MeetYourMakers have finally made their breakthrough into the LCS after being a prominent figure in the European scene for quite some time. Despite their relevance in the scene, MYM unsuspectedly would let their spot slip in the Spring Season 0-2 to Dragonborns, narrowly finding their revenge in the Summer promotion in a 3-2 against them. Now, along with Sinners never Sleep and Alternate, MYM finds their place amongst the new contenders in Season 3.
During the downtime between splits, MeetYourMakers worked hard and didn't slack a bit, taking on many various tournaments going on at the time and even placing 1st 3 series' in a row spanning from March to the end of May (both Solomid Invitational 2 and 3 as well as the Go4LoL finals in April.) Though not finishing with a solid placement in the IEM World Championships, MYM put up a solid fight against CJ Frost and also took a game off of Evil Geniuses.
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Along with teams like Evil Geniuses, Gambit Gaming, and Team Solomid, MeetYourMakers has had very minimal roster changes, allowing them excellent team synergy and chemistry. Being a fully Polish team, there's no language barrier to interfere with their play and shotcalling either. With MeetYourMakers demolishing the amateur scene but slipping up against professionals, one must wonder what's the deal?
In the upcoming super-week, MeetYourMakers will have a chance to prove their worth and dissect exactly what their problems are now and what they've fixed from the past. Do they just fall under pressure at LANs or hold the top teams in too high of regard? And if so, can they bring their confidence up to compete among the static top competitors of EU?
Evil Geniuses: Stagnation or Uprising?
It's no mystery to long time LoL followers that Evil Geniuses was one of the top teams heralding their region and even the world. The slow-and-steady turtling style of then Counter Logic Gaming EU was overthrowing the meta and dominating the scene. However, somewhere along the line, the meta slowly shifted into the standard aggression-rewarding play that exists today in Season 3.
While not taking a nosedive in any sense of the word, Evil Geniuses did find themselves stagnating a lot and rarely finding time to improve. For the majority of the spring season of the LCS, Evil Geniuses attempted to harbor their play to their preferences of Season 2 in a state of the game where it wasn't rewarded. Yellowpete's passivity got punished harder, Froggen wasn't so easily able to shove and take both jungle camps near the mid lane, Wickd couldn't freeze all day, and Snoopeh got outscaled by carry junglers -- there couldn't have been a worse time for Evil Geniuses to have their very static playstyle thwarted.
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Evil Geniuses was in a period of suffering compared to their previous dominant results and almost found themselves dropping to relegations to the now, Ninjas in Pajamas. Hovering around 4th place and just sort of staying there was proving to be pretty unhealthy for the team that once ruled the region with an iron fist alongside Gambit Gaming.
In this super week, we will find out if things with Evil Geniuses have gotten better. Will they try to force their old playstyle to work and actually manifest it in an efficient fashion, flexing it to the whims of the currently favored meta and bending "the best" strategy? The other possibility is EG continuing to play the game of adjustment, shifting their playstyle out of their comfort zone and finding a way to play aggressive and make it work naturally. Only time will tell.
SK Gaming vs. Team Alternate
After defeating the GIANTS, the members of Team ALTERNATE are set to prove to Europe and the rest of the world that they have what it takes to be the best. Though each member has shown great individual skill as "solo queue heroes," they will show in the LCS that they are also solid as a team. Fans have already seen this as their promotion matches went on an intense 5-game series, displaying excellent teamwork and tenacity to keep going when behind, in particular the "3000 ELO Shockwave" from Carl "ForellenLord" Lückmann that won them the game.
Interestingly enough, this is also going to be the first time in a long while that ALTERNATE's Alvar "Araneae" Martin Aleñar and SK Gaming's Carlos "ocelote" Rodríguez will meet in Summoner's Rift once more, only this time as rivals. Araneae was SK's jungler during Season 2, and it has been known to the fans that him and ocelote often let their emotions run high out of each other. Now to different teams, they get a chance to get heated up once more, this time without the cost of teamwork.
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Both SK Gaming and Team ALTERNATE have one thing in common: they are loud. Araneae and Ocelote's passion and intensity when playing could be felt across the room. Screams and shouts fly through the air during big teamfights, and cries of victory or defeat are clearly visible with each game. With this in mind, the fight between Team ALTERNATE and SK Gaming is sure to be exhilirating and an enjoyment for our eyes and ears.
Edward-less Gambit Gaming
During the regular spring season, Gambit Gaming dominated LCS EU with an impressive 21-7 run, trailing just slightly behind Fnatic and their 22-6 standing. During the playoffs, they stomped SK Gaming and barely lost to Fnatic in a close 5-game series for the title of LCS Spring Split Champion. With each game, the Russians have proven time and again why they are the best in Europe, and with LCS Summer Split just around the corner, Gambit fans were sure that they would repeat that performance again, or even better.
That is, of course, until last week, when Edward suddenly announced his departure from the team to move in with Curse Gaming.
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This came as a shocking blow for Gambit Gaming and its fans. Since their days as Moscow 5, the team never had a single roster change, similar to Evil Genuises (formerly CLG.EU). Now with their support gone just a week before the second half of the season starts, they have scrambled to find a replacement for the once "Thresh Prince of Europe."
This week is going to be huge for the Russian squad, as they will need to show that they are still one of the best teams in Europe. With a finals rematch with Fnatic as the very first game of the split, it'll be interesting what the new Gambit Gaming would bring to be table. Whether or not they could still maintain a dominating position for the rest of Season 3 would depend greatly on how the team would adapt to this new situation they're in.
Written by Michale 'DreXxiN' Lalor and Juabe "MovesLikeJuaber" Inciong
