The 5 worst teams in EU League history
Riot Games The LEC has produced two World Championship finalists in the past four years and some of the world’s greatest rookie talent. But every region has its ugly ducklings, and Europe is no exception.
Europe is home to some of the world’s best League of Legends players. Luke ‘Perkz’ Perkovic, Rasmus ‘Caps’ Winther, Martin ‘Rekkles’ Larsson… These are players who have written their names in the history books of competitive League.
LEC teams have reached the finals of three international events in the past four years, with G2 Esports becoming in 2019 the first-ever Western team to win a Mid-Season Invitational.
G2 became Europe’s first MSI champions at MSI 2019.But Europe hasn’t always been famous for its prestige. Back in the early days of the EU LCS, the region showcased wildly inconsistent performances, both domestically and internationally.
Poor performance domestically meant having to play in the promotion tournament, where teams from the Challenger Series would play against the worst of the EU LCS for the opportunity to take over their spot.
The teams competing in the EU LCS were constantly changing with the promotion and relegation of bottom-tier teams. The league’s format was also ever-changing, going from best-of-three to best-of-two to best-of-one over the course of its life.
However, in 2019, the league became franchised and rebranded to the LEC, meaning that poor performance no longer equaled relegation. This has meant that some of the LEC’s worst-performing teams have been able to retain their spots without the threat of being removed from the league.
Currently, Astralis and Excel are the only two organizations that have failed to achieve a playoff spot during their time in the LEC. Astralis currently sit at 0-7 in the 2022 spring split of the LEC after a shocking start to the year.
A status on our team and progress:
Read: https://t.co/F2Abm3Y0Lw
— Astralis League of Legends (@AstralisLoL) February 3, 2022
The organization released a twitlonger on February 3, detailing the issues their team has been facing in 2022, revealing that players have not been “on the same page in-game” and that the squad’s mindset from constantly being a bottom-tier LEC team was their “biggest enemy”.
Both EXCEL and Astralis are currently struggling in the LEC, with the former making a support roster swap two weeks into the split to try and turn around their run of failing to make playoffs. But how do these teams compare to the worst-performing European rosters of all time?
5) Summer 2017 Mysterious Monkeys (2-11)
Riot Games Top: Park ‘Jisu’ Jincheol/Mateusz ‘Kikis’ Szkudlarek
Jungle: Leon ‘Lamabear’ Krüger/Maurice ‘Amazing’ Stückenschneider
Mid: Sofyan ‘CosQ’ Rechchad
AD Carry: Florent ‘Yuuki60’ Soler
Support: Han ‘Dreams’ Minkook
2017 was a rough year for the EU LCS. Across spring and summer, three teams finished with a 2-11 win record in best-of-threes. Of that trio, the infamous Mysterious Monkeys had the lowest win rate, taking only five individual games over the course of the summer split.
The organization entered the league by buying out the starting spot of Misfits Academy. Mysterious Monkeys were originally a German regional league team who had tried to qualify into the European Challenger Series multiple times before purchasing the EU LCS spot. Their only wins in their brief stint in the EU LCS came against Ninjas in Pyjamas (who also ended the season 2-11) and Roccat.
They tried to turn things around by substituting veterans Kikis and Amazing to the roster, but to no avail. They were subsequently relegated from the league in a loss to Giants Gaming.
4) 2018 Summer H2K Gaming (2-16)
Top: Lennart ‘SmittyJ’ Warkus
Jungle: Ilyas ‘Shook’ Hartsema/Marc ‘Caedrel’ Lamont
Mid: Marcin ‘Selfie’ Wolski/Emil ‘Larssen’ Larsson
AD Carry: Patrik ‘Sheriff’ Jírů (now known as Patrik)
Support: Hampus ‘promisq’ Ambrahamsson
Not only was 2018 Summer one of H2K’s all-time worst performances as an organization, but it was also, unbeknownst to them, the last time they would ever compete in European League of Legends.
After making roster changes early in the Spring split, H2K started 2018 rather successfully, making it to the quarterfinals of the Spring playoffs. However, Summer was an entirely different story. The roster failed to win a game until week 7, despite numerous role swaps and substitutions. Jungler Shook off-roled as both an AD Carry and a mid laner, substituting in for AD Carry Sheriff as a ‘personal loss’ saw him sit out their games in Week 8.
