EU LCS Spring Split 2015 playoffs: H2k vs Fnatic

By Anel “Musinlol” Musinovic
EU LCS playoffs begins at 17.00 tonight with Fnatic facing H2k. Expect a great game between two teams who have performed much better than expected.

Fnatic vs H2k

Huni, Reignover, Febiven, Steelback, YellOwStaR vs Odomane, loulex, Ryu, Hjarnan & KaSing

Only a true prophet would have called this semi-final match-up at the start of the spring split, which is part of what makes this series so interesting. Two active, aggressive teams who have clear plans in the early game will meet head-to-head. H2k has demonstrated their drake control vs Copenhagen Wolves perfectly, but this time around it will be contested. Ready More...

Preview of EU Challenger Series Spring 2015 Final: Origen vs Copenhagen Wolves Academy

By Anel “Musinlol” Musinovic

EU Challenger Series Final will go live at 18.00 and Origen will go in as massive favorites again. However, Copenhagen Wolves Academy have looked really solid and even took a clean 2-0 vs Gamers2 in the semifinals.

Origen vs Copenhagen Wolves Academy
Soaz, Amazing, xPeke, Niels & Mithy vs Morsu, Kirei, CozQ, Vizility & Hybrid

Origen has been dominating the whole split and despite an unconvincing win 2-1 over Reason Gaming, I feel like they should go 3-0 or 3-1 here. Origen has way more experienced players and more quality player for player. However, Copenhagen Wolves Academy have been surprising all throughout and nobody expected them to be in the finals or to come out of groups as second seed.















PICKS AND BANS:

Origen:

Origen seems to have a lot of flexibility in their draft with flex champs like Lulu and Morgana and I predict them to be at an advantage coming out of champ select. CWA will be hard pressed to try and ban out Peke and Soaz. I can see Origen focusing on getting a Malphite pick to counter Morsù as they did in their previous win against this team.

When Origen have first pick they could ban out Ahri, Cassiopeia & Rek'Sai and force CWA to ban Leblanc as they did in their win against them. However, it does leave all of Morsù's champions open, which can be deadly if they don’t get the Malphite. Otherwise, I would try to ban out Morsù if they feel like they can’t get their hands on Malphite or something else that they feel comfortable bringing up in the top lane.

I feel like, even though it didn’t work for them in their previous game against Copenhagen Wolves Academy, Origen could go for a Kog’Maw comp. After all, it's a B05 and they have room to be flexible with comp choices. But getting comfortable picks across the board should be enough to for them to find a victory and the auto-promotion spot.

Copenhagen Wolves Academy:

CWA have a massive disadvantage in the pick and bans because Origen’s Soaz & xPeke seem able to play anything at a competitive level. Amazing, on the other hand, is more known for having a smaller champion pool and sometimes not performing when uncomfortable.

In Challenger, Amazing has played five champions across thirteen games & six of those games has been Rek’Sai. Banning out Sejuani as a strong power pick, Lee Sin, then Rek’Sai or Nidalee and picking the one left open could allow them to get ahead and try to snowball from there like they did in their win against Origen.

Putting Amazing on the likes of Gragas or another tank in Nunu could force Origen to make the decision to go with the Kog’Maw comp which didn't work for them the last time. This has weaknesses, though, as it allows the rest of Origen to play what they want and leaves up the Malphite who seemingly counters every champion in Morsù’s champion pool.

If they decide not to try to ban out Amazing they could go for their own winning recipe of trying to hold down the solo laners to have minimal impact by banning Maokai, Lissandra and Zed. This does leave up the Malphite which I think they could be trying to swap out with one of the three.

Getting good picks for their solo laners will be incredibly important and getting either a Rek’Sai or a tanky jungler is also really important for CWA if they want to try to win at least a game or two or potentially the series.

Player to Watch from Origen: xPeke

Who else than our former Fnatic superstar. xPeke is one of the still standing old players and still has the drive to compete. He is a player who can play any midlane champion you put him on but personally I've always loved watching xPeke playing Ahri. New unorthodox midlaners have shown to be coming into the meta and xPeke seems to have picked some of them up by playing Vladimir in 2/3 games vs Reason Gaming and to success both times.

Player to watch from Copenhagen Wolves Academy: Morsù

Morsù has been carrying games for them on good 1v1 champions such as Jax, Irelia, fizz and even Fiora. If he can get his hands on one of these champions it could work out greatly for him, but he's often target banned. Origen has shown willingness to not ban out Morsù and therefore it can put him in a position where he is on his favorite champions and in a position to carry. In their win against Origen he was on Irelia and was 9-1-4 on her. Also trying to avoid lane swaps would be a good idea to let Morsù get a lot of resources.

