Today we’ll be going over which LLA teams are the favorites to win the 2023 Opening Season. Every single team made huge roster changes during the off-season, and there is a new organization that poured a hefty amount of money in an effort to win in their very first split.
A very important thing to keep in mind is that the LLA is changing format for the upcoming 2023 season. Instead of a double Bo1 round-robin, the regular season will consist of a single Bo3 round robin, which leaves less room for upsets, therefore it’s very easy to predict at least which teams will make it to playoffs. Without further ado, let’s jump right into it!
Estral Esports (+225)
The forever-2nd-place Estral might finally have a clear shot at claiming the title this time around. They’ve reached the finals 3 times in a row, but they came up 1 game short in every single one of them.
On paper, they have one of the strongest papers. Takeover and Josedeodo are coming back to LATAM after a short stint in the LCS circuit. Meanwhile, SamD is coming all the way from Korea after a 10th-place finish in the LCK with Hanwha Life.
Shadow and Yang decided to stay with Estral for another year, while Acce extended his contract. This is huge value for the team considering that they were the determining factors for Estral’s success in 2022.
Straight up, they are the strongest team, not only because of their individual talent, but also because they kept some of their players, which is an advantage against some other teams that made a complete revamp. As long as SamD and Takeover can perform up to the expectations, we should see them breezing through the regular season.
Infinity (+1400)
It’s baffling to think that Infinity sits at +1400 (7th lowest) while having a top-2 roster. I have to say that there is so much value in this pick. From top to bottom, they have some of the strongest performers we’ve seen in the LLA.
Zerito, who’s had an unfortunate fate and always ends up in trash lineups, he always ends up coming out ahead in every single one of his top lane matchups. Arguably the most versatile top laner in the league as he can perform on tank duty while also being capable of carrying if needed.
Not much needs to be said about Keine and 5Kid. At this moment, they could be considered the 2 best imports we’ve ever had in the history of the LLA. Last year, both of them proved their worth, and Infinity made a great move by signing both of them.
Now, there is a case to be made about Solidsnake being the “weak link”, but hear me out. The way that Solidsnake plays is perfect for this roster because he is a very methodical jungler and spends most of his time providing for his laners, that’s why he had the highest lane proximity % last year. I think that Solidsnake and Ackerman will be the strong pillars for this team, as they are excellent when it comes to moving around the map.
Dye and Falco remain as the coaching staff for this team, and that’s great news if you are rooting for this team. Infinity improved so much throughout the 2022 closing season, but unfortunately their individual talent wasn’t enough. Now it’s a completely different story and I really think that they are a solid top-2 team.
Rainbow 7 (+300)
Sure, Rainbow7 has a strong roster on paper, but it’s hard to consider them strong contenders for the title as they lost their strongest piece, Stardust.
R7 spent so much money last year, mostly on Ophelia, SoHwan and Stardust, that they now had to restructure the whole roster. They brought in Mireu as their strongest player, but I don’t think that he’ll be able to carry the rest of the team.
Bong and Lyonz are huge question marks for Rainbow7, and unless both of them overperform, this roster will struggle to make a deep run in the playoffs.
Six Karma (+1000)
Six Karma is a new addition to the league, and they are going all-in. They signed OnFleek, who was the best performer in the HLE team last split. On top of that, they brought in Yeti and Fallen, which is a very successful coaching duo, so even if they 6K doesn’t start strong, we can be sure that there’ll be some kind of development as the regular season goes on.
My biggest concern for Six Karma is Shu Hari. He’s already had plenty of opportunities in the past couple of years, and he has failed to deliver almost every time. That said, there must be a reason why Yeti trusts him so much, as he’s been coaching him for quite a while now.
In the end, Rainbow7 and Six Karma have somewhat convincing rosters, but they’ll depend on improving a lot if they want to compete against Estral and Infinity.
LLA 2023 Opening Season Picks & Prediction
Both Estral and Infinity head into the 2023 season with both the strongest rosters and also enough room for improvement because they decided to stick with the same coaching staff.
I think that both teams are a solid pick but I’ll go with Infinity only because the +1400 line really grabbed my attention.
After a long time of not having any competitive League of Legends going on, domestic leagues around the world are kicking-off. We’ll be covering all of the major leagues (LCS, LEC, LPL, LCK), while also checking out exciting games happening in the wildcard regions. Make sure to stay tuned as we’ll be well as sharing our esports picks with you!
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