EU LCS Summer Split Preview
Riot·5/16/2014, 8:39:04 PM·0 votes·1,562 views
The LCS is so competitive that it's easy to lose sight of the fact that these teams are ultimately competing with the rest of the world as well. Fnatic pulled out another clutch performance in the spring split playoffs, but the question remained: how would Europe's best stack up against foreign rivals like Cloud 9 and OMG?
All-Star gave us a verdict, and it wasn't a good one for Europe. Fnatic suffered very rough treatment at the hands of their rivals Cloud 9 and OMG, to say nothing of SK Telecom T1 K.
On the other hand, Froggen looked brilliant in the All-Star Challenge. Alliance's spring comeback may be a sign of great things to come. But for now, most of the European teams that just spent the spring battling each other to a standstill must shore-up diminished rosters. The global scene can wait, because there's a lot of work to be done at home this summer.
One could argue that Millenium began their summer campaign even before the spring split ended. Late-spring changes cleared out some of the bad feelings within the team and got rid of the friction between their coach, former player Araneae, and the rest of the lineup. They also made a great addition in the jungle with Markus "Kottenx" Tingvall, who made a big impact in the six games he played with the team.
Their showing against Ninjas in Pyjamas in their promotion series was the true coming out party for the "New Millenium". Millenium's mental toughness has made them an entirely different sort of team. They got crushed by NiP in their first game, and were getting absolutely rolled in their second game. Then they buckled down and put on a tenacious performance. Millenium are no longer their own worst enemies, which means they're about to become a big problem for their EU LCS rivals.
The potential is certainly there. MrRalleZ was one of the most exciting ADs in Europe, and Impaler has been a steady presence in the jungle. But poor performances in the support and mid lane positions effectively neutralized the Crew's best weapons. Now, with the addition of SELFIE in the mid lane and wewillfailer as the support, Supa Hot Crew are trying to get back in the game.
If they can come together as a team and keep their opponents honest in the mid lane, Rallez and Impaler can do some damage and perhaps take some pressure off Mimer in the top lane. On the other hand, SELFIE's debut didn't fix the team's problems, and wewillfailer has had trouble finding a team that he clicks with in the past. For now, Supa Hot Crew are a big question mark. They made big changes, but time will tell whether they made the right ones.
Jungler and best player Amazing crossed the Atlantic to go play with Team SoloMid, and then their AD Forg1ven was shown the door. Amazing in particular is a massive loss for the Wolves and will likely make the summer split even harder than spring.
A lot of pressure is on new jungler Airwaks and AD carry Woolite (brought in from Denial) to fill their predecessors' shoes. But an even more important goal for the Wolves is to cut out the mistakes that were so deadly to them in the spring. Team captain Joey "YoungBuck" Steltenpool has admitted that they are too quick to feel confident, and are prone to forgetting that their opponents can seize the initiative as easily as the Wolves can. With two new players, discipline is more important to the Wolves than ever.
Alex didn't just leave Gambit at the end of a disappointing spring split, which saw the team narrowly dodging relegation after getting crushed by ROCCAT in the first round of the playoffs. No, Alex explained why he was leaving. He no longer wanted to be a part of a team where he felt each member was too overconfident in his own play, and a team that had become pragmatic and risk-averse — the antithesis of their old Moscow Five identity.
Alex's departure and reasoning don't bode well for the team, and turns the squad into one of the summer season's big mysteries. Sebastian "niQ" Robak is joining Gambit for the start of the season as part of a live-fire audition for the role, but his chemistry with such an established lineup is a huge unknown.
More worrying for Gambit: what if Alex was right about their attitude and their prospects? Can they remind the world why they were once the most exciting team in Europe?
Alliance were nowhere near as great as the sum of their parts when the spring split began, but now they have to be taken seriously as a championship contender. Froggen is fantastic in the mid lane, and Tabzz and Nyph are finally playing like they are in-sync with the rest of the team, particularly in team-fights around objectives.
With so many of their European rivals undergoing upheaval, Alliance's trend toward stability and team trust could carry them to the top of the tables this summer. As a collection of individual players, Alliance were a disaster. As a team, their potential is tremendous.
The heart of the team might be their captain, Overpow, who established himself as a formidable mid laner in a division that's full of them. But the key to ROCCAT's success is really the synergy between the teammates and their spot-on strategic decision-making. ROCCAT may not have many flashy players, but their games unfold with clockwork precision. A team that can't disrupt their plans will suffer a death by a thousand cuts as ROCCAT ruthlessly take over the map.
