The EU LCS comes back on January 18, and it has a new name! Meet the LEC aka the franchised version of the biggest League of Legends competition in Europe. Naturally, franchising comes with new teams and rosters, so even seasoned punters might have a hard time navigating different matchups. Don’t fret, though, because our LoL esports experts have already done the grunt work to highlight the most lucrative LoL LEC bets for week 1 of the competition!

LoL LEC Bet Advise – Day 1

exceL Esports vs Splyce

exceL Esports have just made it into the LEC, but they already stand out from the competition. The main reason behind this is their 10-man roster. That’s right, exceL Esports is the only European team with official substitutes for every single position.

Unfortunately, quantity doesn’t always equal quality. At best, players like Expect, Caedrel, Exileh fall into the good-but-not-great category. At worst, they’re way past their prime. Of course, exceL have the option of falling back on their rich cast of rookies—after all, one of them could easily turn out to be the next Caps or Bwipo. But considering that superstars don’t appear overnight, we wouldn’t advise you to place any LoL LEC bets in exceL’s favor. At least, not until they prove themselves on the Rift.

Splyce are in a much better position. Replacing Odoamne with Vizicsacsi only strengthened their top lane, as the former struggled to perform on a consistent basis towards the end of 2018. Acquiring Norskeren is equally important. The Norwegian support was underrated on ROCCAT, and his mechanical prowess and deep champion pool make him a clear-cut upgrade over KaSing. Meanwhile, Humanoid is one of the hottest prospects in the European League of Legends scene, so he might very well turn out to be the terror of the LEC mid lane.

It’s also worth looking at the pieces Splyce retained. Xerxe had a rough start to his 2018 season, but he reestablished himself as one of the most creative European junglers in summer. As for Kobbe, he’s always been rock solid in the bot lane. And as long as he gets through the laning phase, he’ll make his presence known in teamfights and skirmishes.

BETTING ADVICE : exceL are in for an uphill battle here. Unless their rookies perform way past the expectations, there’s a good chance they will be playing this match with zero winning lanes, and it’s hard to imagine Splyce losing from that position. You can place a LoL LEC bet in Splyce’s favor for odds of 1.50 at Betspawn.

Team Vitality vs FC Schalke 04

Team Vitality have made a splash at Worlds 2018, but they’re definitely hungry for more. Jiizuke and Atilla are textbook examples of fearless carries, and they will jump at every opportunity they can get to kick-start a fight. Of course, this recklessness can blow up in their face, but fortunately for them, they have the solid duo of Cabochard and Jactroll to fall back on. Most importantly, all of the abovementioned players have preexisting synergy from the 2018 season, which puts them a step ahead of newly-formed teams.

The only possible issue is Mowgli. He came in as a replacement for Kikis, and—on paper—he has the brains and the brawn to be a better player. However, communication is often a challenge when it comes to Korean imports, and if Vitality don’t find a way to integrate Mowgli into their shot calling system, they might lose a lot of momentum in the early game.

FC Schalke 04 have their own demons to battle. The off-season saw them losing every single player barring Upset, and while they filled the gaps nicely, it will still take some time for the new roster to mesh. There’s also a question of solo lanes. Odoamne didn’t exactly have the most convincing showings in 2018, so it remains to be seen whether he can perform at a high level. To make matters worse, Abbedagge is a rookie, so he will be busy learning the ropes instead of providing support to his top laner.

Schalke’s other recruits hold more promise. Memento is widely regarded as one of the best early game junglers in the region, and IgNar is renowned for his playmaking talents. Finally, Upset rounds out Schalke’s roster by providing a much-needed win condition in the later stages of the game.

BETTING ADVICE : If both of these teams had the same amount of practice, this would be close. However, Vitality hold the advantage of playing together since 2018, while Schalke still need to figure out how they want to approach the game. You can put a LoL LEC bet on Vitality scoring a victory over FC Schalke for odds of 1.50 at ArcaneBet.

LoL LEC Bet Advise – Day 2

Rogue vs Excel

Both Rogue and Excel had a rough time on Day 1 of the 2019 LEC Spring Split, but one of them is going to get a win today! Rogue fell for the fake leash from Misfits, resulting in a disastrous bot lane play that cost their jungler his life and got the enemy Draven going. However, they still showed some promise that game. Wadid performed well on Tahm Kench, and his ultimates were great at creating picks and punishing enemy rotations. And while Kikis fell behind from the first minutes of the game, he was still constantly moving around the map and trying to make something happen.

Excel had a decent start against Splyce, but they couldn’t snowball their early game leads into a confident victory. The main reason behind it is Caedrel. The British jungler suffered from blatant overaggression, frequently going for plays that gave away free kills and put the ball into the enemy court. Combine that with a mid-game-oriented draft, and it’s not exactly surprising that Excel eventually ran out of steam. The good news from them is that Exileh did better than expected in the mid lane, but is this going to be enough to outmuscle Rogue’s Sencux?

BETTING ADVICE : Excel might be proactive in the early game, but they also make a lot of mistakes in the process. Rogue’s playstyle is perfect for punishing these errors, and if Kikis doesn’t get shut down the same way he did against Misfits, they might even be the ones dictating the pace of the game. You can make a LoL LEC bet on Rogue winning their first game of the season for odds of 1.75 at Betway.

Go to Betway »

Splyce vs Team Vitality

Splyce are back, and they’ve got some roster upgrades! Vizicsacsi is a solid addition to their top lane, and Kobbe and Norskeren are already working well together in the bot lane. However, the biggest surprise of this lineup is Humanoid. The rookie mid laner had a stunning debut against Excel Esports, and there’s every reason to believe he’s only going to get better with time.

Granted, they still play around scaling and late game teamfighting, which isn’t the most meta friendly strategy. But the fact that they have well-defined win conditions and know how they want to approach the game is already more than most LEC teams have.

At first glance, Team Vitality looks like a mismatch for them. Not only are Vitality crafty with flex picks in the draft, but they put a strong emphasis on the early game. To make matters worse, their players are strong individually, and the likes of Jiizuke, Mowgli, and Attila can always come up with some spectacular outplays to turn the tide of the battle.

Unfortunately for Vitality, they have no idea how to put these strengths to good use. Despite having a very explosive roster, they have zero understanding of how to rotate around the map and approach neutral objectives. And if they don’t shore up these holes, Splyce will have no issues holding off their early game onslaught and outmaneuvering them in the late game.

BETTING ADVICE : You can place a LoL LEC bet on Splyce winning their game against Vitality for odds of 2.54 at Rivalry.

Go to Rivalry »