Predicted score: Origen 3-1 Copenhagen Wolves Academy

The game will be played April 7th at 1 PM EST & 18:00 CEST

Preview of the EU Challenger Series Spring 2015 Third Place Match: Gamers2 vs Reason Gaming

By Anel “Musinlol” Musinovic

The last spot for the promotion tournament is on the line in today's EU Challenger Series third place match. Gamers2 performed a lot worse than expected against the Copenhagen Wolves Academy, while Reason Gaming put up a strong fight against Origen. Gamers2 should be the slight favorites, but they'll lose if they play as badly as they did in the semifinals.

Gamers2 vs Reason Gaming

SmittyJ, Gilius, Eika, Jebus & Hiiva vs Kubon, Xayoo, Takefun, Celaver & Libik

This game will be a lot closer than anticipated. G2 have more individual strengths but seemed lost against Copenhagen Wolves Acadamy. On the other side, Reason got a free pass into the playoffs and have no pressure on them for the rest of the tournament. Reason had a good showing vs Origen but I imagine G2 will have reviewed their mistakes and made adjustments. I'm just not sure that will fix all of their problems. 

Pick and Bans:

So far these two teams' records against each other are 1-1. Kubon's Irelia seemed to contribute largely to G2's loss, so taking her and possibly Hecarim away from him would seem a wise idea. Also, any bans targeting Takefun's main assassins; Zed, Leblanc and now Ahri, could be a smart move, but I feel like banning Sejuani, Hecarim & Irelia would be the better choices.

Sejuani will certainly be a contested pick, although Gilius didn't find success on her vs Copenhagen Wolves Academy. I expect both junglers to try and get her because of her current strengths despite Gilius' frustrating showing.

For Gamers2, focusing their comp around Jebus would be preferable as he has shown himself to be a key player vs the Polish team. The popular Kog’maw comp could be an idea or something else they have up their sleeve. 

Reason banned out Nidalee previously and should do it again so as not to allow Gamers2 to snowball - even though this might leave Lee open. Getting comfort picks for Kubon would be ideal since he has been their key player against Gamers2.  

Player to Watch from Gamers2: Jebus

In their win against Reason he seemed to be one of the leading players with his 10-2 score, and after a disappointing loss and unsteady performance in the semifinals, he'll be trying to show his worth.

Player to Watch from Reason Gaming: Kubon

For the same reason as Jebus, he is the player to watch. When his team has managed to find victories vs Gamers2, he's gone 11-3-11 on Irelia. Even in their loss, he was 5-4, but it wasn't enough to carry his team. 

Hecarim and Irelia seems like obvious bans so if he can draw two bans it also shows his ability to contribute in the pick and bans. Getting him on a more damage-oriented or carry style champion will be essential to their comp. He's shown his Rumble to be a decent pick and it can do well against the likes of Maokai so that could also be a possibility. 

Predicted score: Gamers2 2-1 Reason Gaming

The game will be played today, April 7th, at 1 PM EST / 18:00 CEST.

If you want to contact me or follow me on twitter -> www.twitter.com/musinlol

Preview of EU LCS Spring Split 2015 playoffs: H2k vs CW

By Anel “Musinlol” Musinovic

EU LCS playoffs begins at 17.00 tonight with H2k facing Copenhagen Wolves which will be followed by Gambit and Unicorns of Love.

H2k Gaming vs Copenhagen Wolves

Odoamne, loulex, Ryu, Hjarnan & KaSing vs Youngbuck, Airwaks, Soren, Freeze & Unlimited

The last time H2k and Copenhagen Wolves faced off in a Bo5, the Wolves sent H2k packing in a clean 3-0 sweep to keep their LCS spot. However since then they've lost their star player, Febiven, to Fnatic and acquired a new fresh support, mid laner and coach in KaSing, Ryu and Prolly. Needless to say, the change has worked amazingly for them. They've looked better and better as a team and the week that they've had is playing into their favor to develop even better strategies, etc.

     Finishing in 3rd with a 12-6 record and looking the stronger of the two, H2k will once again be going in as favorites against the 8-10 Copenhagen Wolves. Hopefully to a different outcome than the last time.

Pick and bans:

H2k:

In pick and bans, H2k should focus on getting a winning match-up for Odoamne. Even though I think Odoamne could go even in a losing match-up against Youngbuck, it could work out well. I explain why in the “Player to Watch” section, so you'll have to wait for a minute to find out. 

If they want to go with a comp where they try to pick winning lanes they could also try to bring out the Nidalee, Rek’Sai or Lee Sin to have even more early game pressure. We know loulex is probably one of the biggest Lee Sin advocates and still prefers him in the changing jungle meta. The pick could work well vs a Kennen - who Copenhagen Wolves have previously played. 

They could also go with a scaling comp with the likes of a Kog’Maw and Lulu in the mid lane but I would like to see an aggressive early game comp because of their superior map play.

If H2k want to play the Sivir that they've brought out eight times, with seven of them being successful, they should try to ban out Freeze's signature Draven who has a good match-up vs Sivir. Even trying to ban out three adc’s could be a good great idea because Freeze hasn't found a single win on other champs besides Graves, Kalista & Draven.

