All Tops and Flops in the First Two Weeks of LEC Winter 2025

The LEC has now been running for two weeks with the Winter Split 2025. This gives us a good overview of the major forces and the teams that are far from firing on all cylinders. But equally of the meta, and the priorities given by the team. Here are my Tops and Flops of the first two weeks in the EMEA Tier 1 league.

Top: Disputed Split, Outcomes Remain Unknown

After years of dominance from Fnatic and G2 at the top of the rankings, the cards are reshuffled for the start of 2025. Yes, it happened that MAD Lions, Rogue, or BDS also contested the trophy in recent years. But a split has never seemed so uncertain from the start, with at least five power-houses able to compete for the first place. Karmine Corp and KOI have aligned with the best as they showcased clear domination over their opponents in every win they got so far (they are already qualified for playoffs, tied with Fnatic in the first place: 5-1). GIANTX is also qualified for the next stage, as they met the expectations placed on their promising roster. GX went 3-0 for their first week and had a rougher time in the second where they lost two games (now 4-2).

G2 got off to a slow start after a worrying first week (1-2), but now seem to be reaching the level we expected, winning against GIANTX in 27 minutes. Overall, I get the impression that these teams are producing quality and accurate League of Legends, both individually and collectively. I’m also encouraged to see youth taking the upper hand, with players like Caliste, Vladi, Jackies, Skewmond, and Jojopyun already vying for top spots in their respective roles. This hotly contested title is a good sign for the league, which has finally raised the bar at the regional level. It is the first milestone on the road overtaking the Eastern cap at international events in the nearest possible future.

Top: Jungle meta seems varied for once

It’s been years since I haven’t seen a meta where all bruisers, AP carries, Ivern and tanks are playable in the jungle – which mean they can win games, even if it’s not Kim “Canyon” Geon-bu on Nidalee. In the first two weeks of the LEC we saw all of them being played, and in my opinion there is not a single style which seems like a bait so far. But hey, let’s not get carried away. Even though the meta allow junglers to many different styles, only 10 unique champions have been played in the jungle. I expect more to come for the Fearless Draft stage, but for now Skarner for example is the only pick that has 100% of presence in the league (2 times picked, 28 times banned).

Top Bonus: Fans are loud, and that is refreshing! Not only the expected KOI or KC fans, but also those from G2, Fnatic, Vitality, GIANTX and others.

Flop: A bottom as disputed

While the top five teams are easily distinguishable, the bottom five are equally obvious… It is still very early in the season to give an overall assessment of how the year will go, but such a wide gap between the top and bottom teams at the start of the season is not very reassuring for the homogeneity of the league. While some teams have aligned themselves with the big boys, others seem to have scaled back their ambitions, at least for the start of the competition. Starting with BDS, who last year were consistently in the top 3. Today, the Swiss organisation seems to have far fewer resources at their disposal to challenge for the top of the standings (currently 2-4, after a 0-3 second week)… I hope those bottom teams will scale, and show some better signs in the coming splits, but I’m afraid they’ve got too much catching up to do. The only team I can dare to imagine contesting the top in the near future is Vitality (3-3), if they manage to properly structure their game, while keeping the confidence they actually play with.

Défaite innacceptable dans la forme, on fait toutes les erreurs coutantes alors que le plan de jeu a été répété en post draft. On va devoir faire des changements et montrer beaucoup plus de discipline, et vite

— BDS Striker (@StrikerLoLcoach) January 26, 2025

Flop: Ruinous Atakhan did not appear a single time for now

After two weeks, the neutral objective you must see in 80% of your soloqueues has not appear a single time out of 30 games in the LEC. Yes, Voracious Atakhan has a 100% spawn rate in the EMEA Tier 1 so far. As a reminder, the monster appear at 20 minutes under two possible forms: Voracious or Ruinous. Ruinous only spawn in bloody games, with a lot of damages to champions and kills. It was expected that Voracious would have a higher spawn rate in pro play. But come on guys, we’re not LCK…