Lessons to learn part one: A post-playoff look at Europe

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Alliance and Team Solomid usurped defending champions Fnatic and Cloud 9 in one of the most competitive Splits of the League of Legends Championship Series. Along with other qualifying teams (SK Gaming, Fnatic, Cloud 9 and LMQ), the two headed to Korea to begin their pre-Worlds bootcamp.

Now that the playoffs are over, it’s time to reflect on the events that occurred during Gamescom and Pax Prime. We take a closer look at the playoffs - the trends, the performances, and the storylines that dominated the European and North American regionals and interpret what this means heading into the 2015 season.

In part one we look at Europe and Alliance’s domination of the European playoffs, in addition to other story lines surrounding the top six teams.

Supa Hot Switch

Supa Hot Crew's analyst, Nick 'LS' De Cesare came on board during the end of the Spring Season and enhanced the team's strategic understanding of the game and improved lane match-ups across the board.Upon announcing team ROCCAT as their playoff opponent, it was also revealed that LS was no longer affiliated with the team as former NiP support, Alfonso ‘Mithy’ Rodriguez, had taken up his role.

Unfortunately, after being defeated by the Poles, the SHC organisation quickly switched back to the more experienced LS. His impact on the team shone through quickly as the team proceeded to convincingly beat Millenium with a superior grasp of the pick/ban phase and better overall objective control.

To be completely honest, the Crew is the only team that does not catch my eye. They are still a young squad, full of talent, but their true test lies in the 2015 Season. With a stable roster and good coaching, we can fully judge them at the end of the next Spring split.

Millenium should start over

Facing relegation for the second time in a row, alarm bells should be blasting the ears off Millenium. The team is currently going through a very rough patch and if someone asks me to describe them in one sentence it will be the following: good enough to deny Challenger teams in a best-of-five, but inconsistent enough not to keep a spot in the LCS. Their never-ending set against Ninjas in Pyjamas is a testament to those words.

Before going more in-depth, we took a glimpse at their playoff performance - 0-6 in two best-of-fives against SK Gaming and Supa Hot Crew. In every, single, game their opponents managed to snatch at least two priority champions in the current meta. The best top laner in Europe during the playoffs, fredy122, had free access to Maokai, Aatrox and Nidalee, a clear indication of strategic incompetence. Millenium painted the same picture against SHC - MrRallez played Kog’Maw twice and finished off the his opponents with a Tristana lecture like non-other.

All things considered, Millenium should just start over and completely overhaul the roster. Creaton and Kev1n can quickly find new teams during the transfer storm that is about to come. Jree is simply not up to par with the rest of the LCS supports, while Kottenx looks shaky. A big question mark looms over Kerp. On the one hand, he is consistently “decent” - he delivers an okay performance and does not pretend he is a superstar. On the other, that is clearly not enough to keep him in the LCS.

With this pick/ban phase and play form, I do not see Millenium going against Unicorns of Love as heavy favourites. Even if they retain their Season 2015 spot, I do not see a future for the current line-up.

Alliance are the rightful Kings of Europe

Beating Fnatic in a best-of-five is no easy feat. Stealing the crown from the team in orange and black, Alliance establish themselves as the dominant force in Europe. Seeing a strong regular season form transition into a convincing playoff performance is a good indication of things to come, despite the series versus SK Gaming almost going into a game 5. Later on, both Tabzz and coach Jordan ‘Leviathan’ Thwaities shared that SK are the toughest challenge in Europe at the moment.

The evolution of the team throughout the last nine months is staggering. From the inconsistent mixture of superstars to the well-oiled machine that usurped the number one spot, Alliance has finally found its winning ways. Without a doubt, the most heart-warming aspect of the victory was seeing Froggen lifting the trophy after so many wasted opportunities and struggles. The Dane was merciless in his play during GamesCom, punishing opponents left and right much to the delight of the crowd. He almost solo carried the series versus SK Gaming and the confidence he displayed by choosing Tristana and creating picks out of the blue with Ahri, left even the biggest of critics silent.

Speaking of Tristana, an honourable mention goes to Erik ‘Tabzz’ van Helvert. The AD Carry has seen immense progress which puts him at top 2 in Europe together with Martin ‘Rekkles’ Larsson. Usually describing him as a “smart” marksman, we now see a Tabzz who takes every fighting chance he can to snowball his leads even further, easing the pressure on Froggen’s shoulders. With two confident carries, Alliance will certainly enter the 2015 Season of the EU LCS as main contenders.