Copenhagen Wolves:

For Copenhagen Wolves, I find it a bit more difficult because there's a lot you want to ban against H2k and the recent Jarvan nerfs might have hit them hard.

Airwaks has had eight games on Jarvan and managed five wins from them, but with the recent nerfs he has been trying out different picks such as Sejuani and Fizz - with the Sejuani being a bit better for the team in my opinion.

Getting the Sejuani pick will be important and if banned it doesn't mean that much because it leaves up other picks for his teammates. It's likely that he's practiced other tank junglers such as Nautilus, Zac & Gragas. Otherwise, he can fall back on more early game pressure junglers in Lee, Rek’Sai & Nidalee. Last time, in the promotion tournament vs H2k, he did play Gragas so he should have that as a pocket pick if needed.

The bans I would go for in Game 1 would be Leblanc, Ahri & Sivir. I’m unsure about the two mid lane bans because I feel like Ryu can shine on other champs as well but is really good on those two specifically. Also they could let the Sivir go through and pick up Draven if open. With those two assassins banned though they could go for their Cassiopeia, they’ve won three out of three games with her.

Player to watch from H2k Gaming: Odoamne

Even though the great addition of KaSing seems to be what has made them a better team I would like to go for Odoamne. Youngbuck has a lot to prove with the pressure he's been getting from the community.
     He leads the team with his shotcalling and is able to do pretty good calls when doing fine himself, but when getting behind I feel like Youngbuck can make Copenhagen Wolves’ shotcalling suffer. Also the extra pressure from community can make him believe that if he doesn't put up a great performance the wolves might be looking for other options. Therefore I would like to see a top lane pick from Odoamne that can bully Youngbuck into mistakes, deaths or just falling behind in experience.

They both have five games on Maokai despite Odoamne having way more success on it with a 100% rate while Youngbuck is sitting on a 20% win rate on him. H2k will know that could be a contested pick and might just give it over to Copenhagen Wolves and pick up the Gnar who they've played in two out of the last four games.

Gnar can be a difficult champ to play because of the rage but can be incredibly strong in teamfights and is a really good lane match-up against Maokai. Odoamne also has a 80% win rate in five games on Gnar so it is likely that he will try to pick that up.

Player to watch from Copenhagen Wolves: Soren

Soren has improved massively this season. He seems way more confident when he plays and it shows in his performance. He's been compared to other great danish midlaners and he will be one of the key players against H2k. He has had a strong Cassiopeia winning all three of his games on her.

If his main champs get target banned I'm guessing he would go for Xerath but it will be interesting to see if he has picked up recent champions such as Diana which could be great in teamfights which the Wolves have been favoring a lot this season.

Predicted score: H2k Gaming 3-1 Copenhagen Wolves

The game will be played April 4th at 11 PM EST & 17:00 CEST over at www.twitch.tv/riotgames

If you want to contact me or follow me on twitter -> www.twitter.com/musinlol

Preview of EU Challenger Series Spring 2015 Playoffs: Origen vs Reason Gaming

By Anel “Musinlol” Musinovic

EU Challenger Series playoffs once again begins at 18.00 tonight and Reason Gaming will need something special & some more to pull out the win vs Origen.

Origen vs Reason Gaming

SoAZ, Amazing, xPeke, Niels & Mithy vs Kubon, Xayoo, TakeFun, Celaver, Libik

Origen are the clear favorites here as the 95-5 fan vote has indicated, and with no disrespect to Reason Gaming, that is probably the right percentage. Reason Gaming joined the playoffs because SK Gaming Prime's Sencux and Wunderwear were unfortunately ineligible to play due to age restrictions under the following rule:

SK choose not to enter the playoffs using subs Phake and Zytan, and they their forfeited their spot over to Reason Gaming.

Origen has only lost to the LowLandLions, but some might argue they were taking it easy and fooling around a bit because they had already secured the first spot. Origen definitely won’t be taking it lightly on their semifinal match vs Reason Gaming, but they may choose to save picks and strats. Standard play should be enough for Origen to beat Reason Gaming.

When these two faced each other previously, Origen 2-0’d them even though one of the games was fairly close. This routing wasn't unexpected because of Origen's higher level of experience and just a higher level of player for player.

Pick and Bans:

As stated above, I don’t expect anything fancy from Origen. For Reason Gaming, on the other hand, I would love to see a pocket pick like Zyra for Libik or anything else we don’t often see to potentially surprise their opponents. Also they could try and go for the old LowLandLions winning recipe of banning out 3 mid laners to try to minimize xPeke’s impact on the game and pick a jungler like Nidalee or Rek’sai who Xayoo seems to prefer - to try to snowball the lanes out of control.

Origen has more experienced players and I think they will come out ahead right from the start in picks and bans, especially if they get their Kog'maw comp, which Reason should fear for good reason.

