The League of Legends European Championship (LEC) is getting closer to playoffs, with six weeks of match-ups finished. With the end of the split approaching, fans and analysts have just begun discussing Europe’s All-Pro team for Summer Split 2019. Splyce is a team just outside the discussion surrounding the All-Pro awards. Although they currently hold second place alongside Fnatic, Splyce’s individual members do not necessarily come to mind when pointing out the superstars of the LEC. Instead, they typically exhibit much better coordination and consistency than teams below them. Here are the realistic odds for Splyce’s players to take home an award.
Since being voted MVP in Spring 2017, Tamás “Vizicsacsi” Kiss has not stood out as much with so many great European top laners in the pool. He did receive eight 3rd team votes last split when Splyce finished fourth in the regular season. Last year’s 1st team top laner, Lucas “Cabochard ” Simon-Meslet, has fallen a bit from grace. However, Martin Nordahl “Wunder” Hansen, Barney “Alphari” Morris and Gabriël “Bwipo” Rau are still going strong, and others have stepped up.
Vizicsacsi won MVP in 2017 Spring Split (image from eu.lolesports.com).
Meanwhile, Vizicsacsi has not had many stand out individual performances. He occupies an important part of Splyce’s usual game plan, which is the top lane island. ‘Csacsi falls pretty far behind in laning phase, averaging 546 gold, 538 XP and 5 CS down at 15 minutes. That is essentially second worst in the LEC. Vizicsacsi is also average in damage and KDA compared to other top laners, despite playing mostly Gnar and Kennen.
Poppy metas always benefit Vizicsacsi, so expect these last few weeks to look better for him (he is already averaging a 6.5 KDA and won both games on her so far). But with so many talented top-sides in the LEC, Vizicsacsi quickly falls down the list. He is still on a top European team for a reason. Consider ‘Csacsi like another Soaz, someone to take the early fall so the team can prioritize the rest of the map in the early game. He most likely will not get as much recognition for it, though.
Prediction: 6th place – behind Wunder, Bwipo, Alphari, Cabochard and Odoamne
Another former Unicorns of Love player (and Rookie of the Split in Spring 2017), Andrei “Xerxe” Dragomir assumes his role within the Splyce machine. He tends to draft high tempo early game champions. Xerxe also tries new champions, like Sylas or Qiyana, as Junglers before other players.
Xerxe won Rookie of the Split in Spring Split 2017 (image from eu.lolesports.com).
Xerxe currently fields an 8.8 KDA (third in the LEC) and a 50 percent First Blood rate (third among junglers). Splyce has the second highest Dragon and Baron control rates in the league, showing how well they control neutral objectives. Meanwhile, the Rift Herald rate is second lowest in the league, showing how little control they have around top lane pre-20 minutes.
Xerxe should probably be considered for best LEC jungler this split. He won 1st team All-Pro in for Spring 2018. However, Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski and Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen are very impactful for their teams, and generate larger team-wide gold leads. They also currently have the most “Player of the Game” awards in the LEC. Kim “Trick” Gang-yun , Jonas “Kold” Andersen and Kacper “Inspired” Słoma have been playing fairly well, too. Xerxe just may be Splyce’s most variable candidate on analysts’ lists, gaining votes ranging from 2nd to 6th.
Prediction: 3rd place – behind Jankos and Broxah
Splyce’s Mid Laner is having an excellent split so far. Marek “Humanoid” Brázda has had some serious pop-off games, like Week 4 against Fnatic and Misfits. He is tied with Rasmus Borregaard “Caps” Winther for “Player of the Game” awards and has the most solo kills in the LEC. Overall, Humanoid feels more present on the Rift than he did in Spring Split.
Humanoid currently has three Player of the Game awards for Summer Split (image from Leaguepedia).
Laning-wise, Humanoid is fairly average. He comes out even or slightly behind, but it makes sense considering his most played champions are Akali and Azir. These two have clear weaknesses until they reach level six, then they are able to start looking for skirmishes. With the 2019 meta continuing to focus on mid-jungle synergy, Humanoid has to be doing something right for Xerxe to be looking so strong and for Splyce to be second place.
The European mid lane pool is the larger issue for Humanoid’s All-Pro chances. Caps, Tim “Nemesis” Lipovšek, Erlend “Nukeduck” Våtevik, Emil “Larssen” Larsson and Felix “Abbedagge” Braun all have higher KDAs. Daniele “Jiizuke” di Mauro and even Fabian “Febiven” Diepstraten have stronger laning stats. North America imports European Mid Laners for a reason–they are all so good. Ranking them from first to last is pretty difficult, when they all exhibit strengths from laning to skirmishing to roaming to objective control to teamfighting to split-pushing.
Prediction: 4th place – behind Caps, Nemesis and Nukeduck
Kasper “Kobbe” Kobberup is the face of Splyce, having played for the organization for nearly four years now. They have maintained their partnership for a reason–Kobbe is a consistent late-game marksman player. Just look at his all-time record on Sivir, Xayah, Tristana, Jhin, Vayne, Caitlyn and Kai’Sa; his win rate is over 60 percent. Meanwhile, his Ezreal, Lucian, Varus, Ashe and Kalista are all under 50 percent.
Kobbe’s all-time champion winrates as a pro player (stats from Games of Legends).
Needless to say, Kobbe has been having a solid Summer Split. He and Tore Hoel “Norskeren” Eilertsen have found their stride again after a slow first couple of weeks. Kobbe gains the largest gold lead on Splyce by 15 minutes (+483), second highest among ADCs. Their bottom lane control converts into a 60.4 percent Dragon control rate. And Kobbe is one of those players that just becomes more threatening the longer the game goes, because his teamfighting is clean.
Kobbe should have no problem making the All-Pro team this split, but where he finishes is less clear. He took 1st team in Spring Split 2019, but fewer analysts are pushing the “Perkz is G2’s weakest link” narrative since MSI. Martin “Rekkles” Larsson and Elias “Upset” Lipp, the 2nd and 3rd team ADCs in spring, are still just as strong. If awards were given right now, Kobbe would probably get 2nd team behind Perkz. However, several weeks remain in Summer Split, and Rekkles has won 1st team ADC the past two years.
Prediction: 3rd place – behind Perkz and Rekkles
Europe’s support pool feels fairly close, too. Oftentimes, bottom lane duos will land in similar areas of the ranking, because their play relies so heavily on one another. If one looks good, then the other looks good, and vice versa. In Spring Split, Kobbe won 1st team, but Norskeren did not even make 3rd team. Instead, Alfonso “Mithy” Aguirre Rodríguez, Zdravets “Hylissang” Iliev Galabov and Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle took the All-Pro awards, and Norskeren, Lee “IgNar” Dong-geun and Jakub “Jactroll” Skurzyński were pretty close after them.
LEC support stats from Games of Legends.
Norkskeren has the third highest support KDA (4.2), the fourth highest average assists per game (8.9) and the highest vision score per minute. He has stuck to the general meta this split–Rakan, Nautilus, Tahm Kench, Lux, Braum, Yuumi. Supports who draft an unexpected pocket pick or two usually leave more lasting impressions, so something akin to Mikyx’s Gragas, IgNar’s Blitzcrank and Hylissang’s Pyke could help Norskeren gain more attention.
For Summer Split, voting will most likely remain similar, except Mithy and Jactroll have not seemed as strong. Norskeren should have a pretty good chance to snag that 3rd team spot, but Mikyx and Hylissang are shoe-ins for 1st and 2nd. IgNar will be the closest competition, with some votes maybe going to Vander.
Prediciton: 3rd place – behind Mikyx and Hylissang
Who is Peter Dun? He is Splyce’s head coach, but he has not been on the LEC broadcast as much, because Peter Dun
delegated on-stage responsibilities
to strategic coach Duke, which is who is seen backstage and during draft for Splyce. Instead, Coach Dun has split his time between the Academy and LEC teams for 2019. It’s unclear how this affects “Coach of the Split” voting, but Coach Duke will probably be nominated over Coach Dun for Splyce LEC.
We’re changing things up this split, Peter Dun breaks down how coaching will operate in the 2019 #LEC Spring Split:
Read Full Article ⤵https://t.co/H4hcihOKBC pic.twitter.com/0e4dsJ3kC4
— Splyce (@Splyce) January 16, 2019
If that is the case, he should certainly be considered for the award. Many would argue Splyce has weaker individual players overall compared to G2 and Fnatic, yet the team does just as well. It will heavily depend on the rest of the split, as Dylan Falco will probably be considered for Schalke 04. If either of these teams finished above Fnatic or G2, then they will take it. If G2 or Fnatic win the regular season by a large margin, then one of them will take it.
2nd place – behind Youngbuck, Grabbz or Dylan Falco
CREDITS
All statistics from Games of Legends
Images from nexus.leagueoflegends.com and Leaguepedia
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