EU LCS has undoubtedly had the most changes to its format and the roster of the teams playing in it during the off-season. EU firstly adopted the group system from the LPL, splitting the 10 player pool into two sets of 5 that do not play games against each other until the playoffs. Another large change was the sheer number of roster changes and redistribution of players, with only 1 team not changing a single player in their roster. Along with the split up groups, EU has changed their best-of-2 series to a best-of-3, something which fans were hoping to see ever since the best-of-2 format was revealed in Summer 2016. With the incoming 10 ban system that will undoubtedly make the pick/ban phase more impactful, here is a quick analysis of the changes.
First of all, I am not keen on the split up groups for a standard season. By cutting the pool down to just 4 teams that a single team has to play against over the course of the regular season, it will be harder to gauge the overall performance when heading into international tournaments or even the play-offs. The group draw itself can lead into one of the brackets being weaker due to unforeseen circumstances, meaning that a team can get into the play-offs while not being that high up on people’s rankings. Following the big roster changes that swept EU during the off-season, the only way to assess the current level of a team is to listen to the other teams currently scrimmaging against them. Some additional analysis can be done when looking at the performances across the two groups, but without seeing a proper head-to-head matchup before play-offs, the region can foreseeable suffer due to the change as teams won’t get a wide variety of matches between the regular season and play-offs. It also encourages them to scrimmage against teams in the other bracket more since they do not need to worry about facing them the next week, lowering the amount of varying playstyles that teams have to play against. Obviously, most of this can end up not actually happening and the region does have plenty to gain from making changes to its format.
With the changes and my own personal thoughts covered, lets move on to a different type of team analysis to see how the EU teams are looking in their specific groups.
GROUP A:
G2 Esports
Fnatic
Misfits
Giants Gaming
ROCCAT
G2 Esports (G2):
G2 Esports won EU in 2016. They were crowned the champions in both the Spring Split and the Summer Split, after having qualified for the LCS just before the 2016 season. Their aggressive playstyle, that was reckless on a first glance, took teams by surprise, seemingly being able to overwhelm their opponents in games with high kill counts on both sides. This was during EU’s initial turmoil heading into the 2016 season, after star players had left for NA and when the previous top contenders had started to struggle with adaptation to new metas or the lack of team synergy. In Summer, G2 brough in the duo of “Zven” (formerly known as Niels) and “Mithy” to replace “Emperor” and “Hybrid”, leaving the roster with only 1 starting import player, “Trick” who became the two-time MVP in EU during 2016. However, they had picked out a substitute top player between Spring and Summer, which prompted the current top laner to make an ultimatum to the team, followed by him leaving the team as the organization refused to let go of their substitute, leaving “Expect” to start just a few weeks into the Summer season. The roster seemed to be stronger than the Spring counterpart, but their performance had fallen.
The current iteration of G2 still plays an aggressive style, heavily focusing on outplaying the enemy team by pushing lane advantages to their limits, sometimes sacrificing one lane to push two, leading to one lane left at a stand still while two others push with the help of their jungle. There were initial warning flags when “Expect” didn’t perform well at the start of Summer, becoming the weak link in the roster, but that was slowly patched out as “Expect” gained more experience during the season.
“Trick” remained a dominant force on the team during both seasons, however, his performance did falter during international events when he would frequently make odd mistakes and falling behind the enemy team. These mistakes weren’t common but left him a bit more passive in games where he needed to be more aggressive. His synergy with “Expect” seemed to come naturally later on in the season, letting him help “Expect” improve his play and level of confidence in the games.
The most controversial member of G2, “Perks”, had an outstanding Spring split, playing well against some of EU’s best midlaners. This changed drastically in Summer, and after many interviews in which “Perkz” claimed that he would perform against their next opponents and then losing against his lane opponent even if his team was victorious. His performance in international games was also unstable, with him having either a fantastic or terrible performance. However, with G2 picking up a player psychologist as an assistant coach, I believe that “Perkz” can redeem his reputation in EU.
The bottom lane of G2 is the famed duo of “Zven” and “Mithy”, a duo that has been together ever since the original Origen line up when they entered the Challenger Series. They went from the Challenger series to Worlds, just like G2 did, raising their player stock in the eyes of everyone. Having only joined G2 in the Summer 2016 split, their initial performance during the year wasn’t as strong as their previous years, casting doubt towards their skill. With the move, however, they did show that they were still one of the more dominant lane duos in Europe.
Starting line-up:
TOP: Daehan “Expect” Ki
JUN: Kang “Trick” Yun Kim
MID: Luka “Perkz” Perkovic
ADC: Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen
SUP: Alfonso “mithy” Aguirre Rodriguez
SUB: Petar “Unlimited” Georgiev
SUB: Joel “Relinquished” Fjellstrom
Fnatic (FNC):
When it comes to League of Legends, Fnatic has most likely done it first. They won the first League Championship back in 2011 and are among the most recognized eSports teams in the world. However, last year, they didn’t quite live up to that reputation. During the off-season between 2015 and 2016, the team lost 3 of their players, their team captain “Yellowstar”, their Outstanding Rookie “Huni” and the soon to be NA MVP “Reignover”. With both of their in-game leaders gone, Fnatic slumped as the existing members attempted to take on new responsibilities within the game itself. The start to their season was rough, but they had a moment of hope for the fans when they came in 2nd at IEM World Championships in 2016. That however wasn’t enough as the team failed to re-assert their dominance over the region, falling out of contention for the World Championship series.
