2023 LCS Spring Split Power Rankings: Is FlyQuest Slowing Down Ahead of the Playoffs

With the first round robin of the 2023 LCS Spring Split behind, let’s revisit our power rankings.

There were some big broadcast changes coming into the year. The league switched the gamedays from weekends to weekdays, Thursdays and Fridays during regular weeks. Also, some broadcast members won’t be appearing as regulars, with James “Dash” Patterson parting ways with Riot as the regular show host and David “Phreak” Turley retiring from casting LCS.

The split itself kicked off on January 26 with Week 1. The Spring Split Finals location also has been revealed ahead of the opening day, which will be held in PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina on April 8-9. Tickets for the Finals went on sale during Week 1, Day 2.

Even with the weekday broadcasts and the Bo1 format, the 2023 LCS Spring has been very exciting so far. There are a lot of unexpected teams rising through the ranks during the first round robin, Golden Guardians and TSM, and some teams have been performing well below the preseason expectations, Team Liquid and Dignitas.

This power rankings list will be updated throughout the split with each week of games, and readers can find the full schedule for the 2023 LCS Spring Split here.

2023 LCS Spring Split Daily Recaps

• Week 1
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4
• Week 5
• Week 6

10. Dignitas

• Top lane: İrfan Berk “Armut” Tükek
• Jungle: Lucas “Santorin” Tao Kilmer Larsen
• Mid lane: Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen
• AD Carry: Frank “Tomo” Lam
• Support: Lee “IgNar” Dong-geun

Week 7 Update

With their playoff chances completely gone, for Dignitas, it’s all about ending the season on a good note now. To give them credit, they’ve been playing much better ever since Tomo stepped into the roster. Their bot lane is not losing lane as much as they used to, and he is a lot better in teamfights. We even saw him carry the CLG game against a late game Aurelion Sol. Unfortunately, there weren’t too many other positives to take away from their Spring. They will need to step up massively during the break to break into the playoff race, especially with other mid-table teams performing better this year.

Pre-Season Prediction: 7th Place

There are two endings for the 2023 Dignitas roster. The budget super team, or the retirement home. Nearly all players on this roster, with the exception of the rookie Spawn, are players who played on championship contenders and who won trophies. But they also either didn’t have the best 2022 or have been very inconsistent. Well, apart from Santorin who was trying to drag Team Liquid on his back. So it’s hard to say whether they will be a good playoff team or just crash and burn. I’m just hoping it’s the former for the sake of Santorin, but not too optimistic.

9. Immortals

• Top lane: Mohamed “Revenge” Kaddoura
• Jungle: Shane Kenneth “Kenvi” Espinoza
• Mid lane: Onur Can “Bolulu” Demirol 
• AD Carry: Edward “Tactical” Ra
• Support: Kadir “Fleshy” Kemiksiz

Week 7 Update

Immortals are on the same boat as Dignitas, their season is effectively over. It wasn’t a particularly good one either. Tactical and Ablazeolive did not have the resurgence they needed to have, and Kenvi is still struggling to live up to the hype he had coming out of Academy. Revenge once again had a pretty decent split, even though he had his classic consistency issues.

Now, this week will be important for Immortals in regard to their Summer Split. Bolulu has been playing really well ever since he replaced Ablaze for personal issues, and if he can have three more good games in Week 8, I can see Immortals deciding to keep him as a starter next Split.

Pre-Season Prediction: 10th Place

It’s getting harder and harder to get excited about Immortals with each split. This will be the third split in which they are building around Revenge, but he still hasn’t shown enough improvement. This is especially worrying since both Ablazeolive and Tactical also suffer from the same fate. Once regarded as one of the better prospects in their positions, neither player took the next step into LCS stardom. With the other two players on the team being relatively inexperienced, I don’t have any significant expectations for Immortals once again.

8. Team Liquid

• Top lane: Park “Summit” Woo-tae
• Jungle: Hong “Pyosik” Chang-hyeon
• Mid lane: Harry “Haeri” Kang
• AD Carry: Sean “Yeon” Sung
• Support: Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in

Week 7 Update

Team Liquid did not have the split they were looking for. They’ve shown at times that the talent is there, but the consistency or the team play required to challenge for the top is not. Both their rookies are still making a lot of mistakes during mid games and in team fights, which is critical since they are in the two biggest carry roles in a traditional team. Yeon especially is day and night when it comes to in and out of lane. Along with CoreJJ, he had some good laning performances where they got a lot of 2v2 kills, but his positioning hasn’t gotten any better since he made his debut.