Player to watch from Origen: xPeke

Who else could it be than our beloved xPeke. xPeke is a versatile midlaner who knows how to carry but also knows how to allow his team to carry. He's got a strong champion pool, and while he tends to favor flashy assassins, Ahri always seems to find a way to charm her way in on him. He can also bring out the likes of Lissandra, Ezreal, Xerath and Lulu (even though recent nerfs to Lissandra has made her see less play.) Knowing xPeke from previous seasons, he has made his efforts to pick up Viktor & Diana which he might pull out vs Reason.

Player to watch from Reason Gaming: Xayoo

I didn’t pick Xayoo because I think he's a better player than the rest in any way, but because he often buys sightstones. They will have to try to snowball lanes as said previously and utilize the vision they have to make aggressive plays and win from there. He will also be the person who has to snowball the lanes otherwise I see no other outcome than a 2-0.

Predicted score: Origen 2-0 Reason Gaming

The game will be played April 1st at 12 PM EST & 18:00 CEST

If you want to contact me or follow me on twitter -> www.twitter.com/musinlol

Preview of EU Challenger Series Spring 2015 Playoffs: Gamers2 vs Old LowLandLions

By Anel “Musinlol” Musinovic

EU Challenger Series playoffs begins at 18.00 tonight and will be a match that before the season would heavily have been predicted in favor for Gamers2. Since then the old LowLandLions have improved and are ready to give us a great match.

Gamers2 vs The old LowlandLions

SmittyJ, Gillius, Eika, Jebus & Hiiva vs Morsù, Kirei, CozQ, Vizility & Hybrid

As you can see the fan vote is close to 50-50 even though I would put it slightly into Gamers2 favor there is a chance for the old LowlandLions. Gamers2 I would put in the favorable seat despite a lower seed than LowLandLions who get to decide which side they would like to play on twice. Gamers2 are obviously living in Ocelote’s gaming house which is a massive advantage in terms of bonding, team synergy and practice. Gamers2 also has a 2-0 winning record vs the old LowLandLions.¨

The biggest mismatch is found in the botlane or the jungle where the toplane and midlane is more even. Jebus has previously been 9-1 and 10-1 vs LowLandLions.

The winner will be going up against the winner of Origen vs Reason Gaming, which most likely will be Origen. Origen will most likely be grabbing that auto-promotion spot and therefore the most likely thing will be that the winner of this match will be facing Giants in the relegation match.

Pick and bans:

In the picks and bans Gamers2 previously have shown willingness to target Morsu which lead him on to the likes of Wukong and Gnar which in both instances lead to Gamers2 victories. Morsù has played Jax twice, Irelia three times, Fizz twice, Wukong, Fiora & Gnar all once.
    Interestingly enough he hasn’t found wins on any of the champs he has only played once therefore i believe it would be good to try to ban out Morsù and pick away one of his champions in at least on of the series. SmittyJ has previously himself pulled out Jax & Fizz vs Morsù as well so he could be trying to get his hands on that and very well could be contested picks.

The negative side of banning out Morsu is obviously it that it leaves champions open for the other players which is only a concern with CozQ who has picked up Ahri 5 times out of the 10 games in the split.

On the other hand for LowlandLions i think they could have a toplane pick up their sleeve and they should be trying to focus on getting good matchups for their solo lanes and snowballing from there. They should also not try to tunnel too hard on Ahri, and be careful of picking Xearth into Ahri if it gets picked away. They played Xearth in their two latest matches vs Origen with one of them resulting in handing Origen their only loss.

Player to watch from Gamers2: SmittyJ

My reasoning behind my choice of SmittyJ is that he is a good toplaner that i would rate on level with Soaz, and it will be important that he keep Morsu down, who is known for putting his team on his back mostly by split pushing.

He has previously played on SK Prime with Kikis & Fox who are currently in the LCS, so he will be trying to join his old friends very soon.

     This season SmittyJ has played 7 different champs, so he champloo is in a health spot and should be able to hold his own in the toplane vs Morsù.

Player to watch from the old LowLandLions: CozQ

It was between Morsù and CozQ, but with me already addressing Morsu under the SmittyJ part and in the start, i decided to go with CozQ. CozQ & Morsu will be the force that will be trying to carry the team to victory despite hard circumstances. They are good individual players but don’t seem to have enough quality around them to go through to the finals. CozQ has recently picked up Xearth most notably in their win vs Origen.

He has previously played Ahri 5 times, and has also played Cassio, Leblanc and Lissandra once. If Gamers2 would try to ban him out in one of the series, it would most likely be Ahri, Xearth & Leblanc because they are the 3 most contested picks and force him onto a less comfortable pick, but it is unlikely because it would leave up all Morsù’s strong picks.

Predicted score: Gamers2 2 - 1 old LowlandLions

The game will be played March 31st at 12 PM EST & 18:00 CEST

In the whole article i have adressed Morsù, Kirei, CozQ, Vizility & Hybrid as “The old LowLandLions because of their recent departure from LowLandLions.  

