
C – Schalke 04
In the space of six months Schalke 04 went from EU LCS playoff finalists to 7th place in the LEC (albeit due to a tiebreaker). Swapping out an entire 2nd place roster with four new faces, and star player Elias “Upset” Lipp, didn’t quite go as the German org planned, as they failed to make playoffs in a split filled with mistakes and slip-ups from their close competitors.
However, with the addition of four-time EU LCS champion Gang-yun “Trick” Kim and his wealth of valuable experience, perhaps Schalke have an outside chance of challenging the top two. It’s vital that rookie mid laner Felix “Abbedagge” Braun develops a connection and synergy with his jungle partner to create a strong mid lane 2v2 and build from that. From this, the team can then create opportunities around the map before falling too far behind, which was the case often in spring.
Ultimately, Schalke should be aiming to qualify for playoffs and then gain enough championship points to push for a Worlds qualification place. They have an extremely talented roster, so failing to qualify for playoffs for a second split in a row would be extremely disappointing for the org and their fans.
C – SK Gaming
SK Gaming surprised everyone in the spring split by qualifying for playoffs with a very inexperienced roster – but now it’s a question of can they achieve the same feat again? Although it may have been via a tiebreaker, SK fully deserved their spot in the top six on their return to the highest level of European League of Legends, and they’ll no doubt be looking to build from their terrific start in summer.
It’s well documented that a tonne of their success boiled down to the fantastic performances of “LEC Rookie of the Split” award winner, Oskar “Selfmade” Boderek, who at times single-handedly guided his team to wins and was a huge reason for their climb to playoff contention.
But that’s not to detract from the great efforts put in by every member of the team, from the veteran guidance of Werlyb, to the carry performances in the mid lane from Pirean, as well as the consistent late game teamfighting of Crownshot, and the terrific shotcalling of Dreams. All in all, SK have put together a fantastic roster that can once again go onto push the top teams and challenge in playoffs, particularly with the addition of EU Masters finalist Toni “Sacre” Sabalić, who’ll provide competition for SK’s Spanish top laner.