TL also did not get what they expected from Summit or Pyosik either. Except for a couple of games each, bot players aren’t playing like they are the veterans. From Summit’s tendency to get overaggressive and die over and over to Pyosik’s bizarre decision-making, his Jarvan engage against EG wasn’t an exception, they are definitely not leading by a good example. Their biggest hope going into Week 8 is to go at least 2-1, but if CLG shows up in a decent form they have a very tall task.

Pre-Season Prediction: 5th Place

Dubbed TLCK by the fans online, Team Liquid build a full Korean-speaking roster with two big imports after a year where they get burned by them. It will be interesting to see if their strategy pays off, but fans should temper their expectations. We know Summit himself can carry a team to the top during the regular season, he is the 2022 Spring LCS MVP for a reason, but other top laners should be more ready for him this time around. They also promoted two Academy players to the roster, which means TL intends to invest some time in this project. I can see them making some noise in Summer after Haeri and Yeon adjust to the LCS level, but it’s hard for them to come out the gate at the level of some of the other squads.

7. Counter Logic Gaming

• Top lane: Niship “Dhokla” Doshi 
• Jungle: Juan Arturo “Contractz” Garcia
• Mid lane: Cristian “Palafox” Palafox 
• AD Carry: Fatih “Luger” Güven
• Support: Philippe “Poome” Lavoie-Giguere

Week 7 Update

CLG really put themselves in an awkward position going into the last week. They easily could have nine wins right now and be sitting comfortably in the playoff race. But they dropped multiple games where they managed to scale with their draft and just throw away games like last week’s Dignitas one. They also aren’t playing to their strength recently, putting Dhokla on tanks like K’Sante and Gragas. CLG looked best when both their solo laners have the ability to carry games on pairings like Irelia/Jayce or Yone/Akali. Also, Contractz hasn’t been able to find the same advantages he used to, so they aren’t snowballing games.

In Week 8, CLG will play GG, TL and C9. Probably the hardest schedule among the three teams tied at 7-8. There is a big chance they go 1-2, or even 0-3, which would eliminate them from the playoff race.

Pre-Season Prediction: 6th Place

Counter Logic Gaming is the only team that did not make any changes coming into the 2023 Season, thankfully so. They were the most exciting team to watch the last split, and the hope is they can continue playing their style. But unfortunately, I don’t think they can repeat their performance performance-wise. The 2022 Summer Split was a very weird one, with multiple teams struggling to find their form and peaking only toward the playoffs like Cloud9. Combine this with teams like FlyQuest making significant upgrades, they might be a little left behind. Still, CLG fans still have a lot to cheer for as their team is at least guaranteed to play with everything they have.

6. TSM

• Top lane: Colin “Solo” Earnest
• Jungle: Lee “Bugi” Seong-yeop
• Mid lane: Huang “Maple” Yi-Tang
• AD Carry: Jason “WildTurtle” Tran
• Support: Jonathan “Chime” Pomponio

Week 7 Update

Currently, there are three teams tied for fifth place with seven wins. And while the other two probably have higher ceilings compared to them, TSM has been the most stable team in this group. Especially since WildTurtle returned to the roster, they have another carry treat alongside Maple so they have more options when it comes to closing out games.

TSM will probably decide their own fate in the game against 100T. They lost the first game in this matchup so a loss here can be catastrophic. But if they manage to win it, they pretty much guarantee at least a tiebreaker. And to do that, they will need a good performance from Bugi as Closer seems to find a little bit of form recently. 

Pre-Season Prediction: 9th Place

TSM put together one of the most strange rosters I’ve seen in the LCS in recent years. They don’t seem to have a clear direction and just stuck with players who helped them avoid disaster last split. I’m happy that players like Chime and Solo are getting a chance on a roster, but I’m not sure how this specific one should be functioning. They don’t necessarily have strong laners or star players, and the team hasn’t been together long enough to beat people with the power of friendship. Maybe they can get an upset here and there, but TSM fans shouldn’t expect too much more.

