend visiting the LoL Esports page here to stay up to date with the entire schedule in your region.
Watch the LEC 2023 Winter Split on esportsguide
You can also watch the event live stream via our very own website. Providing an extensive list of the biggest esports together with streams for each esports match live today or upcoming matches.
Predictions
With regards to the 10 teams involved, the last time they competed was back in LEC Summer 2022. Here are the standings from that last event:
- #1 – Rogue (KOI)
- #2 – G2 Esports
- #3 – Fnatic
- #4 – MAD Lions
Bearing this in mind, we’d like to suggest these teams as the favourites. However, the game has changed and many of these teams have made roster changes.
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