This starts up tomorrow, get hyped!

As always the man with the best preview is me (and from what I've seen so far its the ONLY preview up so far). While this won't be as in depth as my NA LCS preview (which is like 6k words already and growing) it should give everyone who reads it a solid overview of how things stand in Europe.

Relevant Links:
Leaguepedia
RIOT EU LCS Hub

The Teams

Championship Tier

1. fnatic


soAz - Top
Cyanide - Jungle
xPeke - Mid
Rekkles - AD Carry
Yellowstar - Support

The reigning, defending, two time champions of the European LCS are pretty much the odds on favourite to win the first split of the European season. Their only roster change was to remove the average Puszu with the wunderkid Rekkles. This hasn't been an easy transition for the team as they are used to playing with the solo laners being the main focus for the team, while Rekkles is used to having the team be built around him. Gambit's destruction of fnatic at IEM Cologne shows that they are not unbeatable, but with top tier talent at every position, fnatic are well situated to extend their reign atop the LCS.

Burning Questions:
Can the team adapt to playing Rekkles' style?
Will fnatic even care about playing well in the regular season?
Are any of fnatic's mainstays finally going to show their age? (4 of fnatics players were season 1 mainstays)

2. Alliance



Wickd - Top
Shook - Jungle
Froggen - Mid
Tabzz - AD Carry
Nyph - Support

After tons of off season speculation about a super team forming in Europe, Alliance's roster falls short of being called a super team, but it is clearly very good. 2 of EG's strongest members form the backbone of the team, but this is a team that is clearly Froggen's. He wants to win and it was clear that his old EG teammates were not up to the task. Wickd is still Wickd, having his good days and his bad days. Shook is being hyped as the best jungler in Europe, which Diamondprox scoffs at, but at first glance he seems really good. Froggen is still Froggen. Tabbz and Nyph might not have much chemistry, but the talent between the two of them cannot be denied

Burning Questions:
Will this team have chemistry problems?
Will Alliance have the same problem as EG - namely they played for Froggen too much and neglected other lanes
Is Wickd on the chopping block?
How good is Shook?

3. Gambit Gaming



Darrien - Top
Diamond - Jungle
Alex Ich - Mid
Genja - AD Carry
Edward - Support

Gambit Gaming return to their traditional lineup with the return of Edward, back from one split in North America with Curse. Gambit is still Gambit, equally capable of crushing some of the best teams in the world and then losing to the bottomfeeders of the league in the next game. Their victory at IEM Cologne will give Gambit fans reason for hope, but Gambit will remain inconsistent, simply due to their insane travel schedule (they fly from Russia to Germany each week). Gambit basically does not seem to care about regular season games, but in games that they need to win, they remain one of the best teams in the world.

Burning Questions:
- Will Gambit ever move to a teamhouse in Germany?
- Does Gambit care...at all about the regular season?
- Can Genja be the player that was amazing at IEM Cologne and BotA or will he revert to his typical play?
- Will Edward integrate back into the Gambit lineup with out problem?

Mid Table Tier

4. Millenium (formerly Alternate)



Kev1n - Top
Aranae - Jungle
Kerp - Mid
Creaton - AD Carry
Jree - SUpport

The former Alternate roster moves to Millenium's sponsorship for the split. Millenium have made two very nice moves in the offseason, acquiring Kev1n from SK gaming and Kerp moving from the top lane to replace ForellenLord in mid. This new roster had a great start, absolutely pummeling CLG 2-0 in the Battle of the Atlantic. Kev1n is one of the most underrated players in Europe, playing a variety of champions and playing them well. Kerp had a great debut in midlane but will need to play well against the murders row of top level midlaners in Europe. Creaton and Jree will be the backbone of the team and is one of the premier botlanes in Europe.

Burning Questions:
Is Kerp really as good as he showed at BotA?
Will Aranae hold the team back?
Can Creaton carry the team like he did before he broke his hand?
Is this team a contender for a top 3 place or merely a mid table team?