5. 100 Thieves

• Top lane: Milan “Tenacity” Oleksij
• Jungle: Can “Closer” Çelik
• Mid lane: Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg
• AD Carry: Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng
• Support: Alan “Busio” Cwalina

Week 7 Update

Two wins in a week and maybe the first time ever in this split, 100 Thieves didn’t have to rely on Doublelift to carry them to victory. The star jungler was getting a lot of criticism before these two games, rightfully so as he hasn’t been playing well, but this time around he got his two best champions, Viego and Lee Sin, and looked like the Summer 2021 Closer once again. It’s hard to say whether the change is due to Nukeduck getting promoted to the head coach or just 100T figuring things out slowly, but the change definitely came at the right time. If they can play at a similar level this coming week, 100T has a pretty good chance of making playoffs. I don’t see the Thieves realistically making a title run if they get to the postseason, but at least they can end things on a good note.

Pre-Season Prediction: 4th Place

Not only Doublelift returns to professional League of Legends, but he is once again reunited with Bjergsen. We saw this duo win multiple titles before, but his time their job will be a lot harder. Not only is Doublelift coming off of a two-year break, but the team will also need to integrate two rookies in a very fast fashion. Luckily for them, both Busio and Tenacity have enough talent to speed up the process, but most of the time winning takes time.

With just the name value, a team comprised of Closer, Bjergsen and Doublelift sounds like a title contender. But unlike the last half-decade of LCS, the league’s mid lane pool is in a good state and Bjergsen had some games where he struggled to impact the game. If we get the Bjergsen/Doublelift duo from 2020 Summer, and Closer from any of the last three splits, 100 Thieves can be the title favorites in the Summer Split. But Spring might be too early for their rookies.

4. Golden Guardians

• Top lane: Eric “Licorice” Ritchie
• Jungle: Kim “River” Dong-woo
• Mid lane: Kim “Gori” Tae-woo
• AD Carry: Trevor “Stixxay” Hayes
• Support: Choi “huhi” Jae-hyun

Week 7 Update

GG hype train slowed down the last couple of weeks. Teams seem to be more careful about River’s early game moves, and GG has a tendency to struggle in games where River doesn’t get his team ahead. This doesn’t mean all the work they did is for nothing and GG is back to being a mid-table team. I still think they can upset one of the top three teams in playoffs and even have a chance to make the Finals, albeit it’s an outside chance. GG’s biggest weakness this split was Licorice and he has been a lot more careful about dying unnecessarily and putting his team in rough spots. If he keeps up the solid play, Golden Guardians will be one of the most exciting teams to follow during playoffs.

Pre-Season Prediction: 8th Place

The first try at the River experiment didn’t go that well for Golden Guardians. He was single handily carrying Dignitas’ playoffs hopes in Spring 2022, but couldn’t show the same performance last split. But I have some hopes for 2023, with Gori joining the lineup. I think he will be one of the best signings of the Spring. He is coming into the LCS as the reigning MVP of the PCS, and he has experience playing in LPL and LCK. If Stixxay can keep up his play from last Summer Playoffs with huhi behind him, they might make a push for the playoffs.

3. Evil Geniuses

• Top lane: Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho
• Jungle: Kacper “Inspired” Słoma
• Mid lane: Joseph Joon “jojopyun” Pyun
• AD Carry: Victor “FBI” Huang
• Support: Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme

Week 7 Update

It’s hard to know what to expect from Evil Geniuses. Sometimes they play the early game well and in some games, they don’t. In some games, they have shown a decent macro game and in others, they completely turn things into 40-minute fiestas. Most of their issues stem from the inconsistency of Jojo, who had some awful games this split. He is still one of the best players on the server when he is on, but it can be hard to know what he will do at times. Still, even in games where Jojo is making a lot of mistakes, this team has enough talent to carry on with the job against teams outside the top three. But they will need Jojo to get consistent if they want to take on FlyQuest and Cloud9 in a best-of series.