ROCCAT Possible Roster Changes Incoming

By Anel “Musinlol ” Musinovic

Whatever genie the unsigned Polish team, Kiedys Mialem Team, uncorked from a bottle in the Spring of 2014 has long since packed his bags. Roccat has had a massively disappointing season, finishing in the danger zone right behind Copenhagen Wolves & Elements, and it's possible they will be forced to consider some roster swaps. 

Roccat came into the 2015 Spring Split with high expectations despite a less than successful run at IEM Cologne. Having acquired former Lemondogs' star midlaner, Nukeduck, and the previous split’s best rookie, Woolite, Roccat's roster looked impressive. Pressure mounted on the team, and they were predicted to have a Top 3 finish, but that was not to be. Despite their best efforts, they ended up 8th, barely holding on above Giants & MYM. Their dismal showing has brought out a great deal of speculation that Roccat might be looking for replacements for Overpow and Woolite.

Ducky has publicly said the following, which could be adding to the rumor that Roccat are looking for fresh blood for either one or multiple positions. He himself has also been criticized. 

Also nuke has expressed his opinion about roster swaps when asked:

Overpow’s Spot in Danger?

Overpow was hyped by the team (and other pros) for his outstanding Teleportplays'. He also had an odd champion pool which was predicted to work great, but has since fallen flat. It's possible he's looking at other options with his recent name change from ROCCAT Overpow to “heszke w meszke.”

Possible Contenders for ROCCAT's toplane

Beansu:

The 17-year-old toplaner who referred to himself as “mini-wickd” is one of the contenders for Overpow's toplane spot. He has previously played on teams such as Reason Gaming, SK Gaming Prime, and Gamers2, who failed to qualify for this split through the expansion tournament. Since then, he has seemingly only played soloq, even though he recently started playing ranked 5’s with the Mousesports' botlane, Xioh and Dan. He would most likely take the chance if he got called up by Roccat,  despite his newly formed ranked 5’s team.

Jwaow:

The toplaner, Jwaow just recently got relegated with MYM and the team might not be staying together for the Challenger Series with the backlash they got from the community for the Kor1 incident. Jwaow was previously known as a carry-style toplaner and was picked up by Gamers2 when Ocelote was playing, but with that team not making it after multiple attempts, the Swedish international replaced Mimer in MYM. MYM was already in a bad state and was predicted to take the auto-relegation spot. Despite fine attempts to not make that happen, they lost the tiebreaker to Giants. Jwaow was especially looking good on Maokai, which is quite a contested champion at the moment, and he can pull out other carry-style champions which might be what Roccat is looking for.

Zorozero:

The most unlikely contender is Zorozero, who has recently started playing again and is currently in Challenger with over 500 lp. Zorozero might be looking to play again and with Roccat’s recent troubles they might be looking to pick up the former toplane star of Europe. Zoro has previously played with Nukeduck in Lemondogs, and I don’t think that Nukeduck would mind playing with his old buddy again. 

Woolite’s Stay in Roccat also Might be Coming to an end

Woolite was another player that was expected to do well, and coming in as Rookie-of-the-Split from the last split, he looked so promising. He's been too aggressive though, and outright stupid in some games (like the recent game where he threw the game by himself.) Roccat might be looking for a new ADC for themselves, despite it being less likely than the Overpow move.

Possible Contenders for ROCCAT's ADC Position

MrRallez:

Rallez, just like Jwaow, was recently relegated with MYM and will possibly be looking for a new team. The once hyped Danish international might be looking to find himself a new spot in the LCS. Rallez struggled with synergy after the departure of Migxa. He can’t be excused this time as he would have VandeR as a support if he joins Roccat. So this time it would be make it or break it for Rallez.

Tabzz:

Tabzz just recently got back on Elements as a sub, but might take the opportunity if he got to play with his former teammate Nukeduck. When he was playing for Elements, he was surely a Top 2 ADC, and Roccat might be looking to try to pick him up.


If you have any questions or wants to folllow me my twitter is -> https://twitter.com/Musinlol

3 Players to Watch in the 2015 EU Challenger Series!

By Anel “Musinlol” Musinovic
Origen, Gamers2, Dignitas EU (Former SKP), Reason Gaming, mouzesports & LowLandLions get ready to face off in the 2015 EU Challenger Series. Players to watch are starring, Sencux, Hiiva & Morsú.

Chres “Sencux” Larsen

Dignitas EU - Midlane

Sencux has previously played for Reason Gaming & 4EverZenzyg, with their famous intro song. Less notably, he has also been playing a lot of LANS in Denmark, which went decently well for him. If you don’t know Sencux so far, you are potentially about to, he has been playing great lately.