ROCCAT are in a great position for the summer split. If they can be a little better in team-fight situations, and if they can get better at mounting comebacks when they are trailing, they should be fighting for the championship.
In fact, that's probably one reason they did so well. SK consistently surprised their opponents with disciplined, skillful, and smart play. Notice how CandyPanda never really gets included in the "elite AD" discussion, yet he was consistently one of the strongest players in EU LCS? Jesiz isn't a human highlight-reel the way xPeke or Froggen can be, but he played incredibly well in the role despite the fierce competition. nRated was one of the best supports in Europe this past split. It's hard to rate individual player performance vs. team performance when it comes to SK, and that's the entire point. SK is a great team, and each member has become a great player as a part of that team.
That does leave them with one problem. When they face a team like Fnatic, full of shockingly talented players and an absolutely fearless style of play, SK have trouble matching them. As good as SK became over the spring split, their instincts fail them at crucial junctures. They either have to improve at fights, or they need to make sure they dominate objectives so early that their game never hinges on a late five-on-five.
The trouble is they're becoming a very streaky team. They look dominant, and then look completely uncoordinated and sloppy. They start strong, then run out of gas. They struggle, and then win it all at the last minute.
The problem facing Fnatic is that their rivals are getting better and better, and they're a lot more reliable in terms of performance. Fnatic have managed to pull the fat out of the fire for two seasons in a row, but then next time they find their backs against the wall, they might discover their opponents are finally ready to finish the job.
Chances are we haven't seen the last of changes for Supa Hot Crew, Millenium, and Copenhagen Wolves. Watch for at least some of these new players to fizzle out, while some other veterans find that they've suddenly become the weakest link. It will be particularly interesting to watch the dynamics at Gambit. Now that Alex Ich's departure has brought an end to the era of the Moscow Five roster, what other changes suddenly become worth contemplating?
PROVING GREATNESS
The spring split was packed with surprises. SK emerged as a powerhouse. Fnatic went on a ridiculous winning streak, and Alliance came back from the dead to nearly win the entire thing. ROCCAT were top of the freshman class of EU LCS newcomers, and shut down Gambit hard.
But who is going to have the staying power? Did SK benefit from having a lot of opponents who were still getting acclimated to big changes, and will they start to struggle now that things are more settled near the top of the standings? Have ROCCAT peaked as talented newcomers, or will they continue to close in on Fnatic and dominate teams like Gambit and Alliance? Have Alliance really gotten past their growing pains?
If the spring split was about establishing an identity, the long summer march to Worlds is about earning a reputation. There were a lot of surprises in the spring, but now we need to see who can deliver excellent games as reliably as the mail.
CARRIER WARFARE
Europe is jammed with talent at AD carry: Rekkles, MrRalleZ, CandyPanda, Tabzz; each team has some of its most effective weapons in the AD position. That's going to raise the stakes for the bot lane in every matchup, especially considering how decisive the AD position often proves to be in late-game fights. A team that loses bot lane is going to have a very hard time forcing their way back into the game.
That's going to put a lot more pressure on bot laners, and they're going to have to worry a lot more about having junglers and mids coming down on them like a bag of hammers. How much help will teams give their bottom lane when it runs into trouble, and which supports are going to step up and be the difference-maker?
TIME WILL TELL
The only way to settle these questions is to watch what happens on the Rift when the summer split begins next Tuesday, at 17:00 CET / 11:00 AM EDT / 8:00 AM PDT Pacific right here on lolesports.com.
Or, if you're lucky enough to be near the LCS Cologne studios, you can get tickets for the split right here: http://na.lolesports.com/tickets-are-now-sale
With so much upheaval in EU LCS, who is your pick for the championship? Who do you think is going to surprise us, and which players will carry their teams to victory?
MILLENIUM: RESURRECTED
Millenium were pretty much left for dead at the bottom of the table during the spring split, and now they're trying to leave that disastrous season in the past and begin a new chapter.
One could argue that Millenium began their summer campaign even before the spring split ended. Late-spring changes cleared out some of the bad feelings within the team and got rid of the friction between their coach, former player Araneae, and the rest of the lineup. They also made a great addition in the jungle with Markus "Kottenx" Tingvall, who made a big impact in the six games he played with the team.
Their showing against Ninjas in Pyjamas in their promotion series was the true coming out party for the "New Millenium". Millenium's mental toughness has made them an entirely different sort of team. They got crushed by NiP in their first game, and were getting absolutely rolled in their second game. Then they buckled down and put on a tenacious performance. Millenium are no longer their own worst enemies, which means they're about to become a big problem for their EU LCS rivals.
