Five Players Who Missed out on the LEC All-Pro Team
Jungle – Jonas “Kold” Andersen
Despite an excellent 2nd place finish in the Spring Split regular season, no Origen player merited a position in the 1st LEC All-Pro team according to the analysts, coaches and players involved in the voting process. Nukeduck may take all the plaudits for his incredible carry performances, five Player of the Game awards and ever-expanding champion ocean, but one player who is often overlooked in this Origen super-team is jungler, Kold.
Understandably, spending the majority of your time on tank duty and playing alongside one of the most hyped LEC mid laners this season, you’re going to get a lot less attention than your jungle counterparts, however it’s important to take notice of Kold’s importance to this Origen team.
In recent weeks, Origen illustrated their aptitude of a slow and calculated playstyle, patiently building up an advantage in the early game through vision control and intelligent jungle pathing. This methodical approach to games, often referred to as a “Korean” style by LEC casters, relies on a competent jungler garnering complete control of the map in the first 15-20 minutes, ensuring objectives are traded and the enemy jungler is tracked precisely
Kold and his team demonstrated their near-mastery of this playstyle with a six-game winning streak to close out the split, in which they completely deconstructed the likes of SK Gaming, Splyce and Team Vitality with little issue. There is no question that Jankos and Selfmade thoroughly deserve their places in the first two LEC All-Pro teams, but it could be argued that Kold has a legitimate claim to the 3rd place spot marginally ahead of Fnatic’s Broxah and Splyce’s Xerxe.
Mid Lane – Tim “Nemesis” Lipovšek
Possibly one of the biggest transfers in European League of Legends history saw Caps depart Worlds finalists Fnatic in favour of a spot on G2 Esports during the off-season. This shocking move left seven-time EU LCS winners Fnatic in the precarious position of finding a replacement for one of the best players Europe has ever seen. With huge shoes to fill, the reigning European champions opted for former MAD Lions mid laner, Nemesis, to step in and replace Caps, but the potential success of this selection is still up in the air.
Fnatic crumbled in the first five weeks of the Spring Split and the chances of reaching playoffs looked slimmer game on game. Many fans pinned the blame on the team’s new mid laner and his inability to adjust to life in the Europe’s premier division. Yet, in true Fnatic fashion, just when it looked like a top 6 place had slipped out of reach, the team went on to win eight games in a row to secure a spot in their 11th consecutive playoff tournament, continuing their record of attending every European playoff stage.
One of the cornerstones for this comeback from the brink was the newfound synergy between jungler, Broxah, and mid laner, Nemesis, that had not been evident until Week 6. Aiding his jungler to facilitate side lane roams, maintain vision control and win the mid-lane 2v2 was key for the turnaround of both Nemesis’ and Fnatic’s Spring Split. The late push for playoffs even helped Fnatic’s new mid laner grab 1st for average KDA (5.4) among all mid laners, allowing him to begin to build himself towards becoming one of the best in the LEC.
Once again, the 1st and 2nd slots in the LEC All-Pro team were a certainty for Caps and Nukeduck, however the 3rd position could well have been up for grabs between a number of star mid laners in the LEC. Continuously Europe proves that it is a conveyor belt of strong middle lane talents, with Febiven, Humanoid, Jiizuke, Nemesis and Pirean all exhibiting their abilities throughout the Spring Split.