They have lost their jungler Obvious because SKP at the time were not willing to buy him out, which lead to him going to Gamers2 and taking Beansu with him a day before the first qualifier games. They were left without a jungler or toplane so Sencux reached out to Wunderwear, who is a toplaner he has played with on previous teams. He wanted a jungler that could fill out the shotcalling position which lead them to pick up Brokenshard and to round out the team they have with Crazycaps & Zytan.

Sencux himself is one of the best midlaners in the challenger series and compares himself to xPeke when he is on his game. Sencux is a good player and definitely on the road to become a great midlaner but if he matches up with xPeke he still has to prove himself. He thrives on playing assassin champs such as Zed, Ahri & Leblanc. He's also been playing champs as the likes of Lulu & Xerath in previous matches.

It will be a lot on Sencux's shoulders to carry Diginitas EU to victory, but he can be helped by his AD Carry, Crazycaps. Not saying that the other players are worse but I see these two being in a position to carry. Sadly they lost their first game unexpectedly in the EU Challenger Series to LowLandLions with great play from Morsú, despite Crazycaps racking up 13 kills and Sencux sitting at 5. They will be trying to regain their footing against Mouz (Previously n!fac).

Aleksi “Hiiva” Kaikkonen

Gamers2 - Support

Hiiva will be trying to overcome the giants Origen after failing once, but might have a cheesy strat prepared against them to surprise. The Finnish international is known for his Blitzcrank & Zyra play but can also play other supports. He can create some scenarios in the game with his interesting and potentially cheesy play, and who doesn't like to see a Blitzcrank.

I believe Hiiva can, with his strong ADC, Jebus, be the force for Gamers2 who is going to be carrying them to victory. His ADC was previously considered for the Gambit ADC spot, but after some problems it didn't work out. Hiiva and Gamers2 are definitely top 3 and will be facing LowlandLions tonight over at Riot Games.

Bram “Morsú” Knol

LowlandLions - Toplane

LowLandLions were written off totally but with a win against Dignitas EU, they have maybe brought themselves back. Morsú was the key to Victory with his great performance on Jax, his splitpush was just too much to handle for the Dignitas side. He will be trying to do the same in today's upcoming game against Dignitas EU again.

He is a player that is known for carrying in previous teams such as Team Coast Gold and tactics against teams with Morsú in them has always been "shutdown Morsú and win the game." He played in the Challenger Series previously but fell short just like Sencux. It can be problematic but shows the quality of the player. He likes to spiltpush often, and can bring out champions such as Fiora which is his main champion. He played it in the qualifiers to success despite coming up against a Jax. Look for this player to pick champions that can 1v1 in the toplane and try to find his way to victory from there.

To round off the article I would like to say that I have not put in Origen players for the sake of the article, because you could easily put in 3 Origen players in the list.

Breaking Down IEM IX Cologne and Looking at Semifinals.

By Anel “Musinlol” Musinovic

With Cloud9 winning IEM San Jose, it is soon time to start IEM Cologne. Here is a bit about the teams that have the potential to win, the casting crew, what is at stake and when it’s going to be played.

Gambit Gaming - The IEM Legends

Cacochard, Diamond, NiQ, P1noy & Edward

A new Gambit at IEM will be trying to replicate the previous success of the old five players from Gambit. The former five: Darien, Diamond, Alex Ich, Genja & Edward, were also under the name Moscow 5 and won IEM Season VI Global Challenge Kiev & World Championship. IEM Kiev was the first LAN event Diamond ever had attended. After coming under the Gambit Gaming organization, the team followed up by winning IEM Season VII Global Challenge and placing 3rd-4th in the World Championship. The next IEM would have the exact same outcome for Gambit, IEM Season VIII Cologne was won with a 2-0 over Fnatic & again they placed 3-4th in the World Championship. Therefore, there is a lot of pressure on the new guys to perform.

A quick mention that their previous organisation won’t be participating in the tournament, Moscow 5 again sadly has Visa problems for their new five players. So Diamond & Edward sadly won’t have the chance to face their old organization.

Toplane - Cabochard : Since the departure of Darien, Gambit has been trying to to fill the toplane role with Kubon but, after a relatively short stay, they switched him out with Cabochard who had previously subbed for them when Darien couldn't get a visa to play. He quickly got picked up by NiP after subbing, but after they failed to qualify for LCS, Cabochard got picked up by Gambit. Cabochard is known for his confidence through laning phase, which makes him vulnerable for ganks. If they can play well with his style of play, he should be one of the better toplaners going into the next season.

Jungle - Diamond : Diamond has been with Gambit for a long time and experienced their IEM success and he'll be trying to replicate it with new teammates. Diamond is known as the innovator and has been one of the players to look at when you define how to play jungle. He is still considered as a elite jungler of EU and will hopefully, for the spectators, come out with something new again. He joined the old Gambit boys by Edward knowing him, despite being 1800 elo which was low for professional players. He is known for exceptional Lee Sin play and for popularizing Evelyn jungle with various builds, most notably the old bluepot start which would allow him to have insane early pressure.

