Ninjas in Pyjamas v. Kiedys Mialem Team

I thought everyone knew Einstein’s definition of insanity but I guess no one in NiP has played Far Cry 3. The NiP/LD/SK hybrid suffered one of the most bizarre losses in League History.

NiP looked like a flawed AI. They farmed well, bought the right items, but when the enemy didn’t do what they expected, they broke and just waited around. We can only imagine that NiP thought they were just the superior team as they played passively and waited it out. It turns out that they completely underestimated KMT. The Poles not only kept pace with NiP, but comfortably overtook them. Xaxus stuck close to Zorozero, Overpow was left alone to do what he wanted, Jankos roamed freely and the bot lane of Celaver and VandeRnoob cruised through the matches. NiP waited for the late game while playing against stronger late game line ups – stalling for the late game against a Vayne and Kayle is not a good plan. They waited for KMT to bunch up so they could burst them down with their AoE comp, but never gave KMT a reason to and so naturally, they never did. It was all a bit surreal really. Then this happened two more times.

KMT were the better team and there’s no denying it. Their individual performances shone and the limited team-work required was calm and calculated. Simply put, NiP got outplayed in every position - yes Zorozero farmed well, but he didn’t dominate his lane and he contributed nothing to his team. It’s hard to tell how good KMT really are from this game, but we do know that skill wise, the team is in a good spot. NiP on the other hand were massively underwhelming and put of a very disappointing performance.

SK Gaming v. SHC HD

SK Gaming has been a staple of competitive League of Legends for several years. Despite their recognition, the team struggled to stand out in the European LCS and fell down to relegations. In the off season, the team underwent several drastic roster changes and ended up with new a new Top laner, Mid laner, and Jungler. In this way, the new SK was almost as much of a wild card as their opponent, Supa Hot Crew.

Things got off to a rough start for SK. In Game 1, SK lead most of the game in kills, but fell behind in gold due to SHC's superior objective control. Even when SK was able to get a good push off and take down one of SHC's Nexus Turrets, SHC continued to get clutch picks off on singular members of SK and prevent them from pushing their advantage too hard. SHC swung the game back in their favor with a fight changing Shockwave that allowed them to grab their first inhibitor of the game. Then, a poor engage from SK around the Baron pit lead to a lost fight and a lost game. Game 2 was a lot more one sided with SHC gaining an early advantage and just smothering SK. SHC's Top laner Mimer had an amazing Renekton game and just bullied SK in all of the team fights. Their advantage was so large they forced an SK surrender at 36 minutes.

Down 0-2 in the best of five, things were looking bleak for SK. They would have to join MeetYourMakers and ALTERNATE in the exclusive” EU LCS Qualifiers Reverse Sweep Club.” While it seemed like insurmountable odds, SK were in complete control of the next three games. This was especially true for fredy112's Mundo. He dominated in Game 3 and many viewers expected a ban for Game 4. Instead, SHC first picked Orianna to deny her from Jesiz and left up both Mundo and Shyvana for SK. This turned out to be disastrous as SK got so tanky that SHC just couldn't kill them and CandyPanda melted SHC while his teammates tanked up the damage. In Game 5, Svenskeren turned in an impressive performance on Elise making his presence known early and often so SHC never even got a chance to take the lead. SHC put on a good show, but they were simply outclassed and made a few too many mistakes in picks and bans to close out the series.

MyM v. CW

Copenhagen Wolves punched their ticket into the LCS with a convincing 3-1 victory over Meet Your Makers that showed why neither of the higher ranking relegation team chose to face them for their LCS berth. The Wolves adapted very well to losing a tense first game where Kubon's Mundo was the MVP as he rampaged through the backline of Wolves and wrecked their positioning. MYM continued to bring a strategy focused around Kubon flanking and disrupting alongside Mokatte's Evelynn, but CW responded with great adjustments. Forg1ven's Caitlyn was instrumental in getting turrets pushed down quickly in the Wolves' victories, and the early map control was converted very well into objectives.

The Wolves seemed to have large gaps to fill in their lineup after losing their strong jungler Shook (to Alliance) and budding ADC star Rekkles, who was on loan from Fnatic. Forg1ven provided very solid play in the series, shining when he had the opportunity to play an aggressive push early alongside Unlimited. Amazing clearly provided more impact than Mokatte over the course of the series, showing up in the right spot frequently to turn fights around and helping CW pull ahead early in their victories. The Wolves shined in their mid-game rotations, not always winning fights decisively but always in position to take buffs and objectives before MYM could react.

With the relegation matches complete, we now know who the eight teams of the EU LCS will be. However, only five of the upcoming LCS contenders have played official matches on the Preseason 4 patch, meaning that our early knowledge of the 2014 Season is incomplete. Fortunately, that deficiency will be remedied this weekend when the Battle of the Atlantic concludes with the debuts of the final three EU LCS teams. Untested since their showings at EU Summer Playoffs and the World Championships, the first preseason games of Gambit Gaming, ALTERNATE Attax, and Fnatic are eagerly anticipated, especially by those of us chomping at the bit to make predictions about 2014's EU LCS. Make sure you tune in to Battle of the Atlantic, Part 2 this weekend when rivalries will be revisited, rosters will be tested, and the first of our many questions in 2014 will be answered.