2018 EU LoL Championship Series Spring

19 January, 2017 - N/A Berlin, Germany

The 2018 EU League Championship Series is the fifth season of Europe's professional League of Legends league. The tournament will start with the EU LCS spring promotion tournament which is composed of four teams, out of which is 2 lowest ranked team from the LCS summer season and winners from the EUCS Summer playoffs. The 2 winners of from the EU LCS Spring Promotion will be seeded to the EU LCS Spring Season Tournament.

The winner of the spring split will be invited to the 2018 Mid Season Invitational that will be held inbetween the Spring and Summer split of 2018.

As per this season there has been changes to both Promotion/Relegation and Format. The regular season format will follow the changes made in the NA LCS with going back to best-of-ones.

As for the EU LCS promotion, Riot Games have decided to remove the Promotions/Relegation after the Spring season, giving the teams participating more time to cultivate talent 

Preview

With another year of LCS behind us we’re finally looking at 2018 and what it brings in regards to overall region strength and competitiveness

There are some very big changes heading into the 2018 EU LCS Spring Split.

First of all, the format will no longer be Best of 3 but Best of 1 instead. With only a single game played, teams can now focus on just one game and just a single strategy. In other words, things could get a bit out of hand. We can no longer fully expect a team to win because they’re expected to do so, or because they’re the better team overall. Everyone makes mistakes, and a Bo1 format is extremely punishing.

That also means upsets are more likely to happen which to anyone betting on League of Legends is a fantastic thing to hear.

Secondly, League of Legends as a game went through a big overhaul (the biggest one in years) in regards to in-game mechanics. With the introduction of the new rune system there is a wider variety of playstyles and players will surely uncover new and interesting strategies as the split progresses. What that means is that there will be somewhat of a leveled playing field at least for a little while until teams fully adapt to the new meta.  

Finally, almost every team (other than Fnatic) that will be competing in the EU LCS in 2018 went through heavy roster (and staff) changes. This is a very exciting time as we finally have a couple of completely new teams and rosters and theorizing on their potential is endless fun. There are however some clear favorites and dark horses but more on that below.

With that out of the way, let’s focus on the starting rosters!

1. Fnatic - the former kings of Europe made just a single change during the chaotic off-season and it is a change in the support position. They signed the Bulgarian veteran Hylissang of UOL fame. Now while Jesiz did a fantastic job overall, it was clear that Fnatic needed a strong, experienced voice in the team and Hylissang is just that. He shotcalls as well and if he manages to mesh well with the rest of the team then there’s a very high chance of Fnatic getting back to their former glory.

2. Misfits - they’re entering 2018 after an absolute beast of a year. From the Challenger Series to Worlds in only just a single year is a sensational achievement. They retained three players from their previous roster - Alphari, Maxlore and Hans Sama. Unfortunately they had to find replacements for PowerOfEvil and IgNar but they did incredibly well considering the voids they had to fill. Sencux is a phenomenal midlaner with tons of potential and while he didn’t do so well in 2017 his whole team was heavily struggling to find an identity after their strong run in 2016. Mikyx is a playmaker at heart, fantastic at engage supports and absolutely has the tools to not only emulate the role IgNar had at Misfits but bring something new and unique as well. Luckily for Misfits, they retained one of the most promising ADC in the region, Alphari is horrendously underrated and Maxlore’s performance at this year’s Worlds showed to everyone that he’s a world class jungler that is capable of shining in those incredibly important clutch moments. Overall they’re coming in with a very solid team that has the tools (and a phenomenal coaching staff) to contest for the number one spot.  

3. Schalke 04 - after getting relegated in 2016, the staple soccer organization is back in the LCS and they’ve made some incredible moves in terms of assembling a very competitive roster and coaching staff. With veterans like Vizicsacsi, Nukeduck and Vander leading the charge, there is no doubt that rookies like Upset and Pridestalker will be able to fully develop and prosper. To lead them will be Krepo (former LCS support and Riot caster) who will take up the mantle of head coach after a short stint with Splyce near the end of the Summer Split. On paper, this is a phenomenal roster with tons of room to grow and they have the tools to be insanely competitive. They’re already being hyped up as a very strong team based on early scrim results and if everything clicks this team could break the status quo for sure.

