The Recall: What we learned from LCS Week 4

FlyQuest found a loss, the Golden Guardians went platinum and Team Liquid is oxymoronic — here's what we learned from the fourth week of the 2023 League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) Spring Split.

The Guardians are the biggest surprise in the league right now, winning five in a row after starting the season 0-4. GG bot laner Trevor "Stixxay" Hayes earned Player of the Week honors with a 23/0/10 (33) KDA across three games. Stixxay led in kills, kill share (56.1%) and was the only player with less than two deaths in Week 4. As a team, GG had the best kill/death ratio (41/15, 2.73) and logged the fewest deaths.

First place squad FLY lost to TSM, but their ace bot laner Lee "Prince" Chae-hwan still leads in overall kills (58), percentage of team's CS (33.8%), CS per minute (10.3) and kill share (43%). His 58/8/39 (12.1) KDA is the second highest after Cloud9 bot laner Kim "Berserker" Min-cheol's 43/7/52 (13.6) KDA, whose seven deaths are the fewest of any player and one lower than Prince's eight.

While the team's last two weeks were spotty, C9 was one of three teams to go 3-0 in Week 4, along with Evil Geniuses and GG. C9 has the most kills (139), fewest deaths (71) and highest kill/death ratio (1.96) of any team this split, and controversial support Jesper "Zven" Svenningsen leads all players in assists with 99 in his nine games. Berserker went 21/2/12 this week, finishing second in kills, deaths and KDA (16.5) after Stixxay.

EG look as hot-and-cold as ever, but their league-leading 53 kills this week allowed them to scrape by in some close affairs -- as per usual. The squad's 37.3 minute average game time is the highest in the league, and mid laner Joseph Joon "jojopyun" Pyun is the only player with a death percentage above 30%, rocking an unfortunate 36.3%.

TL, who went 0-3 this week, is just an impossible team to figure out. While they lead all teams in percentage of lane minions taken with 51.1% and average turret plates taken with 6.3, they have a 3-6 record. They lead all teams in gold difference at 15 with 1,649, but their 136 deaths are the most in the league. Top laner Park "Summit" Woo-tae's 9.7 average CS difference at 10 minutes leads all players, but he also leads in deaths with 35. They'll need to be more consistent for a chance at playoffs.

100 Thieves also went 0-3 this week, placing their record at a disappointing 4-5. When bot laner Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng's 32.7% CS percentage, 42.1% kill share and 46.7% kill share (all of which rank second among all players) aren't enough for him to carry, the team has no other reliable carry threats.

Other notable stats

• Dignitas bot laner Trevor "Spawn" Kerr-Taylor's nine kills are the fewest among non-supports with more than two games played.
• TSM support Jonathan "Chime" Pomponio leads all players with 83% kill participation.
• Ashe leads all champions with a pick-ban rate of 95.6%.
• Sejuani is the most played champ with 25 total games.
• Maokai, Ashe and Elise were picked or banned in all 15 games this week.

All stats from Leaguepedia and Oracle's Elixir. Featured photos courtesy of Colin Young-Wolff/Shannon Cottrell/Robert Paul/Riot Games.