Having gone through an EUxodus in the offseason, the landscape of the EU LCS is a bit cloudy. Let's recap where EU stands now and what to look for this coming season.
With the start of the 2016 EU LCS Spring Split just days away, the teams and talent have changed dramatically over the offseason. New teams have emerged and an overwhelming amount of talent have sought their fortunes elsewhere, most across the Atlantic in NA. Let's go through what changes that have occured for every LCS team and how we expect it will impact their performance this coming split.
2016 EU LCS Spring Split Teams (in order of their 2015 Summer Split placements):
- Top: Yeong-jin "Gamsu" Noh
- Jungle: Da-yun "Spirit" Lee
- Mid: Fabian "Febiven" Diepstraten
- ADC: Martin "Rekkles" Larsson
- Support: Lewis "NoXiAK" Felix
The kings of Europe have fallen. No longer are the holoholoholo antics of Seung-hun "Huni" Heo and Eui-jin "Reignover" Kim as they have migrated to the warmer beachs of NA. Long-standing member and arguably one of the perennial icons of Fnatic, Bora "YellOwStaR" Kim, has also jumped ship to NA's TSM. All of this being said, Fnatic does still hold a chance of performing up to their lofty standards. Depending on another Korean Top-Jungle duo threat of Da-yun "Spirit" Lee and Yeong-jin "Gamsu" Noh this time around, Fnatic look to maintain their grasp on top of the standings in EU.
- Top: Paul "sOAZ" Boyer
- Jungle: Maurice "Amazing" Stückenschneider
- Mid: Tristan "PowerOfEvil" Schrage
- ADC: Jesper "Zven" Svenningsen (formerly known as Niels)
- Support: Alfonso "Mithy" Rodriguez
The Cinderella story of Origen, having gone from Challenger to a top 4 placement at Worlds, looks to add another chapter this season. Having made the least amount of changes in the offseason and with the strong team synergy looking intact at IEM San Jose, the team looks to potentially leapfrog Fnatic and claim the top spot in EU with their new mid laner Tristan "PowerOfEvil" Schrage, formerly of Unicorns of Love. Shoring up what some called their only glaring weakness with this move, the team looks to continue their success and firmly cement their name in the EU scene.
- Top: Andrei "Odoamne" Pascu
- Jungle: Marcin "Jankos" Jankowski
- Mid: Sang-uk "Ryu" Ryu
- ADC: Konstantinos "FORG1VEN" Tzotziou
- Support: Oskar "Vander" Bogdan
After losing many of their core members and a slew of offseason drama, many doubted h2k's ability to rebuild a competitive roster for this season. However, doubters were proved wrong as solid pick-ups were acquired in the form of ROCCAT's Jungle-Support shotcalling combo known as Marcin "Jankos" Jankowski and Oskar "Vander" Bogdan. h2k also picked up one of EU's most notorious carry threats in the form of Konstantinos "FORG1VEN" Tzotziou. With this sheer amount of talent on this roster, the team will prove to be a challenge for even the other top teams in EU this coming split.
- Top: Kiss "Vizicsasci" Tamas
- Jungle: Daniel "Diamondprox" Reshetnikov
- Mid: Hampus "Fox" Myhre
- ADC: Pierre "Steelback" Medjaldi
- Support: Zdravets "Hylissang" Galabov
With all the changes they made in the offseason, Unicorns of Love will struggle to retain the magic they have shown in previous years. Losing their star Mid Laner, it will be tough to see UOL continuing their signature explosive and unpredictable style that made them so difficult to prepare for. The team does still have power in their roster to do some early-game damage, especially with the retention of Top Laner Kiss "Vizicsasci" and the acquisition of Gambit's Daniel "Diamondprox" Reshetnikov. However, it will remain to be seen whether SK Gaming's Mid Laner Hampus "Fox" Myhre and fomer Fnatic ADC Pierre "Steelback" Medjaldi can provide some magic of their own.
- Top: Simon "fredy122" Payne
- Jungle: Karim "Airwaks" Benghalia
- Mid: Felix "Betsy" Edling
- ADC: Mohammad "Safir" Tokhi (fomerly known as Jebus)
- Support: Edward "Edward" Abgarian (formerly known as GoSu Pepper)
Having lost the core of the players, the talent on ROCCAT's roster may not be very scary on paper. Many would point to them as a smorgasbord of middle-of-the-pack to lower-tier players on similar caliber teams of last season. However, with the LCS experience of most of the players on this roster, ROCCAT could definitely surprise some teams. These veterans have all been known to shine at one point in their careers. That being said, the overall success of the team will probably largely depend on the performance of their rookie ADC, Mohammad "Safir" Tokhi, who will have to prove himself to be more than just a Challenger-level talent.
