Astralis had a great Week 1 performance in the LEC, finishing with a 2-1 record and are currently 2nd in the standings.
With the major roster changes they have made during the LEC mid-season, is this the split Astralis will become a strong Playoffs contender?
Astralis – Return of LEC Veterans
Astralis swapped out three players from their rosters compared to the one they had in the LEC Spring Split. Top laner Vizicsacsi and jungler Xerxe have returned to the LEC, reuniting the two from the old Splyce days. Xerxe had some rough splits in the LCS, while Vizicsacsi took a 2-year break before coming back at the end of 2021, playing for the LCO team PEACE at Worlds.
The two have been in the scene for quite a while, making them great veterans that you can rely on. They might not be at their peak performance, but the two should bring some consistency and leadership to help the team overall. Together with ADC Kobbe, they have formed a great base to build and grow the two new talents.
Dajor, despite the initial doubts at the beginning of 2022, has proved that he’s worthy of a LEC spot. He will have the chance to fully prove himself this split, with the hopes that he can stay or land in a stronger team for next year.
With that being said, I think that Astralis’ most interesting player is their support Jeonghoon. Previously playing for the Fredit Brion academy (BRO Challengers), the organization made the pick-up despite him not having played competitively in 2022. He currently has played 3 different champions, showing good flexibility with his champion pool, but we will need a few more games to understand what level he belongs to.
Astralis wins through mid and bot
With this new roster, Astralis have found an identity that seems to be working for them. Vizicsacsi is great at weak side, giving Dajor and Kobbe the resources they need to carry the team to victory. Xerxe has always been strong with early game presence as well, making Astralis having a very standard yet effective team identity.
The question is, however, a very tricky one. Is this version of Astralis strong enough to surprise us? Or was Week 1 lucky results? I believe that Astralis have definitely improved compared to spring split, but at the same time, their opponents weren’t probably the best ones to test this theory.
Team BDS and Misfits have lost all their matches in week 1, as both teams stand at the very bottom of the standings. Astralis won against the two, but lost to G2 in the opening match, surviving a 34-minute game. As a result, I think that Astralis might be ready to fight for playoffs, but by looking at the teams participating, I don’t see them fighting above 6th place. MAD Lions and Vitality will be in the mix, as well as XL who actually have been a great surprise so far.
Nonetheless, this is a great start for Astralis and if they are able to take some wins against top teams during the first round robin, then their chances of going to playoffs will be much higher. Considering that the team is very new, I’m confident that they will get better, especially considering the combination of veterans and young players.
Going into Week 2, they meet SK Gaming and Rogue in a top-to-bottom test of wills. If they get a 2-0 here, we can be convinced in their Playoffs case.
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