SUPA HOT CREW: REHEATED
Supa Hot Crew are no strangers to rebuilding. They had to replace a few key positions right before they qualified for the EU LCS, and as they struggled over the course of the season, they had to make even more changes to their core lineup. The big question is whether they're actually fixing their problems, or just changing their names.
The potential is certainly there. MrRalleZ was one of the most exciting ADs in Europe, and Impaler has been a steady presence in the jungle. But poor performances in the support and mid lane positions effectively neutralized the Crew's best weapons. Now, with the addition of SELFIE in the mid lane and wewillfailer as the support, Supa Hot Crew are trying to get back in the game.
If they can come together as a team and keep their opponents honest in the mid lane, Rallez and Impaler can do some damage and perhaps take some pressure off Mimer in the top lane. On the other hand, SELFIE's debut didn't fix the team's problems, and wewillfailer has had trouble finding a team that he clicks with in the past. For now, Supa Hot Crew are a big question mark. They made big changes, but time will tell whether they made the right ones.
COPENHAGEN WOLVES: A DIMINISHED PACK?
Copenhagen Wolves had an up-and-down year. They were considered the strongest of the new LCS teams, yet tumbled to a 13-15 finish in 6th place in the spring split. Then, they nearly beat Gambit in the playoffs, but came up just short. And after surviving a tense, exciting battle against Denial eSports, off a thrilling base-race… the team immediately underwent major upheaval.
Jungler and best player Amazing crossed the Atlantic to go play with Team SoloMid, and then their AD Forg1ven was shown the door. Amazing in particular is a massive loss for the Wolves and will likely make the summer split even harder than spring.
A lot of pressure is on new jungler Airwaks and AD carry Woolite (brought in from Denial) to fill their predecessors' shoes. But an even more important goal for the Wolves is to cut out the mistakes that were so deadly to them in the spring. Team captain Joey "YoungBuck" Steltenpool has admitted that they are too quick to feel confident, and are prone to forgetting that their opponents can seize the initiative as easily as the Wolves can. With two new players, discipline is more important to the Wolves than ever.
GAMBIT GAMING: A KING'S SACRIFICE
You can't talk about Gambit without addressing the elephant in the room: the departure of team captain Alex Ich.
Alex didn't just leave Gambit at the end of a disappointing spring split, which saw the team narrowly dodging relegation after getting crushed by ROCCAT in the first round of the playoffs. No, Alex explained why he was leaving. He no longer wanted to be a part of a team where he felt each member was too overconfident in his own play, and a team that had become pragmatic and risk-averse — the antithesis of their old Moscow Five identity.
Alex's departure and reasoning don't bode well for the team, and turns the squad into one of the summer season's big mysteries. Sebastian "niQ" Robak is joining Gambit for the start of the season as part of a live-fire audition for the role, but his chemistry with such an established lineup is a huge unknown.
More worrying for Gambit: what if Alex was right about their attitude and their prospects? Can they remind the world why they were once the most exciting team in Europe?
ALLIANCE: A MIGHTY ROAR
Nobody had a rougher start to their year than Alliance, but nobody had a rally like theirs, either. They went undefeated three weeks in a row and finished the playoffs in fourth place behind ROCCAT after coming dangerously close to knocking out Fnatic in the semifinals.
Alliance were nowhere near as great as the sum of their parts when the spring split began, but now they have to be taken seriously as a championship contender. Froggen is fantastic in the mid lane, and Tabzz and Nyph are finally playing like they are in-sync with the rest of the team, particularly in team-fights around objectives.
With so many of their European rivals undergoing upheaval, Alliance's trend toward stability and team trust could carry them to the top of the tables this summer. As a collection of individual players, Alliance were a disaster. As a team, their potential is tremendous.
ROCCAT: ROCKSTEADY
ROCCAT were the biggest surprise of the spring split. They came out of nowhere to win promotion, and then promptly started fighting the likes of Fnatic and Gambit for the lead of the division. They figured out Gambit so thoroughly that they simply smashed the Russian squad in the playoffs, and achieved an astonishing third-place behind Fnatic and SK.
The heart of the team might be their captain, Overpow, who established himself as a formidable mid laner in a division that's full of them. But the key to ROCCAT's success is really the synergy between the teammates and their spot-on strategic decision-making. ROCCAT may not have many flashy players, but their games unfold with clockwork precision. A team that can't disrupt their plans will suffer a death by a thousand cuts as ROCCAT ruthlessly take over the map.
ROCCAT are in a great position for the summer split. If they can be a little better in team-fight situations, and if they can get better at mounting comebacks when they are trailing, they should be fighting for the championship.
