This has been one of the most turbulent seasons for many different pro European League of Legends fan bases, with a handful of top-level organizations scraping into the 2023 Spring Split group stage. It has been especially hard for diehard supporters of Team Heretics, who have missed the group stage this season and are now out of contention for the Mid-Season Invitational.
This season will sting even more for Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski, who was one of the best-performing junglers in the league. The veteran LEC superstar led his role in kills, assists, and, as usual, first blood percentage, while also sitting in the top three in multiple categories like kill participation percentage, total kill share, and total damage share, according to competitive League stats aggregate Oracle’s Elixir.
The 27-year-old’s efforts almost pushed Heretics into the next stage, but they were stopped by MAD Lions in a final tiebreaker that would have snuck them into groups. In that match, Jankos put on a valiant effort as he found multiple different engages on Wukong that could have gone well for Heretics. But since they were at a constant deficit, they could never take advantage of his multi-man knock-ups.
Related: LEC’s first seasonal tiebreaker sees MAD Lions sneak into Spring Split groups
Looking ahead, Heretics have many different questions that need answering. Jankos was one of the best junglers this split but they either need to adjust their coaching approach or retool the roster for more success. An early group stage exit during the Winter Split and a regular season exit in the spring does not bode well for this organization and could be the catalyst for some changes.
There are some silver linings, though, including the team’s rookie AD carry Jakob “Jackspektra” Kepple, who actually led the league with 56 kills over these last three weeks. He also had some bright moments in Heretics’ final tiebreaker match against MAD, including a massive play on Xayah that kept his team alive for a few more minutes in the later stages of the game.
Heretics will have to wait until the 2023 Summer Split begins later this year before getting a chance to redeem themselves. In the meantime, fans can continue to watch more LEC action when the group stage begins on Saturday, April 8.
