League of Legends: LEC Regional Qualifier preview
Schalke 04
One series and three wins is all that separates Schalke 04 from their first ever appearance at the League of Legends World Championship. Following back to back playoff victories against Team Vitality and Rogue, there’s no doubt that the Schalke roster will be brimming with confidence heading into the regional qualifiers.
Judging by their performances in the playoffs, both individually and as a unit, Schalke are widely regarded as the favourites to clinch Europe’s 3rd seed for the World Championship. With the momentum behind them, the talented line-up will feel optimistic about their chances of taking down either Origen or Splyce, then putting up a fight against Fnatic in the final round.
A tonne of their success will be hinging on the early game guidance of Korean jungler Kim “Trick” Gang-yun, as well as the teamfight DPS provided by Elias “Upset” Lipp. Although Schalke’s team play throughout all stages of the game is the key to their impressive results so far in the Summer Split, it’s obvious that these two have played an integral part in the squad’s climb towards the top three.
Whether Schalke’s season can be judged as a success or not could depend on whether they win their series on Saturday. Worlds qualification was probably the target at the beginning of the season, but with the teams around them slipping up, there could never be a better chance for the German org to compete amongst the world’s best than this year.
Fnatic
The final boss. The difference between being forced to fight through play-ins and getting a bye straight to the main event.
Many claim that it could be advantageous to have a play-ins run before reaching the group stages due to the all-important momentum that could be gained, however surely if you’re a roster going into Worlds, you’d prefer a longer break to prepare for future opponents.
Ultimately, if Fnatic give it their all (which they should) they will be no match for any of the three teams in the regional qualifier. Taking G2 Esports to game 5 in the LEC Playoff final cemented themselves as the clear second best team in Europe and possible Worlds contenders in the coming months. Although, it will be exciting to see how the 3rd best LEC team matches up against Fnatic on Sunday.
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Who do you think will be Europe’s third team to compete at Worlds? Will they be good enough to take down Fnatic on Sunday? Let us know in the comments!