Fnatic went through an extensive roster overhaul during the off-season, with just one player being retained by the organization. Opting for a 10-man roster that splits its time playing in the Challenger series and the LCS, the team is a mixture of old and new players. The new top lane for Fnatic is their old player from 2014, “Soaz”, who had played for Origen for two years. “Soaz” is one of the veteran EU players, having played the game competitively since 2011. “Soaz” had a rough season during 2016, losing to some of the new rookie top laners. It is unknown how much of this can be attributed to the internal struggles at Origen, but “Soaz” will have his work cut out for him during 2017 to prove himself once again.
Another returning face to Fnatic, “Amazing”, is also an EU veteran, but as with “Soaz”, his 2016 season wasn’t very good. With the inconsistent season, it is hard to gauge the true value of “Amazing” and “Soaz”, but based on social media and mentions from other EU LCS players, the two have upped their level of play from 2016 and seem to have shaken off the bad year.
One of the surprise departures from Fnatic was their midlaner “Febiven”, who was replaced by “Caps”, something that created some commotion among the fans. “Caps” has played in the Turkish League in 2016, but beyond that, this will be his first year playing in the EU LCS outside of the Challenger series. There are high hopes for “Caps”, but it will take some time before the fans and analysts can properly evaluate him against the rest of the region.
The only returning player for Fnatic is “Rekkles”, who became somewhat of a central figure in the teams restructuring. Starting off the 2016 season, he was made the in-game captain for the team in the absence of Yellowstar. The effects of this showed quickly, as “Rekkles”‘ play suffered from having to manage all of the players in game. This can be attributed to the very focused ADC role, which is often said to be the most quiet role as the player has to focus on their own mechanics. This load was lifted in Summer, but by then, the teams synergy was strained and his usual form did not return. For 2017, the first few weeks will tell how well the restructuring efforts have gone and how good “Rekkles” will be during the season. His lane partner “Jesiz” used to be a strategist for Team Dignitas in NA and an assistant coach for Immortals, it remains to be seen what he will bring to the team in-game.
Starting line-up:
TOP: Paul “sOAZ” Boyer
JUN: Maurice “Amazing” Stückenschneider
MID: Rasmus “Caps” Winther
ADC: Martin “Rekkles” Larsson
SUP: Jesse “Jesiz” Le
SUB: Mike “Wickd” Petersen
SUB: Yannick “Panda” Greff
Misfits (MSF):
Misfits qualified for the LCS in 2016 by relegating Schalke 04. They dominated the Challenger series during the play-offs, defeating both of their contenders 3-0. During the relegation tournament, they did lose to Origen with a record of 2-3, being one game away from advancing to the LCS in the first round of the Promotion series. During the off-season, Misfits made some changes to their roster after some disagreements with the existing players.
Their top lane was influential in their promotion to the LCS. “Alphari” dominated Schalke’s top lane and opened up the series in the favour of Misfits. As many of the Challenger Series teams are considered weaker than the LCS teams, it is difficult to say how good “Alphari” is, as Schalke’s top laner wasn’t considered very strong in general. I see Misfits as a middle of the pack team that can surprise viewers during Spring.
A surprise signing for Misfits was the Korean jungler “KaKAO”. As it became apparent from the NA power analysis, Korean players are perceived as stronger players than most EU or NA natives. If “KaKAO” is able to communicate efficiently with his teams within the game, “KaKAO” could be a jungler to watch out for during the season.
In somewhat of an ironic turn of events, the former Origen mid “PowerOfEvil” signed with Misfits during the off-season, replacing “Selfie”. The 2016 season damaged “PowerOfEvil”‘s player stock, which caused a fan backlash at the signing, who saw “Selfie” as a better player. The situation isn’t as clear as it would seem, as comparing Challenger and LCS players always comes with a lot of speculation, so whether this signing was an upgrade or a downgrade, to me, it remains as an unknown until we see how Misfits starts out their first LCS season.
The bottom lane of Misfits consists of “Hans-sama” and “IgNar”. Like “Alphari”, “Hans-sama” showed off his skills during the Promotion and Challenger series. 2017 will be “Hans-sama”‘s Rookie year in the League and it will be something to keep in mind as he moves onto playing on a stage with an audience in front of him. With him, is “IgNar”, a former KT Rolster player from Korea. The combined duo of “Hans-sama” and “IgNar” was devastating as their aggressive playstyle dominated the other challenger teams. But as with all newly promoted teams, the first few weeks will tell how well they can do against the more experienced players.
