League of Legends

EU LCS: 2016 Summer Split – What You Need to Know

By Jamie Jacobs -
June 2, 2016
-1k

The European LCS 2016 Summer Split kicked off today, June 2nd, at 11am EST with Origen versus G2, and H2K versus Roccat. This split will feature best-of-2 series’, and the addition of split streams means there are times where two matches are taking place (and being streamed) simultaneously.

Here’s a complete rundown of the active storylines each team enters the split carrying, and the question marks each team has hovering over them:

Origen

Origen’s longtime bottom lane of Zven and Mithy have left to join G2. Their replacements, Forg1ven and Hybrid, aren’t too bad of a consolation prize. OG remains a dangerous team if they can gel together. Photo via Origen.gg.

Zven and Mithy left the team because they felt the team had problems maintaining motivation. Now, Forgiven and Hybrid have taken their place. Forgiven keeps notoriously high expectations for his teammates – how will he fit in with the veteran players of Origen?

G2

Perkz aggressive mid lane style translated perfectly to the LCS in his outstanding rookie season. During Summer we’ll get to see how dominant Perkz can be against the relatively weak pool of active mid laners in Europe. Photo via lolesports.

The latest European super team. The addition of Zven and Mithy removes any synergy issues caused by the language barrier between the original bot lane of Emperor and Hybrid. Anything but first place will be a disappointment for this stacked team. Will they be able to live up to the hype?

H2K

Freeze has come out and said he considers himself a better player than former H2K AD carry Forg1ven. It appears there seems to be some bad blood between Forgiven and H2K because of his comments when leaving the team. Watch out for the first H2K versus OG match! Photo via lolesports.

The Forgiven experiment didin’t quite end with the same enthusiasm that it started with at the beginning of the Spring split. Forgiven is now gone, and Freeze is back in the EU LCS. Also known as an incredibly talented AD carry, can Freeze take this H2K squad to the next level?

Roccat

Betsy had a real breakout split this past Spring on a Roccat team that found themselves gaining large leads just to throw them away soon after. This split Betsy is back on an improved Roccat roster, but can he repeat his strong performance from Spring? Photo via lolesports.

A rebuilding team on the rise, Roccat enters Summer looking to improve on their Spring performance. This split means a lot for Roccat players Betsy, Steelback, and Airwaks, who all are looking to prove their recent uncharacteristically strong play is for real. Are their Korean imports Parang and Raise good enough to make ROC a playoff team?

Splyce

The best moment of Splyce’s split in Spring was when Sencux pulled off a quadra-kill on LeBlanc versus GIANTS!. Splyce is going to need stronger performances from their entire roster this split if they look to establish themselves as an LCS team. Photo via lolesports.

Back in the EU LCS after barely escaping a relegation spot, Splyce once again has their hands full this split. The team will need a lot more from their young talent if they look to succeed this time around. How much has Splyce improved after a full split in the LCS?

Vitality

The original Lucian top (in LCS play) picker, Cabochard may have some difficulty filling his role on Vitality as the team’s primary carry in a tanky top meta. If he can’t do it himself, will the newly added Koreans have to? Photo via lolesports.

After dumping jungler Shook and AD carry Hjarnan, Vitality has hopped on the Korean bandwagon. With MightyBear in the jungle and Police playing AD carry, both team synergy and coach Shaunz will be tested as Vitality enters Summer with a different look. Will Vitality be able to rely on Cabochard carrying with the meta working against him? Or will their fate rest in the hands of the newly added Koreans?

FC Schalke 04

Sprattel has shown he can completely carry games when his Alistar gets through. Other teams know this, and that’s why the champion is perma-banned against him. A larger champion pool would help a lot. Photo via Riot Games.

Elements minus Eika, plus Fox. This is a team capable of fighting for middle position in the standings. This is not a flashy roster with flashy players. Each of these players have more or less established themselves as serviceable LCS players, but nothing more. Has support player Sprattel mastered another champion the way he has Alistar? A step forward for Sprattel would mean a lot for Schalke 04.

Unicorns of Love

Unicorn’s support Hylissang has shown he can hold up his end of the bottom lane regardless of who his AD carry is. This time around it will be Vertias. We don’t know how well he will perform in his rookie split, but it’s probably safe to say Hyli’s hooks will land. Photo via Riot Games.

The core of Hylissang and Vizicsacsi has remained, but the supporting cast has been changed completely. The success of Unicorns, like many other teams middle tier teams, will rely on how well their imports Move and Veritas are able to integrate.

Another team that relies heavily on their top laner, Unicorns will need their newly added players to really show up. How strong are UoL’s new carry roles?

Fnatic

European support legend YellowStar is back home, and hopefully North America didn’t break him. Photo via Riot Games.

YellowStar is back to work with his pals Rekkless and Febiven. The veteran support is looking to work his magic and unite another Fnatic roster together with clean shot calling. Just how much better is Fnatic with the return of YellowStar? Are we getting legendary EU YellowStar, or NA YellowStar?

GIANTS!

The GIANTS! roster has changed completely since they first qualified for the LCS. It remains to be seen if these changes are for better, or for worse. Photo via GameXNow.com.

The GIANTS! organization has wiped their roster clean and thrown together a handful of relatively untested players to play in Summer. Yet another team whose success will determine on the performance of their Korean imports. Are we looking at another GIANTS! team that struggles to compete among LCS teams?

Exit mobile version

Jamie Jacobs

173 POSTS

Jamie Jacobs is a bot lane main who once won 17 consecutive Janna games. His favorite champions are Thresh, Kalista, and Bard. Jamie writes about competitive League of Legends and the professional gaming scene every week at Esports Edition.

LATEST ARTICLES

© 2024 Esports Edition