Reigning LCS MVP Berserker wastes no time, powers C9 to first win of 2023 Summer Split

At long last, the 2023 LCS Summer Split has arrived.

After a two-week delay caused by a player-incited lockout, the second half of the professional League of Legends season began today in North America. Despite the extended offseason and extent of changes that have come to the league and its teams since April, the Summer Split started exactly the same way the Spring Split ended—with a Cloud9 win over Golden Guardians.

Golden Guardians and C9 were among the only teams in the LCS to come into the Summer Split with the exact same rosters they fielded in the spring, and their rematch today looked fairly similar to their face-off in the Spring Finals. That series saw C9 win by a game score of 3-1 in some fairly lopsided contests. But today, the game remained extremely close through the early and mid-game. 

Through the first 24 minutes of the game, neither C9 nor Golden Guardians had a gold lead that surpassed 2,000. It wasn’t until the team’s double-marksman (plus Milio, who was making his LCS debut) composition came online in the mid-game that C9 were able to win some teamfights and start to quickly thwart Golden Guardians’ chances. 

In a mid-game teamfight, C9 rode the heroics of their AD carry Berserker, who used his signature champion Zeri to run straight through Golden Guardians’ backline in a split teamfight that took place in their own jungle. Berserker’s Zeri weaved in and out of the fight, free-hitting Golden Guardians in a battle that eventually led to a C9 Baron take and subsequent push through the top lane for the victory. 

With a final scoreline of 5/0/3 in today’s game, Berserker started his run toward a second-straight MVP award. No player in LCS history has ever won two consecutive MVPs, let alone two in a single season. 

Related: Dot Esports’ 2023 LCS Summer Split preseason power rankings

This summer, the LCS will be played at a much faster pace than past splits to make up for lost time due to the player strike. The split had previously been an eight-week affair but will now be played over the course of six weeks, with each week consisting of three match days. C9 will continue their first week of games against Dignitas and TSM, two teams who failed to qualify for the Spring Split playoffs.