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KOI quickly disposes of Vitality, advancing further in the LEC

· Feb 14 - 3 minutes read

The first best of 3 series in the 2023 LEC Winter Split playoff stage was completed after a match between Vitality and KOI, this time around the Spanish native team came in more than prepared. With 2 swift wins, KOI has secured their place in the top 4, officially becoming the first team to advance into the new playoff bracket in the LEC.

Before the beginning of 2023, the LEC announced they would completely rebuild their tournament format, and as of right now, it has been a great decision. Technically the new playoff stage fosters less teams, however, the implemented “group stage” of the Winter Split does have the same competitiveness similar to the playoffs, with each best of 3 matchups being extremely important for the survival of the squad.

The implementation of the “best of series” earlier in the tournament does provide a better environment for improvement going into international events, as teams that were accustomed to win in best of 1s are not able to adapt going into larger “best of” series. Looking at KOI, the squad finished 4-5 in the first stage, a truly underwhelming performance as defending champions. However, in this group-stage matchup, they absolutely demolished the favorite in Team Vitality.

KOI looked as dominant as their 2022 edition, especially in the second match of the series, where they looked like old-school Rogue advancing a small early advantage into 1 team fight that gives them enough room to snowball. Game 2 saw KOI’s bot lane showing their lane dominance, grabbing 3 kills before the 5-minute mark allowing them to push their lead to the maximum going into the game. As a result, KOI were going for the perfect game, until the 15-minute mark where small miscoordination punished by Vitality allowed them to win a team fight against all odds. The 5000 gold lead did shrink due to this small misstep, however, it was too late for Vitality.

The current #LEC Winter Group Stage Bracket! pic.twitter.com/dWzPBw4hP0

— LEC (@LEC) February 13, 2023

Even before truly entering the dramatic losers bracket, the possibility of being on the edge of elimination makes every game feel way more intense and important. After the unfortunate loss, Vitality will go into the losers bracket of Group A, where they will need to win against the loser of next week’s Heretics/SK Gaming matchup in a stressful do-or-die series.

Fans are more than excited watching this new format from the LEC, of course, organizations have not adapted to it quite yet, with historic teams such as Fnatic being eliminated from the group stage itself. Moving forward we expect to see even more drama, upsets and stomps in the 2023 LEC.

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