After a few setbacks that kept them from the top of the LEC for some time, a squad that previously promoted the phrase “superteam” is at last climbing back to the top. Today’s group stage of the 2023 LEC saw Team Vitality dominate once more. The squad had previously struggled to qualify for the playoff bracket, but the spring split has given them the opportunity to do so. They are the first team to earn a spot in the Spring Split playoffs, and by doing so via the upper bracket, they are assured of finishing the season in the top three, with the opportunity to join G2 Esports as the LEC representatives at MSI still up for grabs.
Vitality ended the Winter Split regular season in first place, but after a 2-0 defeat to KOI in the Group A finals, they were unable to keep up with the momentum of SK Gaming in the lower finals, also suffering a sweep to them. But this defeat didn’t deter the team, rather Vitality—complete with the LEC return of Upset—dominated a majority of the Spring Split, ending fourth with a path to the group stage through the upper bracket.
This time around, Vitality’s success came nearly entirely from the map dominance of the team’s jungler, Bo, who has remained a crucial part of the team’s various wins since his debut during the Winter Split. Bo eagerly wanted Astralis to be on their toes at all points of the game, resulting in the jungler leading his team into massive early-game plays in both matches that quickly snowballed into leads for Vitality.
Much of this early pressure was fed directly into the Vitality bot lane duo of Upset and Kaiser, who has spent a majority of the split on top. The duo entered the group stage sporting two of the highest KDAs of all players during the regular season at 12.5 and 7.6, respectively, often towering over the competition with their untouchable handling of the ever-meta combination of Zeri and Lulu.
The jungler proceeded to be a constant nuisance across the map for Astralis, securing objectives for the team while greatly increasing his KDA through flashy plays on both Wukong and Lee Sin. He emerged from the series with a combined KDA of 25/5/26 and a hold on the “player of the series” award.
Vitality are the first team to have qualified for the 2023 LEC Spring Split playoffs, though they’ll soon be joined by the victor of the ongoing series between KOI and Team BDS—with one of these teams being their first opponent in the playoff bracket.