5. Copenhagen Wolves



Youngbuck - Top
Amazing - Jungle
cowTard - Mid
FORG1VEN - AD Carry
Unlimited - Support

This second incarnation of the Copenhagen Wolves bears absolutely no relation to the team that played in the spring split of season 3. Yet this is a team with potential that is really fun to watch. Youngbuck and cowTard are a pair of the streakiest, off-meta playing solo laners in league - they are equally capable of playing great and carrying or playing terribly and feeding. The strength of the team is FORG1VEN, one of the new breed of European AD carries that is less Yellowpete and more Wildturtle. Amazing is one of my favourite junglers to watch, an absolutely fearless playmaker (and with a name like Maurice Stückenschneider, how could he not be entertaining?

Burning Questions:
Will cowTard prove to be more than 'that guy who played mid before Bjergsen turned 17?'
How much can FORG1VEN carry?
Will Amazing create plays or create blunders?
How does this team stack up against the top level European teams, when they've been playing Challenger teams for so long?

6. SK Gaming



fredy122 - Top
Svenskeren - Jungle
Jesiz - Mid
CandyPanda - AD Carry
Nyph - Support

A team that almost didn't make it to the EU LCS rounds out our midtable teams. SK Gaming were down 2-0 to Supa Hot Crew xD and looked hopelessly lost, but SK turned it around with the reverse all-kill to secure their spot in the LCS. The problem with the team isn't talent, its that they haven't quite figured out the chemistry yet. Are they are team that is built around CandyPanda? Or Jesiz? Part of the problem is that fredy122 is no more than average in the top lane, and Jesiz is one of the truly inconsistent players in LoL. He was terrible in their two losses against SHC, and then brilliant in their 3 wins. I really like Svenskeren, but he has the tendency to absolutely disappear for long periods of time or make lots of innefective ganks. The loss of nRated is also huge as it breaks up one of the legendary bot lanes in LoL - yet Nyph should be an adequate replacement

Burning Questions:
Is Jesiz for real? Or will people be asking for Ocelot to come back?
Will the real Svenskerren please show up?
Can Candypanda strike a strong partnership with another German support?

Dangerous Bottomfeeder Tier

7. Roccat



Xaxus - Top
Jankos - Jungle
Overpow - Mid
Celaver - AD carry
Vander - Support

One all Polish squad leaves the LCS (MyM), and another one joins as Roccat will sponsor the team once known as KMT. KMT surprisingly upset NiP in the EU Promotion qualifier but remain mostly an unknown quality. Their star player is clearly Overpow with Celevar and Jankos mostly being the supporting staff. Questions surround Vander and Xaxux - are they really LCS quality players? Roccat will hope that their momentum from beating NiP will carry them to safety in the LCS.

Burning Questions:
Was the 3-0 vs. NiP a fluke?
Is Overpow as good as he seems?
Will Vander and Xaxus hold back the rest of Roccat?

8. SUPA HOT CREW XD



Mimer - Top
Impaler - Jungle
Moopz - Mid
Mr Rallez - AD Carry
Migxa - Support

A team that I'm sure RIOT hopes will be sponsored any day now, Supa Hot crew had a crazy string of circumstances propel them into the LCS. They led SK 2-0 in their promotion series, but then lost 3-2. They then were able to get into the LCS via Lemondogs collapse (via failed paperwork) and defeating MyM to claim the 8th spot. The team's best players are Mimer and Mr Rallez who both could play for many teams in the European LCS, I'm just not sold on the rest of the roster, who appear to be challenger level players at best. Nonetheless, SHC do play an exciting brand of League and are generally fun to watch

Burning Questions:
Are SHC just happy to be in LCS or will they be a threat?
Can Mr Rallez, one of the most hyped AD Carries hold his own with a mediocre supporting crew?
Is there any way they don't finish bottom of the table?


Final Thoughts
The EU LCS divides nicely into 3 tiers. The top teams are fnatic, Gambit and Alliance in some order, while Millenium, Copenhagen Wolves and SK Gaming are all good teams that can take a game off of the aforementioned top teams. The bottom of the LCS seems set to be Roccat and SHC but either of the teams could surprise.

