How the Marksmen of the EU LCS Are Redefining the Scene

In the context of professional League of Legends, Europe has, for the better part of its history, been the birthplace of mid lane talent. Through the years, several key players in Europe mastered mages and assassins to control the flow of games from the center of the map.

When you think about European LoL players, you remember the classic powerhouses like Henrik “Froggen” Hansen and his fabled Anivia stalling tactics, or Alexei “Alex Ich” Ichetovkin who would clean up team fights with lightning fast pentakill precision.

There’s also Enrique “xPeke” Cedeño Martínez who enacted the best backdoor play of all time, or even younger players like Danish prodigy Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg, who moved to North America to become the rock that current champion Team Solo Mid plays around.

Starting this summer however, Europe’s explosive action has started to come from a different role—that of the AD Carry or Marksman. Who are these sharpshooters and what are they doing for their teams? Find out below:

The MVPs

The LoL community was abuzz when Martin “Rekkles” Larsson was finally old enough to join Fnatic. Touted as the next big talent in Europe, Rekkles did not disappoint as he claimed the MVP prize on the road to the 2014 World Championships.

When Fnatic’s classic lineup disbanded, Rekkles left for a rather unsuccessful stint on Elements. But now that the prodigal son has returned to renew his synergy with Bora “YellOwStaR” Kim, he’s helped Fnatic maintain its #1 spot in Europe with a 27/6/23 scoreline over 4 games.

The 2015 Spring MVP redefined AD Carry dominance in Rekkles’ absence. Konstantinos “FORG1VEN” Tzortziou was a farming god, and a lane dominant force for SK Gaming that could not be out-dueled.

But this split hasn’t been kind to the king of spring. Read about how his move to Gambit has produced less than stellar results here.

The Rising Stars

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! That’s what people should be saying about Adrián “Adryh” Pérez of Giants Gaming. Giants have bounced back from a less than stellar spring split (they finished 9th) with a 3-1 record in the first two weeks. Adryh himself has come up with the most multikills in the entire LCS so far: 3 triple kills and 1 quadra.

Only one person is ahead of Adryh in terms of points in Europe and while he isn’t Spanish himself, his team does have a gaming house in the Canary Islands in Spain. Jesper “Niels” Svenningsen is the newest dominant force in the LCS, and he seems right at home dominating all his opponents despite being the only rookie in Origen’s squad.

The Returning Veterans

The summer split has seen the return of many LCS veterans. Elements’ Erik “Tabzz” van Helvert and former SK captain, Adrian “CandyPanda” Wübbelmann are no exceptions.

While these old dogs share the honor of being able to compete at a World Championship, they also have one more thing in common: They were both replaced by MVP players.

Now they’re back with more to prove than ever, though so far it looks like the new kids on the block are showing these older stars how it’s done as Elements stands 1-3 in the standings, while SK has yet to pick up a single win. Still, their experience and resilience can keep their team in check until conditions improve.

The Sleeper Hits

There are some AD Carries that aren’t talked about as often as they deserve. Aleš “Freeze” Kněžínek may be on the struggling Copenhagen Wolves team, but that didn’t stop him from scoring more kills than even FORG1VEN last split. His mastery of Draven is unparalleled, as you can see here:

H2k’s Petter “Hjärnan” Freyschuss isn’t making many waves because his team values objectives and rotational play over flashy individual highlight reel material, but that doesn’t mean this guy doesn’t do work. Hjarnan and his lane partner Raymond “KaSing” Tsang went on an 8-game win streak last split, and there’s no reason why they can’t do it again.

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