SK GAming surprised LEC fans and finished at the top of the table as the only team with maximum performance after the super week that started the winter season.
The start of the LEC League was marked by record viewership. Already on the first day, the record of the finals of the winter season from last year was broken, and in the third round, when MAD Lions and Karmine Corp played, reviving the biggest European rivalry in LoL, between Spain and France, the number of 750,000 simultaneous viewers was broken, a number that we have not seen from 2021.
And while the numbers and viewership are there, the quality of the game itself in the first week of the competition was not too exciting. SK Gaming made the best use of that, which before the start of the season did not place itself in the role of favorite, but showed the most in the first three rounds of the competition.
They fell to Rogue, MAD Lions and finally Fnatic in the derby of undefeated teams in the third round, but one should not jump to conclusions and it remains to be seen if SK can continue at this pace, first during the group stage and then during the playoffs .
The current champion G2 Esports started with two wins, but then, beyond all expectations, they experienced a defeat in the third round against the Rogue team, for which it was also the first triumph in the new championship, while on the other hand, the "old" players of G2 who gathered in Team Heretics started with a convincing defeat, but after that they played much better in the next two duels and defeated Rogue and GiantX.
In addition to the mentioned teams, two victories were also recorded by Team BDS and MAD Lions, and the success of the Lions, who were predicted by many to be at the bottom of the table, was especially surprising when the compositions of all teams were revealed.
At the bottom were the French organizations Karmine Corp and Team Vitality, who did not know of a victory after the first three rounds. Karmine Corp brought an army of fans with them to the LEC, but they will have to wait for better times to celebrate the success of their favorites. An additional blow for KC fans is the fact that the French top laner Lucas "Cabochard" Simon-Meslet is perhaps the most underachieving individual in the team, and if he continues like this it is possible that we will see a change in the top laner for KC very soon.
No less disappointing was Vitality, who, despite the very experienced bot lane consisting of Matyaš "Carzzy" Orsag and Zdravets "Hylissang" Iliev Galabov, is playing below all expectations and once again highlights their candidacy for the bottom of the table, even though they have changed everything that can be changed before the new season.
LEC league standings after Round 3:
1. SK Gaming 3-0
2. Fnatic 2-1
2. G2 Esports 2-1
2. MAD Lions KOI 2-1
2. Team BDS 2-1
2. Team Heretics 2-1
7. GIANTX 1-2
7. Rogue 1-2
9. Karmine Corp 0-3
9. Team Vitality 0-3
