All the action from LEC Summer Week One

As the dust settles on the first weekend of Summer, many teams are tied for fifth place with a record of 1W2L. Of the five, two teams in particular stand out: Astralis and KOI. Astralis initially looked weaker than KOI, with both teams having fairly disorganised, but not necessarily bad, drafts.

Looking at KOI, their mechanically gifted players are experts at pushing advantages in the laning phase, but have fallen into old habits and are struggling to convert these advantages in the mid game. Additionally, drafts seem to be centred around comfort picks as opposed to cohesive compositions, with Malrang's Jarvan (D1G3) played in a counter/disengage composition and Advienne's Leona paired with Comp's Xayah (D3G3) sticking out like a sore thumb in the top side heavy pick comp KOI seemed to want to draft.

That being said, Szygenda has been on a tear even in losses, and Comp and Larssen have both had standout performances across the weekend, so if KOI can pull their lane-dominant identity back together, they could be one to watch.

On the other hand, Astralis seem to have evolved into the current mad scientists of the LEC over the weekend, starting slowly but being on an upswing by the end of the week. Not to be defined by the meta, Astralis drafted Rumble, Yasuo, and Blitzcrank in D3G2, and crushed BDS with their unorthodox style. Certainly differently to other teams, Astralis seem to have found a recipe for success, and it should be exciting to see if they can take this chaos to the stars.

Some things change and some stay the same, with two teams surging ahead with 3W0L this weekend: reigning champions MAD Lions (who seem to have bounced back just fine from a disappointing MSI) and the underdogs Team Heretics. Coming off a ninth place finish in Spring Team Heretics made some changes, bringing in Vetheo in the mid lane and Flakked in the ADC role. These seem to have worked, as they stormed out of the gates in Summer.

Flakked in particular was a standout, for both good and bad reasons. Despite not hitting the Nexus in his first game of the weekend, (D1G2, Drakos' screams are part of LEC history now) Flakked was monstrous on Lucian, and showcased the same high level of play on Draven and Zeri in his other games. Walking away with a combined KDA of 31/4/19, he looks like one of the most powerful and pick-diverse ADCs in the league.

Amongst the ocean of available champions, three are looking particularly crucial for teams right now. Yuumi, K'Sante, and Milio have been ever-present in drafts this week, as teams focus their attention on the lane-bullying, bot-centric meta. Yuumi and Milio are both supports that excel in allowing ADCs to recover from and push harder in lane damage trades, but with a 100% pick/ban rate to Yuumi's 87%, Milio seems to be the premiere pick.

Looking to K'Sante, which has a 93% pick/ban rate, the Pride of Nezumah was played in eight games and won five of its appearances. Chasy in particular put on a masterclass with the champion, having a combined KDA of 12/1/16 across two showings.

Able to isolate targets, deal damage, and absorb whatever is thrown at it, this is a pick that looks obnoxiously strong even in losses. In fact, it was BrokenBlade on K'Sante who tore Fnatic apart around the second dragon, picking up a triple kill despite having been behind Oscarinin's Malphite in lane, and paving the way for Fnatic's first loss of the split.

Emerging as somewhat of a handshake to the K'Sante pick has been Renekton, which has looked terrifying in the right hands. Shurima is clearly on top in the LEC, and excluding Adam's game vs AST (which was doomed from a poor level one decision, D3G2) it has three wins in four appearances, a combined KDA of 20/5/22, and looked monstrous when piloted by Finn regardless of the loss.

If any notes were taken back to Berlin from MSI, it would seem to be an emphasis on the bot lane. Controversially, late game team fighters such as Jinx and Zeri are struggling to find much success, being smacked around by lane bullies such as Xayah, Lucian, and in some cases Aphelios.

Support picks seem crucial on the patch, particularly the ability to play enchanters such as Milio, Yuumi, Nami, and (in reserve) Lulu. A few engage supports still exist, most notably Rakan, who has to be banned or picked away when facing a Xayah across the rift, but in doing so could lead to a weakened lane pairing. Milio looks most powerful paired with the likes of Lucian and Aphelios, who seem to be the most successful ADCs, with Lucian having stronger laning and pick potential, but Aphelios being the better DPS team fighter.

Fnatic's new ADC Noah and G2's veteran Hans Sama, two players who found success this weekend, showcased a prime example of the draft trades that should be expected moving forwards, in D3G4. With Yuumi banned and G2 first picking Milio on blue side, Fnatic picked away the Lucian Hans Sama had been reliant on, rather than choosing Noah's favoured Aphelios (combined KDA of 18/0/15), as a Lucian Nami pairing into Aphelios Milio gave them a better chance than Aphelios with a weaker support into the extreme laning power of Lucian Milio.

In response to the attack damage meta, Malphite made a couple of unsuccessful appearances, but is a promising pick not only as an engage tool but as a means for teams to think outside of the box with their drafts in general.

Two items in particular have risen to prominence this weekend, those being Trinity Force and Statikk Shiv. Bruiser Zeri is back, with its massive AOE damage potential and absurd survivability in full force, but struggling to find much success. In a jungle meta that the LEC seems to be slow to figure out, Trinity Force has been the go-to option for bruiser picks such as Viego - also making a surprise appearance on Flakked's Draven - but the league seems to be favouring tanks such as Maokai and Sejuani and reluctant to play assassins as of right now.

Moving on to the soon to be nerfed Statikk Shiv, both Humanoid (D1G5) and Perkz (D2G1) piloted the item on LeBlanc, and both found success. Another champion that benefited from the item's absurd wave clearing capabilities is Ahri, as showcased by Larssen (D3G3) who played excellently despite KOI's eventual loss. Vetheo surprised everyone with a mid lane Kai'Sa pick, utilising a build of Statikk Shiv, Nashor's Tooth and Guinsoo's Rageblade to help Team Heretics to a clean sweep.

Notably absent from the item slots of ADCs is Infinity Edge, with its undertuned damage payoff falling short of the utility offered by other mythics such as Galeforce and the ability casting of Navori Quickblades. In a meta where scaling, team fighting ADCs such as Jinx are falling short in the laning phase, it seems the LEC has decided snowballing>scaling for the Summer split.

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