The CIS region’s highest level of competition, the 2021 LCL Spring Season is soon approaching. The tournament will have one of the later starts compared to the rest of the world, scheduled for the 13th of February.
It features eight different teams, battling across a condensed seven week split. They are battling for a chance to enter the 2021 LCL Spring Playoffs and potentially direct qualification to the 2021 Mid Season Invitational, a major event only surpassed by Worlds.
Four games will be aired on Saturday and Sunday, totally eight games a week.
© ru.lolesports
The LCL 2021 Spring Split opening weekend is set to kick-off on February 13-14th with four matches each day. Before the action kicks off we are ranking the participating teams for the season and setting up the expectations for this split. You can make your opening weekend bet slips accordingly.
Participating teams in 2021 include: Crow Crowd, CTRL Play, Dragon Army, Gambit Esports, One Breath Gaming, RoX, Unicorns of Love and Vega Squadron.
Unicorns of Love are the clear favorites having dominated the LCL since they entered in 2019. With the exception of mid-laner Frappi, and sub Lodik, UoL has kept the rest of their 2020 starting lineup. While Unicorns of Love may fail to compete in the world stage last year, failing to even take a single game, they had managed to claim the top spots in both the 2020 LCL Spring and Summer Playoffs.
Coming into 2021, they are expected to keep their dominating run despite the extensive changes LoL has received as a game in the off-season.
Gambit Esports are by no means counted out for the top spot. Infact, Gambit are UoL’s strongest competition having previously placed second across the 2020 LCL Summer Season and Playoffs. Gambit are almost assured a top three finish as they were able to retain all of their 2020 lineup. However, as matches are only a Best of One, Gambit is in a strong position to overtake UoL if they win the head-2-head.
We will know soon enough, as 2021 opens with a banger between UoL and Gambit on February 13th.
Crow Crowd found a fair amount of success in 2020. However, with a new revamped roster filled with proven talent, the team aims to challenge the likes of Unicorns of Love and Gambit. While the new members have rarely played alongside each other, their individual talent is high, placing Crow Crowd as a top three pick in our LCL power rankings. The lineup’s comparatively high experience in the CIS allows them to hold an advantage over many teams with newer or unproven members.
One Breath Gaming had an extremely strong showing to their first ever season, placing top three and top four in the 2020 LCL Summer Season and Playoffs respectively. Like many other teams, OBG had a number of roster changes, bringing the likes of XoNix, Mirbs and Adept. With only one member finalized in February, One Breath Gaming have the synergy advantage compared to other teams entering Week One.
CTRL is a new team entering the 2021 LCL Spring Split. The line-up consists of experienced players, all having varying success with the LCL in the past. However, given the team lacks top talent or players with major potential, it is likely they will be relegated towards a low to mid-tier team.
Vega Squadron were formerly one of the top CIS teams in 2019, before their disappointing fall in 2020 by ending the 2020 LCL Summer Season last place. The team have built their roster around Charger and Rein, two experienced players, alongside other less experienced talent.
RoX had been very promising at the start of 2020, finishing at the top of the Spring Season. However, the team quickly tumbled after half their members moved to Gambit Esports. While the team have revamped their roster, it is unlikely RoX will reach its heights it did in the past.
Their hopes now lie with veteran Maksim “Maxim” Tarasov in the midlane and M5 Academy newcomer Kristian “Balkane” Lendel who is supposed to reinvigorate three lanes with his jungling prowess.
Dragon Army have struggled for the past two years, even failing to qualify for the playoffs in both the Spring and Summer splits in 2020. Given Dragon Army only made two roster changes, bringing on Maynter and Laynel, it is unlikely the team will make any major progress. Additionally, due to the late finalization of their new members at the start of February, it is expected Dragon Army to have an especially slow start.
Their results might improve for Summer Split, but in Spring we expect them to be dead last as they are working on their synergy.
The action is set to kick off on February 13, with an opening banger between Unicorns of Love and Gambit.
Read next: Wild Rift Esports first steps in the Philippines to showcase its potential
LOL
CS2
Dota 2
Valorant
Fortnite
Call of Duty
Mobile Games
Gaming
EN Global 
JP 日本語
BR Português