The upcoming second week of the EU LCS promises another epic showdown in our game to watch.
With this year's EU LCS season under way, the second week of competition offers a not-so-hidden gem of a matchup with as vaunted EU teams Fnatic and Unicorns of Love will face off on January 22. The cast may be different than before, but, judging from the teams' histories with each other, this will definitely be a match to follow closely.
How it began:
The organization known as Unicorns of Love had their EU LCS debut in 2015's Spring Split and were able to finish in 5th place by the end of the split with a 9-9 record. While their record might have been modest, the team's chaotic playstyle and unpredictable champion picks made them popular with the crowd and created plenty of highlights. Their extremely close matches with European powerhouse organization Fnatic were particularly exciting to watch. Even with an exposed nexus dropped to a sliver of health twice in their Week 8 match with Fnatic, Unicorns of Love somehow managed to conquer the kings of Europe in both of their regular season meetings.
During the Spring Split playoffs, fan favorite UOL would channel their magical abilities to overcome both Gambit Gaming and the number one ranked SK Gaming to meet Fnatic in the finals in what seemed like a fated meeting between the two organizations. In one of the most hotly contested playoff series ever, Fnatic managed to finally overcome their regular season nemesis and win out the series 3-2.
Since then:
The cast and direction of this matchup would switch up in the following Summer Split with the return of AD Carry Martin "Rekkles" Larsson to Fnatic and the departure of Jungler Mateusz "Kikis" Szkudlarek from Unicorns of Love. Fnatic would not be denied as they would go on to the EU LCS' first ever perfect split with the record of 18-0. Unicorns of Love, on the other hand, just managed to attain the same results as last split with a 9-9 record and finishing fourth overall.
The playoffs would not fair as well for Unicorns of Love, ultimately getting swept by Fnatic in the semifinals after just barely getting by Team ROCCAT in the quarterfinals. Fnatic, on the other hand, would ultimately go on to win the finals against Origen and achieve a top 4 finish at Worlds. UOL's woes would continue, as they would not even make it to Worlds after being swept by Origen in the Regional Qualifiers.
Since Worlds, the cast of both Fnatic and Unicorns of Love would continue to change during the offseason as both teams lost the majority of their rosters. Fnatic had to rebuild after the departure of Top Laner Seung-hoon "Huni" Heo, Jungler Ui-jin "Reignover" Kim, and Support Bora "YellOwStaR" Kim. Stepping in to replace them has been Yeong-jin "Gamsu" Noh of Team Dignitas, Da-yoon "Spirit" Lee of World Elite, and Lewis "Noxiak" Felix of SK Gaming and Fnatic Academy respectively.
Meanwhile, Unicorns of Love have also seen a good number of players leave with Mid Laner Tristan "PowerOfEvil" Schrage, AD Carry Pontus "Vardags" Dahlblom, and Jungler Berk "Gilius" Demir all choosing to not stay during the offseason. Veteran players Hampus "Fox" Myhre of SK Gaming, Pierre "Steelback" Medjaldi of Fnatic, and Danil "Diamondprox" Reshetnikov of Gambit Gaming have filled in the gaps for UOL. The first week's results were promising for UOL with a 2-0 start while Fnatic has had a lukewarm start of 1-1.
Prediction:
Unicorns of Love face their first real test with their new roster this week with matches against Origen and Fnatic. Despite wins over GIANTS! Gaming and Splyce, UOL's roster pales in comparison in terms of individual talent to their Week 2 opponents. In spite of that being said, team synergy looks to be the key of victory in this season's meta and UOL's teamwork looked a bit stronger in Week 1 than Fnatic who looked off and a bit uncoordinated in their loss against Team Vitality. Ultimately, Fnatic should win this game easily on paper, but, if they aren't on the same page, look for the teamplay of UOL to pull off one of their classic dramatic upsets.
Conclusion:
This season has proved to be an unpredictable one and completely new teams fight to claim the top spots in their regions. Fnatic look to remain the perrenial top of EU while Unicorns of Love, among others, strive to usurp them. Watch the stream this week or catch it live as we see who can cement themselves as the team to beat in EU and vote for who you think will win in this heated matchup below!