Mid - Niq : NiQ spent several years playing for multiple Polish teams, but after failing to qualify for LCS EU with Denial he himself approached Gambit after Alex Ich's announcement of leaving the team. He had big shoes to fill and has shown himself to be a solid player for Gambit despite having a bad split. He seemed to favour Nidalee in the midlane in the EU LCS. Also, expect to see his favorite champ, Fizz.

ADC - P1noy (Krislund) : He is mostly known under the name Krislund, but changed his name after being confirmed for Gambit because he wanted to have something that represented himself since he is half filipina. He ddidn'thave a good relationship with his father so he changed the name to p1noy because it meant that he was filipina which came from his mothers side.

He is an versatile adc who has played a ton in the Challenger Series, but he's also subbed for Gambit in the Relegation Tournament. He can play both play aggressive and passive well and will most likely be aggressive with his support, Edward. He also shown that he doesn't fall under pressure; he played his first match with Gambit in the Relegation Tournament and showed up big.

Support - Edward : Edward, the man who was previously known as Gosu Pepper, is a huge playmaking support. He is known as the “Thresh Prince” for good reason. He has always been the player to flash in for a kill or for trading the flash of the opposite adc. He would often do this on Sona as well. He has previously been praised as the best Sona and was picking her very often. He describes his playstyle as “see hero, kill hero” which we have seen in the EU LCS multiple times. He has also been trying to innovate the support champions, spamming Vel’koz in soloq and busting out Gragas in competitive play quite a few times.

Roccat - The 5 players with a storyline for IEM

Overpow, Jankos, Ryu, Woolite & VandeR

Roccat are here because Fnatic couldn’t participate without a full lineup. Despite that fact, Roccat are seen by many as the favorites of the tournament and with new strong additions, they are likely to win. They have been praised by many for being good in scrims which has lead to a lot of hype around them at the moment.

Toplane - Overpow : Overpow was for the early of the EU LCS split highly praised and hyped but did not perform exceptionally well in the midlane in the split. He was good at times but really passive in the midlane with many strange picks such as Mordekaiser. He has been praised for being aggressive & having instant tp’s since his role swap to toplane. Many didn’t feel like the removal of Xaxus was a good idea, but Roccat seems to feel happy about putting Overpow top. The question stands if he will be living up to the hype and showing dominance in his lane.

Jungle - Jankos : Jankos was praised as the best jungler in Europe after a good summer split. If you go back and look at his games when he was in the challenger series he wasn't a good jungler, but he's really developed a good understanding of the jungle and mechanical skill over time. He has immense early pressure every single game and has an incredibly high rate of first bloods. He also prefers champs such as Lee Sin & Elise who has great kits for early pressure.

Mid - Ryu: This IEM tournament is going to be an important one for Ryu, with LCS soon coming and teams locking in their rosters. This “tryout period” at IEM for Ryu will be the dealbreaker, with players like Nukeduck waiting in the wings if he doesn't perform. He is known for Ahri and Fizz but mostly for his Orianna which he has mastered completely. He is so good at holding his ultimate in fights so he can zone out the enemy. Despite Roccat consisting of four Polish players they talk in English so Ryu can have a chance of understanding them. It will be interesting to see how Roccat will cope with the language barrier.

ADC - Woolite : Replacing Celaver will be the former Copenhagen Wolves' adc, Woolite. He is one of the products of Copenhagens continuing adc production. He was the shining light for CW and, with a strong support, they could be contesting for the strongest botlane in EU. Woolite is an aggressive player and will suit VandeR well. He'll be a strong replacement for the underwhelming and defensive adc, Celaver.

Support - VandeR : Vander can also be called VandeRlife, because he was definitely a playmaking support who was top two in the LCS. His Thresh is his best champion and was often banned away from him. It will be interesting to see the pairing of Vander and Woolite vs Doublelift and Aphromoo in the semifinal. He has been on the show First Blood and seems to be a really smart player.

Dignitas - Addition of two Koreans 

Gamsu, Crumbzz, Shiphtur, CoreJJ, KiwiKid

Dignitas are going into this tournament despite being behind CLG, Curse and EG, but Curse and EG didn’t have the opportunity to show up so Dignitas, with the depature of Scarra, ZionSpartan and Imaqtpie, have the chance to show off their two new Korean players.

Top - Gamsu : Gamsu is a Korean who has played with Alienware Arena in OGN Winter and also been a sub for Samsung Blue. Without knowing much about Gamsu, I am looking forward to seeing what this new player can offer to the Dignitas lineup. He has also been playing under the name loopercorn in SoloQ in NA. 