The team also brought in rookie mid lane Larssen for one week in a misguided attempt to fix the roster’s issues, but it was to no avail, and they finished the split with a 2-16 record.
After a disastrous end to 2018, the roster was not accepted as one of the ten franchised teams for the LEC rebrand, and subsequently disbanded.
3) 2019 Spring Rogue (2-16)
Top: Kim ‘Profit’ Junhyung/Finn ‘Finn’ Wiestål
Jungle: Mateusz ‘Kikis’ Szkudlarek
Mid: Chres ‘Sencux’ Laursen
AD Carry: Martin ‘HeaQ’ Kordmaa
Support: Kim ‘Wadid’ Baein/Oskar ‘Vander’ Bogdan
H2K’s exit from the EU LCS wasn’t the glowing sunset that they’d been hoping for. But Rogue’s arrival to the LEC was just as dire.
The organization was one of two brand new organizations to enter the LEC in 2019 alongside Excel Esports. Oddly enough, these two new entries were the two worst-performing organizations in the Spring split, but it was Rogue who got the illustrious honor of finishing in tenth place.
Similar to many other teams on this list, the team attempted roster swaps to try and turn around a lackluster start to the split, but these moves proved unsuccessful.
However, the newly-introduced franchise model meant that a last-place, 2-16 finish for Rogue did not mean relegation. They’ve now become one of the LEC’s most successful teams, but had the franchising model not been introduced, that 2019 Spring could have been their one and only shot at the LEC stage.
2) 2020 Spring Vitality (2-16)
Riot Games Top: Lucas ‘Cabochard’ Simon-Meslet
Jungle: Duncan ‘Skeanz’ Marquet
Mid: Lucas ‘Saken’ Fayard/Marcin ‘Selfie’ Wolski
AD Carry: Markos ‘Comp’ Stamkopoulos
Support: Jakub ‘Jactroll’ Skurzyński/ Pierre ‘Steeelback’ Medjaldi
Vitality in 2020 was a far cry from the European superteam roster the organization fields in the LEC in 2022.
The organization lost franchise mid laner Daniele ‘Jizuke’ di Mauro in the 2020 offseason, and decided to pick up rookie players in the mid lane, jungle, and support roles.
However, various visa issues and the onset of the global health crisis meant that they were unable to play with their starting mid lane, Aljoša ‘Milica’ Kovandžić, and were forced to sub in academy mid laner Saken from the start of the split.
This was the first of multiple roster swaps the team would make throughout the course of the split, bringing up academy support Steeelback and signing mid laner Selfie.
Both roster moves were unsuccessful, and the team ended the split with a 2-16 record, the worst in the organization’s history.
1) 2017 Spring Origen (0-13)
Riot Games Top: Max ‘Satorius’ Günther
Jungle: Kim ‘Wisdom’ Taewan/Jakub ‘Cinkrof’ Rokicki
Mid: Yoo ‘NaeHyun’ Naehyun
AD Carry: Erik ‘Tabzz’ van Helvert
Support: Aleksi ‘Hiiva’ Kaikkonen, Enrique ‘xPeke’ Cedeño Martínez
One of the best things about competitive League of Legends is the potential for upsets. The ever-changing meta and presence of power picks in the game mean it’s always possible for poorly-performing teams to sneak wins in the most unexpected of places.
Because of this, it’s almost unheard of for a team to go without winning a single match throughout the course of a split.
However, there are those rare moments when a team is just unable to pull it together on stage. That was the case with Origen’s 2017 Spring Split roster.
Riot GamesAt the end of 2016, Origen had barely survived relegation from the EU LCS. They were able to keep their spot in a nail-biting five-game series against Misfits that went to all five games. But that was only the start of the organization’s heartache.
2017 saw every single player from the roster leave the organization – with the exception of founder and substitute mid laner Enrique ‘xPeke’ Cedeño Martínez. They acquired an entirely new roster that included a surprising name in the mid lane: Yoo ‘NaeHyun’ Naehyun.
Naehyun’s signing was so shocking because, at the time of joining Origen, he was on a 17-game losing streak on Chinese side Team KungFu. And that streak would continue through his time on Origen.
Naehyun went 0-32 before he was finally able to see the ‘victory’ animation on his screen, with Origen taking a game against Team Roccat before losing the series 2-1. Origen won two games throughout Spring 2017 but not a single series, making them the only team to ever go 0-13 in the EU LCS.