EPT1. SK Gaming
For better or worse, I think SK is the best European squad right now. After S3, the team pretty much disbanded, as seasoned players wanted to look for other opportunities, leaving only CandyPanda to rebuild the brand with players no one really considered top of the class. After shaky beginning in relegations and first weeks of LCS where the squad relied mostly on Candypanda to carry, SK started to showcase their new found strength: teamwork. Just like C9’s Lemmonnation, nRated might not be most skilled individual player, but he brings a strategic mind unlike any other in Europe. On top of that, SK hired Incarnation (regarded by many to be the best European midlaner) to coach the team. Their combined efforts resulted in not only all of SK members performing better and better every week, but especially in the team having one of the best draft phases in western League, as well as good shotcalling and efficient rotations. SK were the first to break down Roccat’s playstyle, they reacted smartly to Fnatic’s baits and made sure to force Gambit into uncomfortable positions whenever they could. And after how much the team has grown in past split, I’d say that all of the players are top2-top3 in their respective roles. They probably don’t stand a chance against OMG and T1K and I have no idea how good the GPL teams are, but I’d really like to see if TSM, CLG or C9 can beat neo-SK.
2. Fnatic
I’m one of those people that don’t like fnatic - be it because of the player’s personalities, them relying on traps and mindgames in S3 and early S4, refusing to play popular comps or just not being as enjoyable to watch as my favourite EU teams. As KTB recently shown, the gimmick strategies probably won’t work against foreign teams anymore and LCS shown that they don’t really work domestically either, which forced fnatic to play less strategical game and more focused on players’ individual skills (since Soaz, Rekkles and Yellowstar might be the best EU players in their respective roles). As a more experienced team, they might make less mistakes and more clutch plays in playoffs than a squad like SK, but the cleaner the games are the less I expect fnatic to represent EU at Allstars.
3. Alliance
The stories of this team are Shook overcoming stage freight, Froggen getting back in his carry shoes and Wickd accepting that he only performs well in his comfort zone. By the end of split both Tabzz and Nyph started looking well, but I still think they performed better in their respective past teams. Other than that, I’m not sure what to say. It certainly feels awkward to see a toplaner who can’t play Renekton and his most played champion in 2014 season is Irelia, but it’s hard to deny results from him. Shook didn't rise up to the expectations at the beginning of the season, but by the end he probably became a top3 jungler in Europe. Same thing with Froggen, I wasn't sure what to think early in the year, but right now he’s probably in the same shape as he was in CLG.EU’s prime. Again, I’m not sure what to think about their strategical strength - I must admit that when I watch their games, I often don’t fully understand why are they winning. I would probably consider them the dark horse to win the playoffs.
4. Roccat
While the poles probably didn't deserve constant comparisons with MYM, in the end they turned out to be somewhat true. Just like Czaru’s team, Roccat caught everyone by suprise getting wins against veteran LCS squads, but started losing as soon as people caught up with their playstyle The difference is that MYM literally relied on one gimmick (Czaru taking teleport and making plays), whereas Roccat is simply a very reactive team, so a popular strategy against them was pushing them out of their comfort zone by making them take action or doing things they can’t react to on time. But even after people figured them out, they eventually managed to play just as smart when it’s their turn to act, and thanks to that went even in last 3 weeks. They are a very sound team in terms of strategy and teamwork and their biggest problem might be individual skill of some of the players, so I’ll be very interested in seeing how well they do in next split.
5. Gambit
Gambit is the best teamfighting squad in Europe and one of the best in the world. It’s ridiculous how much behind they can be and still win teamfights, even against teams like KTB. With that said, there are countless problems with the team in it’s current state. Edward is still out of sync with Genja. Genja builds unorthodox stuff on a very straightforward role and has questionable positioning. Alex has some very bad, 0 impact games. Suprisingly, so has Diamond, who relies more and more on gimmicky or comfortable champions to do well with. Darien is very stubborn and overconfident which he was always criticized for, but now that it worked for him for few weeks, I doubt he will ever change his playstyle. Gambit is willing to pick champions that the players might not be very comfortable on in order to get a favourable matchup or a better comp, but they often end up losing due to players’ inability to play champions they are not used to. Since they were bootcamping for 3 or 4 weeks now, I’m not sure if they can make a big leap that they need by the time playoffs roll out. But I certainly wouldn't mind them taking the Allstars spot.
6. Copenhagen Wolves
Wolves’ games were really unmemorable to me, so I’ll just say the obvious: Youngbuck and Cowtard were carried by their jungler and ADC in challenger tournaments and after those players went to better teams, team’s captain simply got another great pair of players to carry them. Forgiven even recently said on Twitter how annoying it feels to consistently win lanes but lose half games - granted he almost always played strong early game champions and might simply be better at laning than at teamfighting and sieging, but it’s hard to argue that Youngbuck and Cowtard are among the worst solo laners in LCS, adding almost nothing to the team. With overall 13-15 record it’s actually a decent split for a relatively new team, but you can’t really improve strategically with this kind of individual performance - changes in training regiment might be necessary, and a roster change as well.
7. Supa Hot Crew
To start with a positive: in a world where people didn't know whether they should be hyped for Rekkles, Candypanda or Creaton, SHC's MrRallez (along with his support Migxa) suprised the audience by going toe-to-toe against all of them, as well as Forgiven and Tabzz. However, that’s where team’s qualities end. First of all, they are just a bunch of high ranked players with little competitive experience who decided to make a team, and as such their teamwork and strategies are almost non-existent. Secondly, Rallez and Migxa turned out to be the only LCS-level players, with Impaler applying very little map pressure while Moopz and Mimer were constantly making mistakes and almost never shining. I think SHC is easily the worst team in LCS, as the only one with losing record against Millenium. I doubt they will qualify for the summer split, but I hope Rallez can find himself a new, better team.
8. Millenium
It’s hard to judge how much potential does this team have when throughout the split they had to deal with their midlaner adjusting to a new role, their analysist scaring away their scrim partners and their jungler losing confidence in his play (perhaps justifiably). They probably couldn’t beat SK, Fnatic, Alliance or Gambit in a bo3, but just their individual play combined with Aranae’s leadership should’ve placed them above Wolves and SHC. Instead, Aranae and Kerp kept throwing any advantage their team (including themselves) might’ve got, winning mostly against other teams that tend to throw. I think the team will disband if they fail to qualify for summer split, however I don’t write them off yet - they could be much better once they get few weeks of practice, and that would be a great moment for Creaton to finish his slump and prove that he’s indeed one of Europe’s best.
At this point saying that EU teams are very close in power level is a cliche, but if NiP gets back into LCS, we will have 6 teams out of which any could finish first - and I wouldn’t be suprised if neither fnatic nor Gambit qualified for Worlds. In my opinion this keeps EU LCS very interesting and while 4-match round-robin format takes much of the excitement out, I definitely can’t wait for playoffs and seeing how the winner does at Allstars.