Pre-Season All-star team
SoAz - Top
Diamond - Jungle
Froggen - Mid
Rekkles - AD Carry
Nyph - Support

The European LCS kicks off with a Super week, January 14th, 2014 with fnatic up against Gambit Gaming in less than 24 hours!

Alex is a god you are way underestimating him. And Im sure we'll see creaton bringing the beats since 2 months off and he was playing on close to lcs level immediately

I'd love to see Gambit become what they were in Season 2. I just remember watching VOD after VOD of M5 completely destroying the meta and scratching my head like how the **** will anyone beat them.

Yeah Alex is great - considering my first name is also Alex I'm predisposed to like him. I'm just not sure they give 2 cares about playing at 100% of their ability at all times.

I probably underrated Creaton - he was probably the best EU ADC until he got hurt.

Thanks for making this. Looking forward to the NA one.

TRUNDLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

GG

haha peke's explanation of how they "dealt" with shyvanna's jungle pressure was hilarious (also b/c it's so true)

This might not get talked about as much in light of genja's failings that game, but alex started flask on leblanc and then built pretty defensively with a chalice, despite the fact that the team generally lacked damage and had huge amounts of tank / cc/ zoning between shyv, mundo, and thresh. really would have liked to see a more aggressive build there, he never managed to blow anyone up all game.

Chalice is pretty standardish on LB, but I didn't love the flask start either. I was really expecting dorans+pots start.

Alex had one good roam but that was about it - I actually thought when they picked Leblanc it was going to be support leblanc for Edward.

RIP Alliance hype train, January 2014 - January 2014

I can't believe Tabzz flashed into the center of the fight for one kill in the dragon fight early. Seems like a massive mistake.

really? i would imagine deathfire grasp is much better if you're going to be roaming and / or trying to pick up kills. especially on leblanc vs orianna, where you're champ has great escapability and you are playing a champ with relatively little 1v1 kill potential. you don't need chalice.

i agree. blind picking leblanc should mean giving up on holding mid lane, i actually think alex farmed too much given he would lose the pressure anyway. try to kill orianna, and, if you can't roam. diamond could hold mid decently if ori pushed to turret. he should have been roaming more.

edward definitely looked like he was contemplating something for a while, then settled on thresh and had a decidedly mediocre game. i wonder if he's been practicing the unique champs so much that he's losing some of his touch on the old mainstays.

i think giving annie away hurt them a ton that game too. her cc is so much more reliable than thresh's and has a strong initial beginning to a fight with the ability to charge up another aoe stun pretty quickly.

honestly, gambit ended up with adc / support / mid for a pick comp and then top / jungler are two slow-burn monster tanks meant for teamfights. tough to pull off, i think, but you'd definitely need more 3 man roams.

I was suprised by that too, but couldn`t remember the exact positions of everyone when he did it, so he mightve been dead anyways.

malph mid 1 time

malphite

Manly Polish team is manly.

Damn that was fun to watch

wtf is up with FNC botlane with 0 deaths after 2 games?

rekless op

I mean fnatic's bot lane with Rekkles is >>>> fnatic's old bot lane (Puzsu is a good player, but Rekkles is fantastic)

tbh the biggest plays were Alliance not respecting the jynx splitpush for the inhib (and the Ziggs waveclear) and Cyanide coming up with yet another smitesteal.

Gambit gonna Gambit. Support Kennen and Lanewick.

Absolutely not impressed by Genja have seen him on stream a lot and he just doesn`t seem toptier like the other ADCs

Chalice rush vs Khazix not lookin too hot lol.

Opposing laner is Khazix and jungler is Lee Sin? Better rush magic resist!

That happens a lot with Genja then you look at the scorescreen and he's 2/0/6 that is up 20cs on his opponent. It's weird.

that plus no Armor on Shyv at the 20 min mark is pretty lol
seekers is enough to swing the all ins towards zyra, and once shyv gets 250 armor she'll never die

if you need negatron to survive with blade then you can't build blade seems pretty obv that you can't spend 700g on mr in this game