With February underway, the first split of the LOL regular season across major regions is almost finished. In LCK, HLE was knocked out in the 10-to-9 round, marking them as the first team worldwide to miss the Mid-Season Invitational. The LCS has played the fewest matches, with teams having only 2-3 games each. Although FLY lost Bwipo, their strength persists, maintaining a 2-0 undefeated record tied with C9.

In the LCP region, after CFO lost their mid and jungle players, their strength declined. CFO has played 5 matches so far with a 3-2 record, suffering defeats against GAM and DGC. Currently, the top of the standings is held by Vietnam’s TSW and the newly rising DCG from Taiwan, both with a 4-1 score. It seems Sadbean’s new journey isn’t going smoothly, and if things continue like this, CFO might fail to qualify for the Mid-Season Invitational.

G2 dominated by streamer team

This year in the LEC, two teams from the secondary league were invited to compete in the primary league. LR, founded by streamer Oucheng, earned this invitation after winning back-to-back Masters titles. Returning to the top league after several years, Oucheng’s team did not disappoint. Although mostly composed of streamers, LR achieved a 4-5 record and defeated several strong European teams.

LR first defeated MKOI, then decisively beat G2. Both teams participated in last year’s World Championship, so it was unexpected that with minimal roster changes, they lost to a streamer team. LR clearly has some skill; as long as their AD gets ahead, they usually secure the win. However, their participation license is limited to the first split only, as LEC will revert to a 10-team format afterward.

Ruler criticizes coach for spreading false info

Since Riot introduced coach voice comms, all major regions have officially adopted it in the first split. There have been many funny moments, like coaches interrupting team fights. Recently in LCK, a coach pulled off a ridiculous move. Ruler revealed that during GEN vs. HLE’s first game, the coach said in voice chat that Kanavi’s Xin Zhao hadn’t flashed, but right after the coach told teammates, Xin Zhao flashed and engaged.

This coach’s false info intervention was hard to believe—he couldn’t even remember the enemy’s skill cooldowns and almost caused the players to lose. Unfortunately, Ruler didn’t comment with a “Didn’t Zed have no ultimate back then?” The coaches watch from a single team perspective in the booth and even miscalculate cooldown timings. It’s quite abstract. But since Yuelun is older, even if Ruler is unhappy, he doesn’t dare to lose his temper.

Knight tops MVP leaderboard

Recently, the LPL officially updated the MVP points leaderboard, with Knight still in first place, boasting 75 points. Tarzan is close behind, trailing by only 6 points, so he could catch up or surpass Knight soon. The third-ranked player, Karl, is the only support among the top 12, showing how strong AL’s jungle-support duo is. However, the gap between second and third place remains significant.

Angel and Croco have also been dominating the Resilient and Phoenix groups, ranking 4th and 5th respectively. Aside from Tarzan, only Jiejie appears on the jungler list. Most of the players on the leaderboard are AD carries. Xiao Xu and Saint Gunner are the only top laners featured, both making the list. Surprisingly, Bin is ranked outside the top 12. With Knight scoring so high, Viper’s 7th place feels reasonable even if he’s not ranked higher.

Conclusion:

A streamer team competing in the top league not only avoided last place but also won 4 games. Oucheng seems to have truly learned something after training with T1. Unfortunately, they can only participate in the first split and have no qualification for the later splits. Otherwise, more matches against primary league teams might give them a real chance to become a strong team.

So, what do you think? Is coach voice comms useful?

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments!