Roster Built To Take Down Titans – GIANTX In LEC Winter 2025

I have them in the Top 6 in my LEC Winter Split Tierlist, maybe even Top 4 if all goes to plan.

GX’s Franchise Player

Jackies proved to be a real threat to the league’s best midlaners last year, especially in Summer. What makes his revelation on Europe’s biggest stage all the more impressive is how he got there. The Czech had just come out of a few years in his native league and was completely untested in the biggest ERLs, like all classic rookies.

He was scouted thanks to a program operated by GIANTX, which unearths talent using artificial intelligence. And although he was merely decent for his first two splits, it was at Summer that he became the indispensable member of his team, the one whose individual prowess left the scene in awe.

That’s when he really shook up the hegemony of the Rasmus “Caps” Winther and Marek “Humanoid” Wake. First in Kill Participation (0.77%), second in KDA (3.93), second in CS/Min (9.82), and third in Gold/MinDMG/Min, and DMG/Gold. The thing is, he got a bit helped by the meta that was perfect for him. And that could well change for Winter 2025… Jackies has been a terror specifically during the “ADCs in the midlane” meta. The player has always performed particularly well on marksman-type champions, even if he plays them in the midlane. Last year, I remember him standing out for his Ezreal mid in soloqueue. It will be interesting to see if he can adapt his game to the new mage meta. But I still think he’s going to lose a little bit of his superbness.

At least this time, he won’t have any communication issue with his jungler.

Can “Closer” Çelik joined Giantx during the offseason, after a remarkable split with Karmine Corp. Although he wasn’t the most prominent player during KC’s great Summer run, he did play a part in the team’s climb back up to fourth place. What’s more, he shouldn’t be that out of place in his duo, since Jackies and Vladimiros “Vladi” Kourtidis share the same profile of young, inexperienced but talented players. This put him in a mentor posture that suits him very well  at the moment. In my opinion, he is not the flashy player he used to be in the LCS anymore – at least he didn’t show it with KC last year.

Fnatic botlaners migrates to greener pastures

Oh “Noah” Hyeon-taek and Yoon “Jun” Se-jun were outstanding in the LEC last year with Fnatic. For me, they were even the best botlane in the league in terms of consistency and overall dominance. BUT, and this is an important point, as soon as international events arrived… they seemed to lose all their composure. Especially Noah, who was sometimes catastrophic, in the complete opposite to the standards he usually imposes on himself at regional level. Things went a little better against the tougher opponents they faced at the last Worlds, but the MSI was a total disappointment, mainly because of them.

I remember these images of Fnatic during an episode of Legends In Action at MSI – credit to Fnatic’s transparency for sharing this kind of content. Noah was even pointed out by his team mates because he couldn’t handle playing under pressure, when it mattered most. After the MSI, he even took a break from socials until they were eliminated from Worlds a few months later.

But other than that, Jun has been the best support of the LEC last year and I am not open to debate. And his teammate was at least one of the top 3 ADCs in the league, alongside Yoon “Ice” Sang-hoon and Steven “Hans Sama” Liv. At Summer and during the Season Finals, I believe he was even top 1 – before Munich, where Hans Sama completely poped off – which is reassuring to me, as it means that he did develop over the course of the year, despite his already high level. For example he was the best ADC in average KDA and Kills/Game at both events and was also the best in average Gold/Min (470.72) and CS/Min (10.33 – that’s a Chovy prime tier stat by the way) at the Season Finals.

My Final Thoughts

It’s particularly through this botlane, which knows each other well, has continued to scale together in 2024 and is already among the best in the league, that I have high expectations of GIANTX this year. But also with Jackies, who has to prove that his last split wasn’t just a one-shot, and that he tends to perpetuate this kind of performance to be able to step up whenever his team needs him. The good news is that, on paper, he should be less busy than last year. However, I’m not sure what to make of Closer and Lot alongside players of this calibre. I do think, though, that with the midlane and botlane growing in the league this year, the team’s two carrys will have their work cut out to reach the top. The meta won’t also be the best for Jackies. These are all elements that lead me to place this team in the middle of the standings for Winter, even though I wouldn’t be that surprised to see them reach the top 3 or 4.