Team Liquid

Powerhouse Incarnate

Despite being known as one of the powerhouses in Europe, Team Liquid(TL) failed to qualify for the Spring Global Championship last season. Since then, player Jowe has been switched out in favor of bkb as their primary Tank player. Judging by this season's qualifier it would seem TL is back at the top, dominating the first qualifier, beating their first opponent in the group Silenced Monkey(SM) 2-0 as well as Epsilon eSports(EP) with the same score.

The strength of TL becomes even more apparent if one looks past the scores and views the actual series against EP in which they ended up qualifying. In game one on Sky Temple, TL played an extremely clean game, rotating and securing themselves pick-offs in the early game without giving EP a single kill despite EP having Stitches and E.T.C in their lineup. After taking the early game lead TL continued pushing their advantage, forcing fights around the Temples and the Boss, winning every encounter handedly. TL ended the game with a late game boss three levels ahead of their opponent and yet not a single death on the side of TL. In the second game on Cursed Hollow, TL ran an old school tri-lane with Xul allowing them to take an early structure and experience lead. Despite some tricky moves such as sneaking in an early boss by EP, TL never gave them a chance to come back, taking the game and series in a convincing fashion.

TL has to be considered one of the favorites to make it through this event, but with the previous regional in mind predicting the result at this stage is an exercise in futility. Furthermore, one has to keep in mind that TL did not encounter any of the other powerhouses throughout the qualifier such as last Regional's winner Team Dignitas(DIG), Fnatic or Natus Vincere(NaVi). TL still has lot to prove, but they are without a doubt looking stronger than they have in a long time.

Silenced Monkeys

The Quiet Train

Barely making it through the final third qualifier, Silenced Monkeys(SM) is considered one of the underdogs coming into the Summer Championship in Leicester. The fact that they start out in a group with TL who destroyed them just a few weeks prior in the first qualifier does not bode well for them going into this event. Not all is doom and gloom for the polish team, however: in the final qualifier, SM managed to power through the former powerhouse Virtus.Pro as well as Euronics Gaming.

Simply managing to make it past the group stage would be a big upset on the side of SM, but nobody expected much from mYinsanity(mYi) either last season. Do not count them out just yet.

mYinsanity

The Old Guard

Coming into the last regional championship this spring mYinsanity(mYi) was considered one of the underdogs and for good reason. Barely qualifying in the final qualifier and little results to speak of nobody expected much of them. With the status as underdogs mYi performed well above expectations. Taking second place in the regional tournament mYi went on to the global championships where they had a relative strong showing.

This time mYinsanity is more of a dark horse than an underdog. Despite their recent success mYi still struggled qualify having to go through TSaM in the final qualifier. Looking at their games mYi did show some good decision making and they seem to have a good understanding of how to play double support compositions. Regardless, they did not look nearly as dominant as some of the other teams did during the qualifiers. mYi is however known for making upsets, so prepare yourself for a potential sweep from mYi in Leicester.

Casual Logic Gaming

Casually Walks into Battle

After Epsilon had to cancel their participation due to visa issues Casual Logic Gaming(CLG), the former Euronics Gaming roster will take their place at Leicester. They have been given a unique chance to prove themselves at the European Summer Championship. A chance they might not get again.

Team Dignitas

Returning Champions

Team Dignitas(DIG) are the returning champions of the European Regionals. Taking first place in the spring regional DIG went on to fight in the Global Championship in Seoul making it the furthest of any non-asian team together with Cloud 9(C9). Together with TL, DIG managed to qualify in the first qualifier beating NaVi in their final match.

Speaking of recent results, even before attending the Regional in Leicester DIG has already qualified for the second European Summer Regional Dreamhack Tours giving them a second shot at qualifying for the Summer Global Championship in Sweden.

With their results in mind, it would seem DIG is one of, if not the favorite to take the throne in Leicester. DIG is not taking anything for granted though as they are currently boot camping in the Katowice Gaming house in Poland in preparation for the event. Furthermore DIG has been on the lookout for a Heroes of the Storm analyst to bolster their team proving that they are willing to do everything in their power to secure themselves the title of the best team in Europe, if not the world.

Team Sandwich Monkey

Siege from Afar

Team Sandwich Monkey(TSaM) is one of the underdog teams coming into Summer Championships. Outside of taking the recent Zotac monthly cup over Epsilon there is not a whole lot of material on TSaM to study. Off course, this could prove to be an advantage as they can prepare well for their opponents while potentially hiding their own strategies.

Looking at the games they played in the qualifiers it would seem that TSaM are not afraid to play unorthodox poke heavy compositions prioritizing heroes such as Azmodan, Lunara and Stitches. This could however prove problematic against teams with dive heavy play styles such as Fnatic or TL.

Natus Vincere

Navi Wants to Play!

Since their loss to DiG at the Spring Regionals Navi have gone into hiding, with no noteable results or tournament participation outside of the summer qualifiers. During the aforementioned qualifier, Navi displayed their classical double warrior compositions prioritizing Stiches on AlexTheProG heavily with ethernal as the second warrior. Should we see a similar playstyle in the upcoming tournament expect a lot of the engagements and possibly the games come down to whether Navi can get a pickoff before taking a fight.

Fnatic

Striking from the Shadows

In a similar vein to the playstyle of Navi, Fnatic likes playing melee heavy as well, often with double warrior compositions. Unlike a lot of European teams, but very much like the North American Heroes scene, Fnatic also value Zeratul highly. Using the void prison to isolate targets or in combinations with other spells such as the Ring of Frost or Li-Ming Arcane Orb Fnatic will try to set up the optimal fight before engaging. Expect them to earn some respect bans on Zeratul during the tournament.

The biggest hurdle for Fnatic to overcome in Leicester is their lackluster performance in tournaments. Fnatic has been known in the European scene has the strongest team in scrims for a long time, but has never been able to translate it into tournament results. Will this be the tournament they unleash their true power, or will they once again fall short? Time will tell.