Starting line-up:
TOP: Barney “Alphari” Morris
JUN: Byung-kwon “KaKAO” Lee
MID: Tristan “PowerOfEvil” Schrage
ADC: Steven “Hans-sama” Liv
SUP: Dong-geun “IgNar” Lee
Giants Gaming (GIA)
Giants had a 180 season in 2016. In spring, they were a bottom tier team and had to play in the Promotion tournament to retain their LCS spot. However, between Spring and Summer, they swapped out multiple players and managed to place in the top 3. However, they couldn’t replicate their success during the play-offs, forcing them to play in the regional qualifiers. The team subsequently lost and during their off-season, the team changed a lot of members, making the teams future somewhat uncertain, placing them lower in the bracket when compared to the other teams.
“Flaxxish” is the new top laner for Giants, and has had his first games with the team at IEM Gyeonggi. His performance at the event wasn’t the strongest even though they beat Team Liquid in a one-game series, but later losing against the Kongdoo Monster’s 0-2 and they had to play against Team Liquid a 2nd time, during which they lost 0-2 again. There aren’t many expectations for “Flaxxish”, but if the team manages to play as well as they did in the Summer of 2016, there may be a surprise in store in Group A.
Playing in the jungle for Giants is “Memento”, who isn’t quite a rookie in the LCS as he had his debut season in the Summer split on a different team. “Memento” had a rough start to his LCS career, playing on a team that had to play in the Promotion tournament, managing to hold on to their LCS spot. “Memento” went on to play in the Challenger Qualifier series on NERV, after which he will be moving to Giants when the tournament ends.
One of the retained players for Giants is their Korean mid laner “NighT”. He was one of the reasons for the resurgence of the team in Summer split as he proved to be a good mechanical player. However, “NighT” was unable to repeat his regular season performance during the play-offs and the regional qualifier, so there are some question marks about the upcoming season and his standing. If Giants are going to surprise Group A, “NighT” will need to show the same strength he did last summer.
Giants signed a new lane partner for their 2016 Summer support player “Hustlin” by picking up a new player “HeaQ”. “HeaQ”‘s only professional games have been on SuperMassive TNG in Turkey, making him a player that is nearly impossible to rank against the other EU players. Coming from a wild-card region, it will be on “Hustlin”‘s shoulders to make sure that “HeaQ” can gain experience fast enough to not have any performance anxiety in front of larger crowds.
Starting line-up:
TOP: Olof “Flaxxish” Medin
JUN: Jonas “Memento” Elmarghichi
MID: Gun-woo “NighT” Na
ADC: Martin “HeaQ” Kordmaa
SUP: Morgan “Hustlin” Granberg
SUB: Antonio “Th3Antonio” Espinosa Bejarano
Team ROCCAT (ROC):
Cutting straight to the point, ROCCAT is currently seen as the weakest team in Group A. Their 2016 season was a disaster, with the team signing two Koreans who left the team at the end of the season. They also signed “Steelback” who is seen as one of the stronger ADC’s in EU, who also left the team after saving the team from relegation. The team has some new staff in the form of older players who used to play for the team, a single new Korean, which can create a language barrier within the team. There isn’t much upset potential in place for the team, so the team’s goal for 2017 should be to survive and not get relegated.
In the top lane for ROCCAT is “Phaxi”. Prior to 2017, he has only played in minor tournaments and as a substitute at IEM Gyeonggi Qualifiers for Dark Passage. One positive to note for “Phaxi” is that with him as a substitute, Dark Passage did qualify for Gyeonggi, however, the team did not win a single game during the proper tournament. If “Phaxi” adapts to the LCS quickly, he could be a decent top laner, but it is hard to see his strengths right now.
“Maxlore” played for the successful Giants Gaming team in Summer 2016. He has the same issues as the prior Giants members, it is hard to tell if he will be in the same form with new teammates and if he can provide the same pressure that he did during the last season. With that in mind, “Maxlore” could be a middle of the pack jungler in EU, but he will need to prove himself once more.
The mid lane is a familiar face for ROCCAT fans as “Betsy” stayed with the team. “Betsy” has always been an average to above average mid laner in EU. He performed reasonably well even when Roccat was having difficult games, but his solid performances were also overshadowed by the poor performance of the team as a unit. If ROCCAT does upset the balance of power in Group A, it will most likely be done through an advantage in the mid lane.
The bottom lane duo is a mismatched Korean support and EU AD carry. The problem with mixing languages in a single lane is the miscommunication that can end up with two players dead at the same time and loss of cohesion between the jungler and the bottom lane as a whole. “Hjärnan” proved himself to be an above average AD Carry when he was on Team Vitality, but with “Wadid” by his side, it will be up to the pair to get through the initial rough patch.
Starting line-up:
TOP: Ambroz “Phaxi” Hren
JUN: Nubar “Maxlore” Sarafian
MID: Felix “Betsy” Edling
ADC: Petter “Hjärnan” Freyschuss
SUP: Kim “Wadid” Bae-in
SUB: Erik “Treatz” Wessén
SUB: En “XoYnUzi” Qiang Zhou
Next week, I will talk about Group B, which I find a little bit more interesting when it comes to the balance of the teams in terms of apparent strength. As I mentioned last week, this article used a different format, feedback on it would be appreciated.
