A fresh start: 2023 LCS Summer Week 1, Day 1 recap

Cloud9, Team Liquid, Immortals, Evil Geniuses, and 100 Thieves won on June 14, the first match day of Week 1 of the 2023 League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) Summer Split at Riot Games Arena in Santa Monica, Calif., United States.

The games were the first played after the League of Legends Player's Association (LCSPA)'s historic strike action against developer Riot Games.

Cloud9 vs. Golden Guardians

Cloud9 opened up the split with a 9-5 win against Golden Guardians in 26:37. The Spring Final rematch was slow until around 21 minutes, when C9 exploded and gained advantages across the map. C9 top laner Ibrahim "Fudge" Allami finished 0/0/8 on K'Sante; jungler Robert "Blaber" Huang found a 4/1/2 performance as Kindred; and bot laner Kim "Berserker" Min-cheol ran the Rift on his 5/0/3 Zeri with the help of support Jesper "Zven" Svenningsen's 0/1/7 Milio. GG mid laner Kim "Gori" Tae-woo was 0/0/3 on Ahri in the loss. LCS Player of the Game: C9 Blaber, 1st

Team Liquid vs. TSM

Team Liquid won 21-11 versus TSM in 29:57. While TSM earned an early advantage and battled back at points, TL eventually scored a clean Ace to win. TL top laner Park "Summit" Woo-tae led in kills on his 9/2/9 Kennen; jungler Hong "Pyosik" Chang-hyeon picked up a 3/2/12 Vi score; mid laner Harry "Haeri" Kang's Ahri went 3/3/12; and bot laner Sean "Yeon" Sung and support Jo "CoreJJ" Yong-in finished 5/2/5 on Aphelios and 1/2/16 on Renata Glasc. LCS Player of the Game: TL Summit, 1st

Immortals vs. Dignitas

Immortals won their game against Dignitas by a 10-1 kill score in 27:31. IMT top laner Colin “Solo” Earnest became the first 30-year-old to play in an LCS game and went 1/0/4 on Sion; jungler Kenvi won the POTG award for his 1/1/9 Sejuani; mid laner Onur Can "Bolulu" Demirol finished 3/0/6 as Ahri; and bot laner Edward "Tactical" Ra and support Erik “Treatz” Wessén were 4/0/3 and 1/0/7 on Aphelios and Milio, respectively. DIG only found one tower and one Rift Herald, and mid laner Nicolaj "Jensen" Jensen picked up the team's only kill in the game's final seconds. LCS Player of the Game: IMT Kenvi, 1st

Evil Geniuses vs. NRG

Evil Geniuses achieved the eighth perfect game in LCS history (fourth in the franchise era) with a 16-0 win against NRG in 24:45. EG top laner Mohamed "Revenge" Kaddoura was 0/0/7 on Sion; jungler Jonathan “Armao” Armao nabbed a 5/0/6 Viego score; mid laner Joseph Joon "jojopyun" Pyun finished 5/0/9 as Gragas; bot laner William “UNF0RGIVEN” Nieminen led in kills on his 6/0/4 Lucian; and support Bill "Eyla" Nguyen added a 0/0/10 KDA as Yuumi. LCS Player of the Game: EG jojopyun, 1st

FlyQuest vs. 100 Thieves

100 Thieves nearly secured a perfect game of their own against FlyQuest with a 17-0 victory in 30:31. In the absence of starting mid laner Lim “Quid” Hyeon-seung, 100T assistant coach Erlend "Nukeduck" Våtevik Holm subbed in for mid and went 1/0/5 on Ahri; top laner Kim "Ssumday" Chan-ho went 6/0/2 on Renekton and was the POTG; jungler Can "Closer" Çelik picked Wukong and finished 3/0/4; and bot laner Yiliang "Doublelift” Peng and support Alan "Busio" Cwalina went 7/0/4 on Lucian and 0/0/11 on Milio. FLY's only major objectives were one dragon and one Herald. LCS Player of the Game: 100T Ssumday, 1st

Jame's Player of the Day: TL Summit (9/2/9), 1st

Featured photos courtesy of Stefan Wisnoski/Riot Games.