Pre-Season Prediction: 1st Place

Losing Impact and Danny for 2023 has been a significant blow for Evil Geniuses, but if I had to choose two players to replace them, I would probably choose Ssumday and FBI. It’s arguable who’s better between the two top laner, probably changes with each match-up. And even though FBI may not have the same late-game teamfight presence as Danny, he is still one of the best bot laners in the league, not to mention he is a better laner. He might also be a better fit with this jungle/support duo as well. Both Inspired and Vulcan are very active players in the early game, so an ADC who will contribute to this activity might give EG access to another playstyle.

Of course, this will also be the second year for Jojo, and there is a big expectation to see him take another step forward. He already showed he can be a great team player who will roam the map last split, mainly after the MSI, but this Spring I’d like to see him play more traditional carries as well. A combination of star power and a preexisting synergy of their three core players makes Evil Geniuses favorites to win their second Spring Finals in a row.

2. FlyQuest

• Top lane: Jeong “Impact” Eon-young
• Jungle: Mingyi “Spica” Lu
• Mid lane: Lee “VicLa” Dae-kwang
• AD Carry: Lee “Prince” Chae-hwan
• Support: Bill “Eyla” Nguyen

Week 7 Update

Despite getting their second loss of the 2023 LCS Spring, FlyQuest guaranteed their playoff spot during Week 6 with their win over CLG. Of course, there wasn’t too much debate around whether they would get there or not, many of the questions are about what is going to happen once the Bo5s start. While still the championship favorites for most people, some FlyQuest started to show some cracks.

While he is a talented player, VicLa has not been as dominant as expected. He had some good games, but he had as many stinkers and made his teammates work extra to win in some of the games. Maybe related to that, FlyQuest also hasn’t been great at closing out games. They are consistently ahead at 15, but they make a lot of unnecessary mistakes and delay the end. Sometimes the only plan they have seems to be to let Prince carry, and they have the talent to just win through outplays for the moment, but it might get tougher to do that in playoffs.

Pre-Season Prediction: 2nd Place

What an off-season it has been for FlyQuest. After chasing playoffs with a limited budget roster for two years, the organization finally build a roster that can legitimately challenge the LCS trophy. While they have a very young core, all of these players showed they could play at a very high level for at least a season before. The only exception to this is Eyla, but even he has a small sample size of games from last year when he subbed for TL. So the expected floor for this five-man roster is pretty high, they should at the very least finish top-three. And if all five players come into the season firing at all cylinders, well the league might be in trouble.

Although I’m not expecting them to do that from the start. Both VicLa and Prince might need some time to adjust to NA and to communicate in English on the Rift. Still, it’s almost certain that they will be one of the championship favorites once the playoffs start.

1. Cloud9

• Top lane: Ibrahim “Fudge” Allami
• Jungle: Robert “Blaber” Huang
• Mid lane: Jang “EMENES” Min-soo
• AD Carry: Kim “Berserker” Min-cheol
• Support: Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen

Week 7 Update

We have a very limited sample size, but from what we’ve seen so far EMENES looks like a great fit for a jungler like Blaber. In the recent C9 games, Blaber has been on all types of skirmish-heavy junglers and played very aggressive early games. It is night and day how different both he and C9 looks when he is allowed to be the one making the moves around the Rift.

Of course, there is still some sloppiness going around for C9. The Dignitas game wasn’t close to being clean, especially Zven looked like he was first timing Kalista on stage, but we also saw what they can do to a team when C9 is on. They played probably the most dominant game of the split against 100T, with a draft not a lot of NA teams could’ve executed. A good C9 team is always fun to watch, and luckily they look like they are picking up steam ahead of the final week.

Pre-Season Prediction: 3rd Place

Reigning champions are coming in at the number three, even though they only made one roster change. I think there is a big chance Diplex might be an improvement over Jensen as the latter wasn’t consistent enough on carry champions for Cloud9. But even with the possible improved roster, the worry is that their Summer Playoffs victory was too reliant on the meta at the time, with Berserker dominating other bot lanes on Zeri plus enchanters. We are still seeing Zeri getting played in other regions, but with nerfs on the horizon, C9 fans should hope he broadened his champion pool.

There were also big consistency issues for Cloud9 in Summer. Fudge, Blaber and Zven had games they looked like the best players in the league, and then played like it was their first time as a team. They are in third place with the expectations of them improving their communication problems, and Zven getting comfortable on more champions. Sure, there are a lot of caveats, but these players have proven themselves time and time before.

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