Jungle - Crumbzz : Crumbzz, for me, is an very underrated jungler in NA. He is often solid and is extremely versatile since he has played top, jungle & mid competitively. He has also been great on the analyst desk the few times he has been there. He is trying to become the shotcaller for Dignitas which is a very underrated skill. Shotcalling is very important but many seems to forget it when they rate the player. He has previously shown good performances on Elise, Vi and Lee sin. Something I think he has under his sleeve is a Kayle and maybe a Nocturne jungle pick since he has played it once before.

Mid - Shiphtur : Shiphtur came to Dignitas as a “star signing.” People had enormous expectations and in his very first game he did get a pentakill on Leblanc. This was followed by many good performance and Dignitas climbed the ranks. Their performance dropped as the split went on and they didn't do too well in play-offs. He shines on assassin champs and Ziggs.


Adc - CoreJJ : CoreJJ has been streaming a lot on twitch while playing under the name DubuKiD. Many have said that he hasn't been doing too well in soloq but that obviously isn't a big deal when you look at competitive which is a different environment. If you haven’t seen his stream I would suggest it. He is, in my opinion, a very entertaining streamer.  He previously played on Bigfile Miracle with Fusions' new midlaner, Huhi. Other than that, I don’t know much about him but will be watching him closely at IEM.

Support - Kiwikid : With the news that Dignitas was not going to be fielding Imaqtpie, people speculated if Kiwikid was still going to be on the roster. With his roleswap from toplane, he has been kind of underwhelming so far. If he could show up at IEM with huge plays on champions like Thresh, he would minimize the backlash from the community next split.

Counter Logic Gaming - Mystery

ZionSpartan, Thinkcard, Link, Doublelift, Aphromoo

Counter Logic Gaming with the most votes are going to be looking to please their fans. Fan favorite Scarra will be leading the team as head coach. 

Toplane - ZionSpartan : ZionSpartan was also one of the new signings. He is this carry style toplaner who could even pull out a Nasus pick against a Maokai for instance. CLG has a history of turning toplaners into how they want them to play though, but let's hope we can see Zion in a sidelane doing what he does best. He has, in recent vlogs, seemed really happy and has had a great attitude so it seems like he is getting along with the other players.

Jungle - Thinkcard : He has previously subbed for CLG when CLG was bootcamping in Korea. This time he is subbing as well because Xmithie had visa problems. He tried to qualify for LCS with LoLPro but wasn’t showing up in the series at all himself. He isn’t really about fancy Lee Sin kicks or anything like that but is warding the map and being the second support in that sense.

Midlane - Link : Link has been under a lot of criticism and a great way to shut them up would be to come out strong at IEM. He has also been trying to roleswap to jungle but CLG felt like keeping him mid would be the best solution available for them. He will probably be playing farm/poke heavy champions despite of a lot of assassins being strong right now.

ADC - Doublelift : Doublelift is the front of CLG and the one CLG fans value most. He also has a unique story behind him. He was kicked out from home at age 16 because he wanted to be a pro gamer, and had to live with Travis Gafford. The glory days of Doublelift seem long gone and retirement has been an area which has been discussed. He often has Vayne bans against him but always plays the meta adc otherwise. Often he can get caught off guard and be in a bad position in teamfights. With that said, he does make a good botlane with Aphromoo. He has a reputation of trash talking opponents, but for himself, I hope he doesn't trash talk Woolite because I see Woolite getting the better of him.

Support - Aphromoo : Aphromoo is the star of the botlane but often doesn’t get enough credit because his duo partner has such a big name. He is one of the most lovable guys in the scene and has grown as a player since his role swap from ADC to Support. Rush hour as the botlane pairing is called, will have a hard time against the new botlane of Roccat I believe.


Semi-finals

Semi-finals are going to be hard to predict since we haven’t seen many of the teams in action and all of them have new players, but I believe that we might see an EU final here.

I don’t dare to predict the scores but I think that Roccat and Gambit are going to be in the final. Roccat has been sounding strong and will be trying their best to win IEM while on the other hand CLG weren’t sure if they were attending the event and have a sub as well. It wouldn’t be IEM Cologne without having Gambit in the final at least, and Dignitas took a while to get going against Aces High, which could be worrying sign.

IEM Casting line-up

Krepo, Deman, Deficio, stvicious, JoeMiller, Dexter & Sjokz

When to watch?

Saturday - December 20th

13:00 to 18:00 CET - LCS EU expansion winners match (BO5)

18:00 to 21:00 CET - Intel Extreme Masters Cologne Roccat vs CLG (BO3)

21:00 to 0:00 CET - Intel Extreme Masters Cologne Dignitas vs Gambit (BO3)

Sunday - December 21st

13:00 to 18:00 CET - LCS EU expansion decider match (BO5)

18:00 to 23:00 CET - Intel Extreme Masters Cologne final (BO5)

The IEM Cologne prize pool is 30.000$ and every team gets a bit of the cut obviously more for the higher placed teams. 

Teams that didn't make it: Also Dolphins of Wall Street & Aces High eSports Club participated in IEM but didn't make the semifinals.