No Pressure: Origen's First Split in the LCS
Enrique "xPeke" Cedeño Martínez and Fnatic are ruling EU once again, just like they have on and off for the last five years. But this Split, for the first time, they're opposing forces.
We sat down with the revitalized veterans on Xpeke's Origen squad, who've been making waves and knocking established teams down the standings all summer long in the EU LCS.
Origen Story
xPeke spent the first four years of his professional career fighting for the black and orange of Fnatic after being recruited by the London-based organization following his squad's win at the first-ever Intel Extreme Masters LoL tournament in early 2011.
Finding quick sucess, xPeke led Fnatic to the finals of The Season 1 World Championship, where he laned against his future longtime teammate, Paul "SoaZ" Boyer, who was playing with Against All Authority at the time.
More than a year passed before SoaZ ended up on the same side of the Rift as xPeke. After SoaZ's squad on aAa failed to break out of the pack for several tournaments in a row, they disbanded and he was scooped up by Fnatic in June 2012.
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You know what happened next. The core of Fnatic's legendary squad -- xPeke, SoaZ, and Lauri "Cyanide" Happonen -- dominated the LoL scene. Superstar Bora "YellOwStaR" Kim joined in early 2013 to take them to the next level and AD carry prodigy Martin "Rekkles" Larsson moved up from their practice squad that November, once he was old enough.
During this time, in tournaments and leagues, Fnatic took 1st place five times, 2nd place eight times, and 3rd or 4th place four times. They only placed below 4th two times in almost three years -- at the 2013 IEM Season VII World Championship, and their final tournament together, last year's Worlds.
A new era
The incredible record of that classic Fnatic roster was undeniably extraordinary, so when xPeke and SoaZ parted ways with Fnatic late last year, they weren't ready to retire.
Instead, they sought out new teammates to set new records with. And xPeke's top priority for the new roster, according to an interview at the time, was to make sure the players got along, and that they could have fun playing and learning together.
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They quickly picked up Maurice "Amazing" Stückenschneider, a well-respected jungler who had started in EU, spent a Split on NA's Team SoloMid in 2014, and was ready to return to his homeland.
For support, they grabbed another familiar face: Alfonso "Mithy" Aguirre Rodriguez -- a somewhat risky pickup. Mithy had performed well on Lemondogs and Ninjas in Pyjamas in 2013, but had spent the previous six months banned from playing in the LCS by Riot for toxic behavior.
But if Mithy was a risky pick, grabbing the unknown AD Carry Jesper "Niels" Svenningsen from Solo Queue could be seen as downright dangerous.
Still, the squad had no problem throwing their weight around in the EU Challenger Series, losing only one match the entire Spring Split and easily earning their spot in the Summer LCS.
Burning and Learning
Despite their pedigree and Challenger Series stomping, Origen was still doubted by many before their debut EU LCS season. Could the veterans manage to be relevant still? Could the "newbies" keep their cool against LCS-level pros?
Hell yes, they could.
Origen has torn up the EU LCS in the Summer Split, amassing wins through smart objective control and spectacular team fighting. Combined with their veteran experience, they've climbed to 2nd place in the standings. And xPeke believes that the lighthearted team atmosphere he tried to create has been a part of their success, because they don't let it prevent constructive criticism.
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"We always end up talking about problems," xPeke explains. "We have arguments, just like other teams -- and maybe even more. But we always manage to get the best out of our arguments and never leave with bad feelings."
Whatever they're doing, it's clearly working, and their success has surprised even some of Origen's players.
"At first, qualifying for the LCS was really satisfying," Mithy says. "But once we had to look into the LCS, I didn't expect to do this well and be on the top and manage to stay. It's been a surprising journey so far and I can only look forward!"
When we asked Amazing why he thinks they're winning, he wasn't sure either.
"I can't really tell," Amazing says. "I feel like we still make a lot of mistakes and, in most of our games, that we're allowed to get away with them. What we do is try to improve a lot and always check the general view and not focus on specific situations."
That should be the scariest thing about Origen for everyone else: despite their experience, they still think they're in their learning phase. And xPeke has two big areas he's been trying to improve personally.
"I learned how to not get affected by social media as much and just focus on myself and my team. I'm working on trying to learn all of the meta champions, while still playing what I like," xPeke says with a smile.
To Worlds!
Only nine players in the world have been to three World Championships. xPeke and SoaZ are two of them, and they're ready for a fourth appearance.
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"If we qualify for Worlds, we wouldn't be at all nervous about going," xPeke says. "It would be a really nice experience for everyone on the team. We would practice really hard if we had the chance to go to Worlds in our first year and show what we can do there."
Catch Origen continue their march towards Worlds in the upcoming Game of the Week against H2K, right here on Lolesports.
Josh Augustine's favorite champion is Kassadin, he's never enjoyed a Darius, and he will always go for the kill, even when he knows he shouldn't. He currently works as a game designer on EverQuest Next at Daybreak Games. He’d love to talk with you on Twitter.
