Origen Head to Worlds After Their Rookie Split
Who says old dogs can’t learn new tricks?
The European LCS Regional Qualifier ended with Origen taking the third and final EU slot for this year’s World Championships.
Origen is a fairly new organization, having been formed by former Fnatic captain Enrique “xPeke” Cedeño Martínez late last year. And before they even turn a year old, they’ve already reached the upper echelons of the EU LCS, which makes them the fastest rising “vanity project” team in LCS history.
Good on you, xPeke!
Henrik “Froggen” Hansen tried his hand at forming his own super team, and Alliance (now Elements) took a split to warm up to championship level. Carlos “ocelote” Rodríguez Santiago’s own team, Gamers2, are still trying to get into the LCS to this day.
This makes what xPeke has accomplished with his handpicked squad all the more impressive. The King of Backdoors has an impressive resume known to many, but now let’s meet which mercenaries rounded out xPeke’s group of “xPendables”
Paul “sOAZ” Boyer
“U mad, bro?” -sOAZ
sOAZ, along with xPeke are the players who truly but the OG (original gangsta) in Origen. Their veteran experience stretching all the way back to Season 1 is invaluable to the team. sOAZ has shared in many successful LCS splits with xPeke over the years.
Fun Fact: Many forget that sOAZ actually won the title of best top laner in the world at All-Star Shanghai in 2013.
Maurice “Amazing” Stuckenschneider
After a breakout rookie season on Copenhagen Wolves, Amazing became one of the first European players to make the jump to NA to play for Team SoloMid. H
Fun Fact: Thanks to his stint on TSM, Amazing is the only player to have qualified for Worlds in both an NA and EU team.
Alfonso “Mithy” Aguirre Rodriguez
Mithy’s story is one of redemption for an old ‘dog’. Once the support for Lemondogs, the quick dissolution of the team saw Mithy spiraling into Riot’s banlist due to toxic behavior. He’s since reformed and has at times looked to challenge Bora “YellOwStaR” Kim for best support EU.
Fun Fact: This is Mithy’s second successful ‘rookie’ season as Lemondogs were also a neophyte team that qualified for Worlds after their first LCS split.
Jesper “Niels” Svenningsen
What Niels lacks in veteran status, he makes up for with stellar play (and good looks)
Even a veteran squad must have its token greenhorn. Nevertheless, Niels has been pulling his weight, standing shoulder to shoulder with his seniors despite having never been to Worlds yet.
Fun Fact: Niels would have replaced Martin “Rekkles” Larsson as Fnatic’s AD Carry had xPeke not left. Niels’ loyalty made him follow xPeke all the way to Origen.
The Rise of Origen
Since their inception, this ragtag group of League of Legends soldiers immediately entered the 2015 Challenger Series in spring and dominated the competition, handily qualifying for the LCS Summer Split.
Their meteoric rise continued as the team quickly established itself as one of the main contenders for Fnatic’s #1 crown. This continued all the way to the playoffs where not only did they shatter Fnatic’s 21-game win streak, but they took the series all the way to game 5, pushing the champions to their limits.
That performance alone have many pegging Origen as Europe’s 2nd best team, despite H2k technically being the 2nd seed due to the points earned in the Spring Split. With such a wealth of experience between all its members, the team seems destined to perform well on the biggest stage of them all.
Some Flaws in the Armor
Not all is roses for Origen however. Let’s look at 2 major weaknesses that could hamper these battle-hardened players from Worlds stage glory.
Though Origen thoroughly trounced the Unicorns of Love in the last best of 5, Team Roccat was able to take Origen to a nail-biting game 5. It could be argued that Roccat’s slow-paced style of League of Legends is a direct counter to Origen’s style of early dominance and quick map control. If another team can stall out Origen’s momentum, it could throw off xPeke and co. considerably, and is one thing that the team is surely looking to remedy in their practice.
Speaking of practice, that also many not go so smoothly for Origen as their Head Coach, Titus “Ducky” Hafner, also known as LeDuck has stepped down from his position. Ducky cited a stagnant atmosphere where changes to the team’s attitude was hard for a coach to enact.
Will the lack of their coach kill Origen’s chances at Worlds? We’ll find out in a month’s time.
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