EU Expansion Tournament: H2k going up against Giants for LCS spot

By Anel “Musinlol” Musinovic

With the first two days over, we head into the third day of Round 3 to see Giants and H2k face off against each other.

H2k vs Giants

Odamne, loulex, febiven, Hjarnan & Voidle vs Werlyb, Fr3deric, xPepii, Adryh & Rydle

Both H2k and Giants are this one series away from entering the EU LCS, and H2k are once again coming in as favorites for a LCS spot. Last time against Copenhagen Wolves they did fail miserably but I think they have learned their lesson. They should be showing up strong and not choking.

Giants have shown themselves to be a strong team and yesterday they 3-0’d a underwhelming Reason Gaming. Many will expect H2k to 3-0 but Giants can, in my opinion, take a game and that is why I have given it 3-1 for H2k. Giants' Fre3deric did an amazing job of snowballing lanes yesterday, but against H2k it is going to be a very hard task. H2k has superior solo lanes but the botlane of Giants can match the H2k one, therefore Adryh & Febiven are my featured players to watch.

Giants should not be focus their bans on Febiven, n!fac tried that but that failed since Febiven was dominating no matter what champion he was on. They should maybe be focusing on trying to ban out loulex and especially his Lee Sin.

Player to watch from H2k Gaming: Febiven

Febiven is the star of both the team and the whole challenger scene, so he's the obvious pick for the player to watch. He is an extremely strong midlaner and is considered one of the best in Europe. He has multiple accounts in high challenger and will be coming out strong against xPepi. xPepi has shown himself to be a good midlaner so far but he will maybe have too much on his hands this time.

Player to watch from Giants: Adryh

Adryh has had exceptional games on Jinx so far, which he seems to prefer. No other adcs seem to play Jinx at the time but Adryh definitely makes it work. It might be a champion to ban for H2k. If the Jinx is banned he often falls back on Ezreal or Lucian. In the first round of the expansion tournament, he went 9-0-8 on Jinx & 7-4-10 on Lucian when the Jinx was picked away from him. He also had great games against Millenium. Against Reason he was 7-1 twice on Jinx, and 5-4-10 on Ezreal in the last game of the series. If he can pull out these performances against H2k they might have a chance but it seems very unlikely.

Predicted score: H2k 3 - 1 Giants

The game will be played December 19th at 7:00am EST, 13:00 CET

Amazing, Niels & Mithy announced for Origen (xPeke’s newly formed team). Contenders for Top Lane Position Here!

By Anel “Musinlol” Musinovic

xPeke’s dream of creating his own team and brand is finally coming to life, and with the new announcement of Amazing, Niels & Mithy, the team is looking promising.

Origen announced the new players via Twitter but has not announced their toplaner yet, therefore the rumor mill is still producing names such as Alex Ich, SoaZ, Kev1n & Zorozero.

Looking at Alex Ich as the first contender and the most talked by the community for Origen’s toplane. 

Alex Ich has been a great midlaner over the years and was a dominant force in the EU LCS for Gambit. After leaving Gambit he joined NiP as their toplaner since NiP already had Nukeduck midlane at the time, but despite a star-studded team they failed to qualify for LCS. Him as a toplaner for NiP didn't seem like the biggest success, which was why he later played midlane. Since then, he has tried to form a team with players such as Kev1n, Impaler, Creaton & KaSing, which again left him to play midlane, but sadly the team disbanded after some shaky ranked-5’s performances which were streamed.

Alex recently signed with the Russian team, RoX.KIS which leads me to believe that he will have a hard time leaving them. Overall, I don’t think he is the best toplaner available, and fits way better in the midlane. xPeke also might see a problem in Alex Ich needing a place to stay with his wife & child. He is really liked by the community and still a decent player but I don't see it happening.

Possibility of happening: 3/10

Looking at the second contender, Kev1n.

With the recent failure of re-qualifying for LCS, Millenium decided to disband. Without a team, the possibility of Kev1n is likely. Kev1n has been in the scene for a long time with teams such as SK Gaming & Millenium and he doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Trying to form a team with Alex Ich & trying to re-qualify with Millenium means that he certainly still has the drive for it.

Kev1n has always been at the top with high KDA even when his teams weren't placing high. I think that he is the most likely contender of the four and if he doesn't get picked I would be surprised. With that said, they have been playing ranked 5’s under the name “ORIGEN” on the client, the toplane account is completely new and I don’t see a reason for hiding it if it was Kev1n since he is without a team right now.

Possibility of happening: 8/10

sOAZ, the third contender.

Soaz, as we all know from Against All Authority & Fnatic, is a toplaner with a great champion pool and he knows xPeke very well. They have been together in Fnatic for a long time and that could be a crucial factor. Rumours have been flying around that xPeke doesn't like sOAZ and therefore doesn't want him in Origen.

sOAZ still seems to be on Fnatic and there is question to be made of whether he wants to take the chance of going through challenger or sticking with his secure Fnatic spot. This could explain the mystery top lane account Origen have been playing ranked 5’s with, since sOAZ is most likely still contracted to Fnatic. Also, the unknown player is presenting quite innovative picks in the toplane - such as Morgana and Ezreal. On the other hand, he has changed his name to sOAZIZSALTY in soloq, which could mean he is salty for being left on Fnatic while three of its five players have left.

Possibility of happening: 7/10

Looking at the last contender, Zorozero.

Zorozero is well known for playing for Lemondogs and NiP, and he was also praised as being the best toplaner in EU. No doubt that he was a great player, but he left for school and he surely couldn't have finished school yet unless he did some of it already. Personally I wish it would turn out to be Zorozero just for the sake of getting him back into the scene. Sadly, I think it is unlikely because of school. If he is finished, he could very well be looking for a team and they are hiding the name of the player under the name “touchmytagada.”

Possibility of happening: 5/10