LEC roster breakdown for Origen: the prodigal team returns

While they may have crashed and burned in the waning hours of the 2017 EU LCS Spring split, the LEC welcomes back Origen with open arms. The once great organization makes their return to the premier European League of Legends scene under the guiding hand of EU stalwart Martin ‘Deficio’ Lynge.

Origen is one of the 4 “new”organizations making their way into the LEC next year and is already making waves in the European scene, managing to first bag themselves Barney ‘Alphari’ Morris previously of Misfits Gaming and Erlend ‘Nukeduck’ Våtevik Holm as well as Patrik ‘Sheriff’ Jírů.

Just shy of 2 weeks after those signings, Origen brought aboard Jonas ‘Kold’ Anderson and welcomed back Alfonso ‘Mithy’ Aguirre Rodríguez to Origen, also signing Coach André ‘Guilhoto’ Guilhoto fresh off the back of his successful tenure at FC Schalke 04.

Let’s break down the roster and see what version of Origen we’re likely to see during the inaugural split of the LEC.

Barney ‘Alphari’ Morris

Alphari plainly put, is an extremely talented top-laner. His praises are sung constantly by Korean analyst Nick ‘LS’ Decesare. The young Welshman was instrumental in taking SKT T1’s Huni/Peanut roster to 5 games during 2017’s World Championship. While he does seem more at home on tanks, Alphari’s pocket pick Gangplank is a force to be reckoned with.

Erlend ‘Nukeduck’ Våtevik Holm

Next, we find ourselves with a perennial number 2. Despite Deficio’s constant “Year of the Duck” speeches during the 2018 season I often found myself asking why Nukeduck was always slept on. Mechanically sound and finding himself as 3rd All-Pro mid lane in the 2018 summer split, Nuke’s work ethic is nigh on unparalleled and ever since breaking onto the EU scene, he’s shown time and time again that he’s dedicated to spreading his leads from the lane to the rest of the map. Nukeduck is the very definition of a value player.

Patrik ‘Sheriff’ Jírů

Sheriff is an odd pick for this roster, considering H2K’s abysmal summer split and the number of beatings that bottom lane took at the hands of more formidable duos like Rekkles/Hylissang & Hans Sama/Mikyx it’d be easy to overlook Sheriff and call this a bad pickup. But I have a hunch we’re going to see a successful season from him in a similar vein to how Guilhoto built the 2018 Schalke 04 roster around rookie ADC Upset, and we all saw the highs he reached with a roster full of veterans around him. And well… Sheriff has the kingmaker by his side, so he’s going to be in good hands at the bottom of the map.

Jonas ‘Kold’ Anderson

Kold is another question mark when it comes to this roster, granted from a first glance it’s easy to see that he’s a very cerebral jungler, with decisive, calculated pathing. I’m worried about his ability to keep up with the rest of his teammates, sure he shared the 2017 Splyce squad with Mikyx and Wunder but he’s never found himself on teams stacked with talent. If he can keep his head above water vs the likes of Broxah, Maxlore and now Mowgli, and form a decently strong mid/jungle duo with Nuke then I’ll be happy with this pickup.

Alfonso ‘Mithy’ Aguirre Rodríguez

Last but by certainly no means least we have Mithy; the kingmaker has returned.

Mithy is possibly the best pick up Origen could have hoped for in the Support position but I never had a doubt in my mind that as soon as Origen was announced to be making it into the LEC and Mithy leaving TSM that our boy was coming home. Mithy brings a decisive shot-calling voice to the team to coordinate plays alongside Alphari and as a bonus, he already has experience alongside Nukeduck from his early days in Ninjas in Pyjamas.

Does lightning strike twice?

The last time Origen was part of the top-tier European League of Legends scene the sights weren’t pretty and we saw xPeke’s legacy fall apart before our eyes. Let’s hope this time won’t be a repeat. My estimates for Origen in 2019 is that we’ll see them finishing in the top 4 for Spring and maybe higher if G2’s gambit doesn’t pay off.

Next. LEC 2019: The New Misfits Gaming. dark

Where do you think Origen will find themselves at the end of Spring Split? Let us know if you have faith that 2019 will truly be the Year of the Duck.

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