The LEC Summer split could have hardly gone worse for Team Vitality. After a fifth-place finish in the Winter split, and a third-place finish in Spring, Vitality were essentially a lock for the LEC Finals later this year. They had seemingly proved their roster doubters wrong. However, the team was still hunting for a LEC title to call its own.
However, they currently sit at a 1-5 record after two weeks of the Summer split. Their games look sloppy, their teamwork is non-existent. Suddenly, one of the hottest teams in the LEC looked like a hastily slapped-together amateur outfit. What's more, if results go against them, there is a chance that this performance could cost them that "seemingly-guaranteed" spot in the LEC Finals.
The worst of the bunch has been Zhou "Bo" Yangbo, the team's supposedly rookie phenom jungler. Vitality picked up the Chinese player last year. Previously, Bo had played for FPX in China in 2021, before being suspended as part of a match-fixing scandal. After good performances in the first two splits of the year, Bo has become one of the worst players in the LEC. As a result, Vitality is sending Bo to the bench.
Vitality Bench Bo, Promote Daglas
In a move announced on June 30, Team Vitality benched Bo for the final week of the LEC season. Bo had a KDA of just 1.1, the worst in the entire league. While Bo has good farming and kill participation, he also has a tendency to recklessly throw himself into fights. He has 4.8 deaths per game, compared to just 1.5 kills.
As a result, Vitality will field their academy jungler Kacper "Daglas" Dagiel for the final week of the Summer split. Daglas joined Vitality.Bee in December 2022 after starting his pro career in the Greek League. He didn't exactly blow the LFL, the French regional league where Vitality have their academy team, away. In Spring, he had a KDA of 3.3 as Vitality.Bee went 9-9. At the time of writing, he currently has a 2.3 KDA with Vitality.Bee at 4-6 in the Summer split.
Essentially, Vitality have decided to see if Daglas miraculously turns into a god-tier player on the LEC stage. At the very least, it will give him some playing time at the LEC level and potentially set up a battle for the starting jungle spot. Daglas' debut will see him take on KOI, Team BDS, and a surging Excel Esports.
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While Vitality Fall, Noah Soars
At the other end of the LEC spectrum to Vitality, you have Fnatic. After struggling immensely in the first two splits of the year, Fnatic revamped their bot lane. Among the changes, they added Oh “Noah” Hyeon-taek, an ADC playing in the Polish Ultraliga.
After six games in his first LEC split, Noah has a KDA of 78. The next highest KDA in the league is held by Trymbi at 7. His KDA over the 19-game Ultraliga Season 9 split was 6.2. Simply put, Noah is a cheat code. He appears to understand the league, the meta, and the game like no one else in the league. His overall stat line is 36/1/42. Even in the single loss Fnatic has suffered so far, Noah still put up a KDA of 7.
As a result, Fnatic are one of two teams to have secured a place in the GSL stage already. They cannot finish with a losing record, and then have immense momentum behind them. While Vitality's "generational talent" has failed them, Fnatic's Korean rookie is climbing to ever-new heights.