The Legends of Gamescom
Riot·8/20/2014, 6:59:03 PM·1 votes·5,746 views
The EU LCS Playoffs at Gamescom was Europe’s chance to break out of the shadow of Fnatic and revitalize their scene, and they took it.
Fnatic has been the defining team in Europe for almost as long as memory serves, with a brief period of Gambit Gaming dominance hardly marring their record. They have competed in two World Championships and were the World Champions in Season 1. In many ways, Fnatic has come to define the European scene thanks to their experience in the late game. They are wily, they are tenacious, and they will try anything and everything to pull out an important win. As a result, they have placed in the top two in every EU LCS season and have taken first place in every EU LCS Playoffs. Until now.
Fnatic looked downright sloppy in the semifinals, dropping two shaky games to ROCCAT thanks to a host of mistakes. But they came out strong at the end of the series, taking down ROCCAT with tenacity and smart decision-making. Then they faced off against Alliance.
Alliance was once just a pipe dream. After EG split up and took its franchise to North America, Froggen set about to form a European dream team alongside his long-time teammate Wickd. Thus, Alliance was born. However, the dream quickly turned into a nightmare. Alliance started off 0-4 in the Spring Split, and looked directionless. They soon recovered, blazing 16-8 into the third place spot in the regular season before falling to fourth place in the playoffs.
Unwilling to accept failure, Alliance brought in an analyst, and the change was immediate. In the Summer split, they shot out to 3-1, securing the No. 1 spot in Europe and holding that slot for the duration of their 21-7 season. Their success prompted many other EU teams to pick up an analyst of their own, and as the season rolled on, every playoff-bound team started to look like a threat.
Taking their momentum into the finals, Alliance achieved the impossible: taking down Fnatic. This opens up the region entirely. No longer a monolith, the EU scene is open to challengers and improvement. Going into Worlds, this gives Europe multiple threats, and the increased regional competition can only help the teams improve even more.
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