There is not a clearly defined top 3 in Europe

A League of Legends match is sometimes decided by a single play. Low on health and mana, the Alliance members tried as swiftly as possible to bring down Baron. The looming danger was potentially game-ending; a quick shockwave secured Baron buff, kills and experience for the enemy. Three seconds left on cooldown… Two… One. At that moment, Patrick ‘Nyph’ Funke decided the game as he landed a hook onto the enemy mid laner, denying the shockwave. Alliance proceeded to the finals and won over Fnatic.

In reality, the 3-1 match between SK and Alliance was much closer than the 3-1 final between Fnatic and Alliance. Without a doubt, SK Gaming played the most strategically sound game of League of Legends in Europe and only the magic of Froggen, paired with the game-ending hook of Nyph stopped them from walking the distance against Alliance. On the other hand, Fnatic fans could immediately retaliate and highlight the superior mid and bottom lane of their team - the arguments are endless.

The bottom line is that although there is not a clearly defined top 3, the actual trio of best teams in Europe made it to Worlds and hopefully, will represent the old continent in the best way they can.

ROCCAT are not there yet

After a third place finish in their LCS debut, ROCCAT captured the spotlights. Despite the rocky start, the Poles barely picked their game up and managed to secure a playoff spot where Supa Hot Crew awaited as their first opponent. Following a convincing win against SHC, the team was defeated in a nail-biting best-of-five with Fnatic and subsequently finished fourth, bested by SK Gaming in the 3rd/4th place match. Denied the much desired Worlds spot, ROCCAT are clearly not a top-tier team in Europe at the moment.

The major difference between Millenium and ROCCAT is that the latter can potentially turn into a super-team, if management makes the correct calls during the off-season. In its current inception, the Polish squad is ineffective. Xaxus has shown no growth as a player in two splits and the most disheartening sight to see is Jankos feed him two kills in the first minutes of game 5 against Fnatic, just so he can throw that lead away with bad decisions later on. Moving further down, Celaver is next. Regardless of the “okay” performance during the playoffs, the Pole is a wildcard - rarely showing up in important games and being far from a threat even at his peak. Let us also not forget that he is playing together with one of the best mechanical supports in Europe.

The only real question remains - is there any merit to remove Overpow from the starting roster? Surely, he is a good mid laner, not one of the best in Europe, but a decent player at the very least. He has shining moments, a relatively deep champion pool capable of surprising the enemy and has undoubtedly left his mark on the EU LCS. Aside from him, ROCCAT should definitely look for a new Top laner and AD Carry, but painting a new ROCCAT and detailing what the transfer season in EU might look like is another story.

All in all, I do think the team had a good debut season in the European LCS. If their ambition is to remain a contender and secure exposure for the ROCCAT brand, then maybe roster changes are not that necessary. However, if they have Worlds aspirations, acquiring fresh blood should be a number one priority.

The European overachievers

Last, but not least, I have saved a bit of space for those who went above and beyond. From top to bot lane, Europe saw these players perform regardless of heavy teammates, tricky meta or team strategy.

Up on top lane, Britain’s fredy122 was by far the best. Having received the most target bans during the regular season, her Majesty's finest not only transitioned brilliantly into the playoffs, but also took Wickd to school in the tight series against Alliance. It will be very interesting to see how he will fare against international competition.

Mid and jungle are absolute no-brainers. Froggen and Jankos have done all in their power for their respective teams as both went above and beyond on more than one occasion. While the Pole finished fourth overall, he outshined the competition regardless of which meta jungler he was forced to pick. As stated earlier, had ROCCAT surrounded him with better solo laners, Jankos could have very well joined the trip to Worlds.

Rekkles and Yellowstar are the final pieces of the European all-star squad. The Fnatic duo lane maintained a high level of play throughout the course of 9 months and were the deciding factor in a large portion of their team’s victories. Rekkles remained number one as we are yet to see Tabzz convincingly outplay his Swedish counterpart in and out of lane. As for Yellowstar, he has been on a meteoric rise ever since the Season 3 World finals and is rightfully going to his fourth consecutive World Championship.

With Europe’s best assets already training in Korea, everyone is eagerly awaiting to see Alliance, SK and Fnatic play the international competition. For part two of the article, detailing the interesting trends and events of the NA LCS playoffs, stay tuned to onGamers.com.

Images courtesy of lolesports.com and Riot Games Flickr