Six Teams Accepted into Franchised 2019 EU LCS
Just days after finding out that Splyce and H2K/PSG won’t be getting into the franchised 2019 EU LCS, we have yet another batch of news coming straight from ESPN’s Jacob Wolf. This time around, we have three significant updates, and while nothing’s official just yet, Jacob’s record is highly respectable.
First up, five existing teams have supposedly been accepted into the franchised EU LCS and will continue competing in the 2019 EU LCS regular season. Those five teams are Fnatic, G2 Esports, Misfits, Schalke 04, and Team Vitality.
The fact that this “big five” got in essentially doesn’t come as a surprise. Fnatic and G2 Esports are pretty much synonymous with European League of Legends. They’re the foundation of the region, and they’re the biggest draws. Both teams cemented their legacies over the years and seeing them in the franchised League – while it is an expected outcome – is still good for the region as a whole.
Misfits’ chances to get in were always 50/50 – they accrued quite a solid following over their relatively short EU LCS stint, perhaps more due to their likable players rather than their success on home soil. The organization managed to go from the Challenger Series to challenging SKT T1 to five games in just a single year, and that’s not a negligible achievement – far from it. They gained a sizeable following over the last two years, but perhaps most importantly they were always a well-run organization with ample financial backing.
Schalke 04 have been fighting to attain LCS success for quite a while now, and this season was the first one when they managed to leave a mark. While they weren’t able to lock down a ticket to Worlds, they were one of the best performing teams in the region as the season came to an end. Vitality, on the other hand, became a household name over the years.
Much like Schalke, they were always fighting to become relevant in the region but other than their third-place finish in the 2016 Spring Split (with a pretty stacked roster consisting of Cabochard, Shook, Nukeduck, Hjarnan, and KaSing) they didn’t make any waves in the EU LCS – until 2018.
That means that the remaining five organizations in the EU LCS didn’t make the list – Giants, ROCCAT, Unicorns of Love, H2K, and Splyce. While it’s saddening to see so many staple organizations leave the scene, it’s hard to argue against the five that did make the cut. Franchised spots should be reserved only for the most stable organizations with the biggest fan followings.
Astralis to join 2019 EU LCS
The first new organization that’s supposedly joining the fray is Astralis – the all-Danish esports organization that managed to dominate the CS:GO competitive scene from the moment they entered it.
The organization will have to pay 10.5 million euros over the next couple of years for their franchise slot. Astralis was founded in 2016 by multiple successful Danish CS:GO professionals and eventually became one of the most successful teams in the game’s competitive history.
This is quite big news. Not only is Astralis the first new organization that will join the franchised 2019 EU LCS, but they’re also a highly respected organization that managed to leave its mark on the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene – in an incredibly short time span.
It’s also well-known that EU LCS caster Martin “Deficio” Lynge took a position within the organization which is one of the reasons why he had to divide his time between casting and helping Astralis apply to the franchised league.
Whenever Deficio talked about the project, he couldn’t curb his enthusiasm. As someone who became the poster child of the EU LCS after numerous high-profile casters left the scene (Joe and Deman, in particular), leaving such a job for a position within Astralis management had to be an opportunity of a lifetime.
At the same time, the fact that Astralis is branching into League of Legends means that they’re willing to invest – a lot. They will probably try to field a top-tier roster, and there’s a ton of Danish talent available worldwide. Legendary EU mid-laner Froggen immediately comes to mid as he’s currently a free agent, and they could also get in touch with Svenskeren (now playing as a sub for Cloud9), and perhaps even Zven and Mithy – seeing how they failed to attain any success on North American soil throughout the 2018 season.
Conclusion
Overall, the 2019 EU LCS landscape is forming rapidly, and we’ll have even more information regarding the ten teams that will become permanent partners in the coming weeks.
Comments