SK GAMING: WORLD BEATERS
Nobody ever thought SK would be at the top of the standings at the end of the regular season. Even fewer would have picked them to be the runner-up in the spring championship. SK Gaming is a team that quietly got very good without ever getting any of the respect or notoriety that most good teams enjoy.
In fact, that's probably one reason they did so well. SK consistently surprised their opponents with disciplined, skillful, and smart play. Notice how CandyPanda never really gets included in the "elite AD" discussion, yet he was consistently one of the strongest players in EU LCS? Jesiz isn't a human highlight-reel the way xPeke or Froggen can be, but he played incredibly well in the role despite the fierce competition. nRated was one of the best supports in Europe this past split. It's hard to rate individual player performance vs. team performance when it comes to SK, and that's the entire point. SK is a great team, and each member has become a great player as a part of that team.
That does leave them with one problem. When they face a team like Fnatic, full of shockingly talented players and an absolutely fearless style of play, SK have trouble matching them. As good as SK became over the spring split, their instincts fail them at crucial junctures. They either have to improve at fights, or they need to make sure they dominate objectives so early that their game never hinges on a late five-on-five.
FNATIC: FLAWED VICTORIES
When they're at their best, there are only a few teams in the world that can touch Fnatic. They showed that at the start of the season, and they showed it again the playoffs. They're packed with talent, and they seem to share some kind of telepathic link during big engagements. That's carried them to repeat victories in Europe, and got them close to another world championship.
The trouble is they're becoming a very streaky team. They look dominant, and then look completely uncoordinated and sloppy. They start strong, then run out of gas. They struggle, and then win it all at the last minute.
The problem facing Fnatic is that their rivals are getting better and better, and they're a lot more reliable in terms of performance. Fnatic have managed to pull the fat out of the fire for two seasons in a row, but then next time they find their backs against the wall, they might discover their opponents are finally ready to finish the job.
Storylines to Watch
STABILITY VS. FRESH BLOOD The bottom teams are dealing with major lineup changes right now while the top four teams in EU LCS have elected to keep their rosters intact. Given what a force-multiplier teamwork has proven to be in League, that could make it even harder for the bottom four teams to catch up. Not only do they have to catch better teams, but they have to do so while figuring out how new faces fit into their lineup.
Chances are we haven't seen the last of changes for Supa Hot Crew, Millenium, and Copenhagen Wolves. Watch for at least some of these new players to fizzle out, while some other veterans find that they've suddenly become the weakest link. It will be particularly interesting to watch the dynamics at Gambit. Now that Alex Ich's departure has brought an end to the era of the Moscow Five roster, what other changes suddenly become worth contemplating?
PROVING GREATNESS
The spring split was packed with surprises. SK emerged as a powerhouse. Fnatic went on a ridiculous winning streak, and Alliance came back from the dead to nearly win the entire thing. ROCCAT were top of the freshman class of EU LCS newcomers, and shut down Gambit hard.
But who is going to have the staying power? Did SK benefit from having a lot of opponents who were still getting acclimated to big changes, and will they start to struggle now that things are more settled near the top of the standings? Have ROCCAT peaked as talented newcomers, or will they continue to close in on Fnatic and dominate teams like Gambit and Alliance? Have Alliance really gotten past their growing pains?
If the spring split was about establishing an identity, the long summer march to Worlds is about earning a reputation. There were a lot of surprises in the spring, but now we need to see who can deliver excellent games as reliably as the mail.
CARRIER WARFARE
Europe is jammed with talent at AD carry: Rekkles, MrRalleZ, CandyPanda, Tabzz; each team has some of its most effective weapons in the AD position. That's going to raise the stakes for the bot lane in every matchup, especially considering how decisive the AD position often proves to be in late-game fights. A team that loses bot lane is going to have a very hard time forcing their way back into the game.
That's going to put a lot more pressure on bot laners, and they're going to have to worry a lot more about having junglers and mids coming down on them like a bag of hammers. How much help will teams give their bottom lane when it runs into trouble, and which supports are going to step up and be the difference-maker?
TIME WILL TELL
The only way to settle these questions is to watch what happens on the Rift when the summer split begins next Tuesday, at 17:00 CET / 11:00 AM EDT / 8:00 AM PDT Pacific right here on lolesports.com.
Or, if you're lucky enough to be near the LCS Cologne studios, you can get tickets for the split right here: http://na.lolesports.com/tickets-are-now-sale
With so much upheaval in EU LCS, who is your pick for the championship? Who do you think is going to surprise us, and which players will carry their teams to victory?
