With the LEC Summer Split set to return on August 2, 2025, Team Vitality and SK Gaming are making the most of their participation in the NNO Cup Season 3. The event offers both organizations a valuable chance to test out newly assembled rosters in a competitive environment, but without the relentless pressure of the league. In their series of the day, VIT took the victory 2-1 against SK, giving them a little extra confidence boost during their preparation.

The NNO Cup Season 3 is a unique invitational League of Legends tournament that brings together six European teams — this year, a mix of established LEC organizations and regional or specially formed squads. The lineup this year includes:

NORD Esports and Dinosaurus Rex have already been knocked out, leaving the remaining four teams to fight it out in a double-elimination playoff bracket.

New dynamics and first impressions

By a twist of fate, the two LEC teams met in the upper bracket, setting the stage for a best-of-three series that offered fans an early taste of what to expect in the coming Summer Split. Team Vitality edged out the win, taking the series 2-1. Notably, the match featured live POVs from all Vitality players, with casting by SK content creator Lukas "Karni" Steininger and coverage on the official NNO channel.

Given their placements in the most recent LEC splits, SK Gaming finishing 9th twice and Vitality in the mid-pack, few were surprised by the result. However, the series was a preview of things to come, with four new starters taking to the Rift. Vitality brought in Kadir "Fleshy" Kemiksiz, making his debut in a major league, taking over for Yasin "Nisqy" Dinçer after his roleswap. SK Gaming opted for a nearly all-new topside with Park "DnDn" Geun-woo in the toplane, Duncan "Skeanz" Marquet in the jungle and Felix "Abbedagge" Braun in the midlane.

Vitality remains undefeated in the tournament so far, cruising through an easy group stage, while SK has already tasted defeat at the hands of BK ROG, falling 1-2 in their group series. Early signs suggest SK's rebuild needs more time to click, especially given doubts from the community when the roster changes were reported by Sheep Esports. Tim "Keduii" Willers stated in the post-match interview on Karni's stream that "We had a really good draft in the first two games, but we are really bad at anything past minute 20."

He also added that both teams have already scrimmed each other a lot and believes they could have won today. Now, only a rematch in the lower bracket or the grand final could prove him right. That being said, despite the loss, this gives some hope for the team to improve in the next few weeks. With Abbedagge’s experience and DnDn’s mechanical potential, SK could surprise some of the LEC’s more practiced lineups this Summer.

The Bees look solid — both solo laners have shown the same consistency, and while Fleshy is still finding his footing, the squad hasn't dropped a match. Their next challenge is a series against BK ROG, while SK are relegated to the lower bracket, where a rematch against the next defeated team seems likely. These matches should provide more clarity about both teams’ form heading into Worlds qualification battles in the LEC Summer Split.

It's important to remember that the NNO Cup comes right after the Spring Split break, with most teams only recently resuming scrims, making these unofficial matches all the more valuable for testing strategies and building synergy.