Kicking off the year: LCS Week 1, Day 1 recap
With a slate of close games, demolitions and upsets, the first day of the 2023 League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) Spring Split saw Cloud9, Evil Geniuses, FlyQuest, Counter Logic Gaming and TSM find victories on Jan. 26 at Riot Games Arena in Santa Monica, Calif., United States.
100 Thieves vs. Cloud9
Cloud9 won the first LCS game of 2023 in dominant fashion, leading 100 Thieves 25-8 in kills in a 32:32 game. 100 jungler Can "Closer" Çelik found a Baron steal, but botlaner Yiliang "Doublelift” Peng looked rusty in his first game since 2020, and his support Alan "Busio" Cwalina's Azir support pick didn't make much sense. C9's botlaner Kim "Berserker" Min-cheol and support Jesper "Zven" Svenningsen went 3/1/14 and 1/2/13 on an aggressive Ashe-Heimer botlane; toplaner Ibrahim "Fudge" Allami and jungler Robert "Blaber" Huang found 4/1/16 and 11/2/8 performances on K'Sante and Wukong; and midlaner Dimitri "Diplex" Ponomarev had a massive 6/2/9 Akali game in his major league debut. LCS Player of the Game: C9 Fudge, 1st
Golden Guardians vs. Evil Geniuses
Despite Golden Guardians nearly coming back to win, Evil Geniuses won 18-16 in 43:02. GG jungler Kim "River" Dong-woo was 7/3/5 on Wukong, but not even a 1/7/6 Azir performance by EG midlaner Joseph Joon "Jojopyun" Pyun could stop his team from winning; EG botlaner Ian Victor "FBI" Huang's Aphelios was 7/0/7, his jungler Kacper "Inspired" Słoma went 5/2/9 on Sejuani and his support Philippe "Vulcan" Laflamme had a 1/2/12 score on Ashe. LCS Player of the Game: EG Inspired, 1st
FlyQuest vs. Team Liquid
In the most anticipated game of the day, FlyQuest shut down Team Liquid in a 31:36 game they led 16-8. FQ's jungler Mingyi "Spica" Lu controlled the game on his 4/2/8 Maokai, toplaner Jeong "Impact" Eon-young showed that he's still one of the LCS's top tops with a 3/1/11 Gangplank carry performance, and hyped Korean import botlaner Lee "Prince" Chae-hwan notched a quadra kill and a 9/1/2 score on Zeri in his first LCS game. In his return to top-level play, substitute support Kim "Winsome" Dong-keon went 0/0/11 on Lulu. LCS Player of the Game: FQ Impact, 1st
Counter Logic Gaming vs. Dignitas
Counter Logic Gaming won 10-6 against Dignitas in 30:34. The fully ran-back roster rewarded fans' faith with an exciting teamfight composition. CLG jungler Juan Arturo "Contractz" Garcia was a facilitator on his 0/1/10 Sejuani, midlaner Cristian "Palafox" Palafox did much of the same from the center lane, and Fatih "Luger" Güven and Philippe "Poome" Lavoie-Giguere's Ezreal-Ashe botlane combined for a 4/1/7 KDA in a low-kill game. LCS Player of the Game: CLG Luger, 1st
TSM vs. Immortals
TSM came back from an early Immortals lead to win 12-2 in 31:34. While IMT toplaner Mohamed "Revenge" Kaddoura's Fiora was mostly strong with a 1/0/0 score, it was TSM jungler Lee "Bugi" Seong-yeop's 4/0/5 Elise and botlaner botlaner Toàn "Neo" Trần's 4/1/7 Lucian that eventually ran the game. LCS Player of the Game: TSM Neo, 1st
Strafe Player of the Day: C9 Blaber, 1st
Featured photo courtesy of Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games.