LEC: Previewing the Upgraded Origen for the 2020 Spring Split

League of Legends. Photo Courtesy of Riot Games. /

Origen will try to challenge the big two in the LEC with a stacked roster in 2020.

Over the past few years, the LEC has been G2, Fnatic, and everyone else. Teams like Splyce, Misfits, and Vitality have had brief moments where they looked to challenge these teams, but at the end of the day, G2 and Fnatic were the alpha and omega. Now, Origen will try to throw their hat in the ring as the newest champion of the LEC’s downtrodden.

Last year, the team started off strong in the Spring Split, making a strong run in the playoffs and at Rift Rivals. However, in the summer they faltered, missing the playoffs and losing their chance to go to Worlds.

With an overhauled roster, Origen appears poised to challenge those top two teams. Finding a perfect balance between acquiring proven, good players and adding younger players with promise, Origen is set to be a tough team to beat in 2020.

Top Lane: Barney “Alphari” Morris

Alphari was the best laning top laner in the LEC last summer by a wide margin. He posted an average gold lead of 305g at 10 minutes, more than 100g ahead of the second-best top laner in this stat.

This was made even more impressive is that Alphari played with a middling jungler in Jonas “Kold” Andersen and still managed to get these huge advantages. He also did it on one of the deepest and most diverse champion pools in his role.

Jungle: Andrei “Xerxe” Dragomir

With the collapse of Splyce, their incredibly talented players were ripe for the taking and Origen wisely snatched up their jungler Xerxe to replace Kold. One of the most aggressive and adaptable junglers in the LEC in 2019, Xerxe is not thought of as one of the best vision junglers in the league. Yet he was the only jungler with a vision score per minute above 2.00 last summer, making him a valuable member both for his ganking and his control styles.

Mid Lane: Erlend “Nukeduck” Våtevik Holm

I’ll be honest, I think Nukeduck is a bit overrated compared to the other LEC mid laners. Yes, he has a very deep champion pool, but he also had one of the lowest damage outputs of any mid laner in the LEC. His 24.4% damage share was tied for worst in the LEC last summer, despite the fact that he mostly played high-DPS champs like Corki and Azir.

Bot Lane: Elias “Upset” Lipp

On the complete opposite side of the equation, I don’t know how so many people are sleeping on Upset. This guy was, by my estimations, the best ADC in Europe last summer, averaging the most kills per game and the second-fewest deaths. The guy was an absolute monster and, even though he’s being separated from his support Ignar, he might prove to be the focal point of Origen as they challenge G2.

Support: Mitchell “Destiny” Shaw

While OPL imports were the rage across the pond in NA, Origen was one of the few teams to dip their toes into the water down under and I think they got a great addition to their team. Destiny was rated my eighth-best support at Worlds last year, ahead of some of the competition he’ll likely be facing. Of course, there’s always the risk that the adjustment will be too big, but with his talent and being paired with Upset, I think Destiny could take a giant leap forward this year.

Prediction: 2nd Place

In my mind, it’s between Origen and Fnatic to battle it out and earn the right to take a swing at G2. It is a very close call but I think OG can do it.

I think they got the best jungler available in the offseason as well as the second-best ADC. They have a good mid laner and a great top laner, with the only real question being in the support role. Even if Destiny isn’t as good as I predict, there’s too much firepower to say that this team won’t end up in the top four in Europe.

Next. LEC Preseason Player Rankings. dark

The 2020 League of Legends European Championship begins on Friday 24 January! Catch Fnatic vs. Origen at 16:00 EST / 22:00 CET on the Riot Games Twitch channel!

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