Every Transfer Before the 2023 LEC Summer Split
| Tags: League of Legends
| Author Bence Loksa
Contents
Every Transfer Before the 2023 LEC Summer Split have been announced before the start of the regular season – and there are some interesting ones.
The third split of this year’s League of Legends EMEA Championship is starting today! While there was a lot more time to rest for teams after the 2023 Mid-Season Invitational, most teams still only had 2 months of downtime, while the participants only rested for a few weeks. This means that there are not that many changes in the LEC organisation’s lineups, with G2 Esports, Team BDS, Team Vitality, Astralis, SK Gaming and MAD Lions fielding the same players as they did in the Spring Split. But the other four teams have swapped some players around, so let’s take a look at every strasnfer before the 2023 LEC Summer Split!
Every Transfer Before the 2023 LEC Summer Split
Fnatic – Rekkles benched for Noah, Advienne traded for Trymbi
The black-and-orange squad of Fnatic were in the centre of attention before the start of the 2023 split as they re-signed the legendary ADC, Martin “Rekkles” Larsson after a year of competing without the Swede. However, Rekkles did not meet expectations (alongside the rest of Fnatic), so he was benched even after roleswapping to Support – and he’ll stay there for the Summer, as no team bought him from Fnatic.
After the Winter Split’s Rúben “Rhuckz” Barbosa, Fnatic promoted their Academy Support, Henk “Advienne” Reijenga to play alongside Rekkles, but they couldn’t step up either, even though Fnatic looked better in Spring then they did in Winter. Fnatic have acquired KOI Captain Adrian “Trymbi” Trybus and up-and-coming Korean import Oh “Noah” Hyeon-taek, who was the Rank 1 player of the EUW server, then stomped the Ultraliga with Zero Tenacity – you can read about the new acquisitons of Fnatic here.
KOI – Trymbi left for Fnatic, but KOI got Advienne
Fnatic and KOI made trade offers for each other, swapping supports before the start of the Summer Split. Trymbi will play for Fnatic, while Advienne joined the Spanish organisation. The Dutch player was no stranger to the LEC before joining Fnatic, as he played for Excel Esports in the 2021 Summer Split and the 2022 Spring Split. Afterwards, he left for the LVP SuperLiga, competing with Giants before becoming the Support for Fnatic TQ. He won the 2022 Summer Split of the Spanish ERL, but couldn’t beat Subicz “bluerzor” Dániel and Team Heretics in the finals. After joining Fnatic, he helped them qualify for the Group Stage, but they couldn’t get past the first round of the second stage of Spring Split.
Now, Advienne will try and get KOI back to at least the level they were in the Winter Split, where the team made it to the Playoffs, finishing 3rd place. KOI had a subpar split in Spring, finishing 7th in the regular season and 6th in Group Stage. Botlane was the most quiet part of the team, so the swap is a good direction – but will Advienne pair up with Markos “Comp” Stamkopoulos better than Trymbi did?
Excel Esports – Xerxe left, Peach Joined alongside Nomi
Excel Esports put together a great team at the start of the season with veteran players such as Andrei “Odoamne” Pascu and Andrei “Xerxe” Dragomir, while signing star midlaner Vincent “Vetheo” Berrié. However, the team struggled in both the Winter and Spring Splits, failing to qualify for the Group Stage – that means Excel Esports only competed 6 weeks in the whole year so far, getting last place in both previous splits. They made some changes in Spring, signing Dino “LIMIT” Tot in the place of Raphael “Targamas” Crabbé, while promoting Felix “Abbedagge” Braun, putting Vetheo on the bench.
However, those changes didn’t prove to be enough, so the British esports organisation is further altering the lineup. Xerxe left the team to join Giants in the LVP SuperLiga, while Excel acquired the former DRX Challengers and Unicorns of Love Sexy Edition jungler, Peach. The Korean player helped his team win the 2023 Prime League Division 1 Regular Season and Playoffs, after which UOLSE made it to the 2023 EMEA Masters Spring Finals. Peach and co. couldn’t beat Istanbul Wildcats, they fought until their last breath, taking the Bo5 to the 5th match. Peach look like a great jungler, who could provide some early game pressure for Excel Esports – something that Xerxe was not able to do, resulting in Excel matches being decided by the 15-minute mark.
Team Heretics – Ruby swapped for Vetheo, Jackspektra back to Heretics Academy while Flakked is promoted
Team Heretics joined the LEC before the start of the 2023 Season, and started out with an okay performance, finishing 6th in the Winter Split and 8th in the Winter Group Stage. Sadly, they had a much worse performance in the Spring Split, as they only got 3 wins and couldn’t crack the top 8 in order to qualify for the Group Stage.
Luckily, the management is not sitting idly, but trying to make the team better – as they said they would before they joined the LEC. Lee “Ruby” Sol-min left for the LEC to play for TSM, so Heretics took the opportunity to sign Vetheo. The young French player was regarded as one of the best midlaners of the LEC before the 2023 season, and while his stint with Excel Esports was nothing short of horrible, hopefully he can perform again in a different environment.
While Jakob “Jackspektra” Gullvag” Kepple was one of the most hyped players of the 2023 season, they young Norwegian was not quite ready for the big stage. After some underwhelming performances, the ADC returned to Heretics Academy to play with bluerzor and co. again, while Victor “Flakked” Lirola got his second change at the LEC. The 22-year-old Marksman debuted with G2 Esports last year, and they managed to make it to the top 4 of the Mid-Season Invitational while also qualifying for Worlds. However, G2 had the opportunity to sign Steven “Hans sama” Liv, so they said goodbye to Flakked. The Spanish player took this personally, and played out of his mind this Spring, getting 2nd place in the LVP Super Liga and top 4 in EUM. Flakked really wants to prove himself, and now he’ll have the opportunity do so.
The 2023 LEC Summer Split is kicking off today at 18:00 CEST. Follow the broadcasts on lolesports.com, and the LEC Twitch and YouTube channels, and don’t forget to keep an eye on ESTNN for the latest news regarding the LEC!