- Top: Peter "Atom" Thomsen
- Jungle: Tri Tin "k0u" Lam
- Mid: Isacc "xPePii" Flores (formerly known as PePiiNeRO)
- ADC: Adrian "Adryh" Perez
- Support: Oskar "G0DFRED" Lundstrom
GIANTS' performance last season was large in part attributed to the performance of the Mid Laner formerly known as PePiNeRO, Isacc "xPePii" Flores. Seemingly single-handedly willing the team to the middle of the standings last split, xPePii looks to have to repeat his titan efforts to keep GIANTS in the LCS, pending the emergence of the unproved talent that he has been surrounded with this offseason. If the new players and the returning Adrian "Adryh" Perez can somehow show GIANTS to be a multiple-threat team, look for them to possibly do even better than last season.
- Top: Etienne "Steve" Michaels
- Jungle: Berk "Gilius" Demir
- Mid: Jeremy "Eika" Valdenaire
- ADC: Rasmus "MrRalleZ" Skinneholm
- Support: Hampus "sprattel" Abrahamsson (formerly known as promisQ)
Elements definitely drew the short end of the proverbial stick. With plans to sell the team falling through in the offseason, it is no secret that the owner of the once illustrious team previously known as Alliance was forced to scramble a team together out of what was left in the free agency pool. On top of that, their star player Henrik "Froggen" Hansen has joined many of his peers in transferring to NA. Unless these players can band together Bad News Bears-style and shock everyone, look for Elements at the bottom of the standings and facing relegation by the end of the split.
Team Vitality (purchased Gambit Gaming's spot)
- Top: Lucas "Cabochard" Simon-Meslet
- Jungle: Ilyas "Shook" Hartsema
- Mid: Erlend "Nukeduck" Holm
- ADC: Petter "Hjärnan" Freyschuss
- Support: Raymond "kaSing" Tsang
Team Vitality is easily the most hyped new team entering the EU LCS. Combining solid talent from across the board and touting a reputable infrastructure, the roster looks very dangerous coming in. It will remain to be seen if all of these players can gel together and whether Jungler Ilyas "Shook" Hartsema can perform on a high level consistently after shaky performances on both Elements and Copenhagen Wolves. However, if the team lives up to the hype, it can definitely land near the top of the standings.
G2 Esports (defeated SK Gaming to qualify for LCS)
- Top: Mateusz "Kikis" Szkudlarek
- Jungle: Kang-yoon "Trick" Kim
- Mid: Luka "Perkz" Perkovic
- ADC: Jin-hyeon "Emperor" Kim
- Support: Glenn "Hybrid" Doornenbal
After finally making it to the LCS, G2 Esports has certainly gone and made a lot of gambles for a new team. Moving their Jungler Mateusz "Kikis" Szkudlarek to Top Lane and bringing in two Koreans in the form of CJ Entus' Jungler Kang-yoon "Trick" Kim and Team Dragon Knight's ADC Jin-hyeon "Emperor" Kim, a lot of attention will be focused on how well these players transition to their new roles and their new regions respectively. However, it cannot be overlooked that the team's success hinges whether or not the rookies, Mid Laner Luka "Perkz" Perkovic and Support Glenn "Hybrid" Doornenbal, can translate their Challenger skills to the LCS.
Splyce (formerly known as Follow eSports, bought Team Dignitas EU's LCS spot)
- Top: Martin "Wunderwear" Hansen
- Jungle: Jonas "Trashy" Anderson
- Mid: Chres "Sencux" Laursen
- ADC: Kasper "Kobbe" Kobberup
- Support: Nicolai "Nisbeth" Nisbeth
Despite changing owners and depsite changing names, Splyce's all-Danish team remains largely intact from the Challenger squad that originally qualified by winning the Challenger Qualifiying Playoffs and earned Copenhagen Wolves' vacant spot. Their new jungler, Jonas "Trashy" Anderson from NME Esports, just aids to cement the Danes together and bring some actual LCS (given limited NA) experience to the roster. But, not making many roster changes from the Challenger team is a bit of a gamble in of itself, as Splyce looks to prioritize full team cohesion over pure roster talent and we shall have to see whether this translates to success in the EU LCS.
Conclusion:
The departure of many of the top talent in EU to NA definitely leaves a void. The future of many teams are unknown with the landscape of EU changing so dramatically. However, even with all these changes, the vacant space leaves room for future stars to grow this coming season. It also makes the matches themselves all that more unpredictable and exciting to look forward to. EU LCS starts back up on January 14th and we'll be joining everyone in looking with eager eyes to see what happens.