4. G2 eSports - after a great 2017 season, G2 went through some heavy restructuring. They lost four players from their starting roster (Zven & Mithy to NA, Trick and IgNar to LCK) and only kept their midlaner Perkz. While he is a fantastic player to build a roster around it is still a daunting task. Luckily for all G2 fans they succeeded to an admirable degree. That said, the new roster isn’t a complete powerhouse, far from it. They signed Wunder from Splyce, Jankos from H2K and Hjarnan and Wadid from ROCCAT. Now on paper you can see the potential and synergy but it might take them a bit longer than expected to reach it. They also changed their head coach (from Youngbuck to ROCCAT’s Grabbz) which is also a very big change that will surely impact the overall level of G2’s play. This is a very capable roster and with time they might be able to get to the heights where they once were, but don’t expect it to be in time for Spring.

5. Splyce - much like G2, Splyce underwent almost a complete overhaul with just a single player (ADC Kobbe) staying from the previous roster. Luckily for anyone wearing a Splyce jersey, the changes that they’ve made are pretty fantastic and could in most cases even be considered upgrades. Odoamne is still one of the best toplaners in the region and even though he didn’t have a great season in 2017, he is still a beast regardless of the meta. To back him up Splyce have signed Xerxe from UOL (2017 Spring Rookie of the Split). Much like Odoamne he didn’t do so well in Summer but was a complete revelation when he started playing in Spring with his innovative picks and extremely intelligent pathing. When you look at his stats you’re left to wonder how does he manage to stay so active and efficient on the map while also having the lowest death share out of all junglers in Europe. He is a fantastic addition to the roster and will surely get back to his Spring form. For the midlane they signed Nisqy of Fnatic Academy and Team EnVyUs (2017 NA LCS Summer) fame. While he isn’t exactly a household name, he is very talented and can play a variety of roles for the team. He should be more than adequate to fill the void left by Sencux, and those who watched him in NA already know that he has the tools to dominate and do the right thing in those split-second clutch moments. To round out the team, we have a very solid duo consisting of Kobbe and KaSing. They’re both aggressive playmakers and KaSing is the perfect support for a team that on paper looks to be filled with playmaking potential. The last we’ve seen him play was for Challenger Series team Red Bull, but he’s been a staple EU support for quite some time now - 2015 H2K and 2016 Team Vitality. Overall this is a very talented roster and if they manage to gel they absolutely have the potential to aim for a Top 3 spot.

This would be the upper echelon of the EU LCS. Europe really doesn’t have a solid or promising sixth team. The bottom five will be fighting among each other in order to get that last playoff spot.  

In other words don’t take the next part of the preview too seriously as all of the five teams listed are pretty similar in strenght. That said there is a difference between the sixth and ninth team for example so they’re on the opposite sides of the spectrum with a reason. If we had to predict the two teams that were the most likely to get that last playoff spot then it would be either the Unicorns of Love or Team Vitality.

6. Unicorns of Love - after losing key veteran players like Vizicsacsi and Hylissang, it’s a big question mark whether or not this team will have the tools to get back into playoff contention. Coach Sheepy was often a wizard when it came to rebuilding the team every year but this time it might be his biggest and hardest task to date. He does have a somewhat solid team to work with though - Whiteknight showed promise in the Challenger Series, Kold (formerly known as Trashy from Splyce) is a solid jungler with a lot of experience, we know that Exileh is a solid player even tough he didn’t do so well in 2017 (“not well” might be an understatement) he can get back to his old form and Samux was one of the best performing and most impactfull ADC in 2017 even though that wasn’t always that visible with UOL underperforming during the entirety of Summer. To round out the roster they signed former LCK (bbq Olivers) support Totoro who is a solid player but we’re yet to see how well he meshes with Samux and the rest of the team. Overall this team could be somewhat solid but there are simply too many question marks to expect anything in advance.

7. Team Vitality - the French organization is entering 2018 with an almost completely overhauled roster. Vitality signed four players from the Giants Gaming squad - Gilius, Jiizuke, Minitroupax and Jactroll. Overall the Giant squad showed promise in the promotion tournament but it’s too early to say for sure how well they will fight against the stiffened LCS competition. That said, their approach was pretty fearless and if they bring that to the LCS (paired with YamatoCannon’s guidance) then they do have a solid chance to perform above expectations.

8. H2K - the staple EU org chose not to re-sign any of their players so they're entering 2018 with a completely different roster - a somewhat underwhelming one. They have Smittyj in the top lane which is serviceable, they imported Santorin back from NA which is great as he was incredibly solid in the Challenger Series and they signed Caedrel, Sheriff and sprattel to round out the mid and bottom side of the map. This roster doesn’t exactly scream potential, but they’re not abysmal either. Caedrel and Sheriff are young, undeveloped talents and H2K also signed ex-analyst Veteran as their head coach so they’re obviously trying. How well this team will do remains to be seen, but don’t expect them to fight for the playoffs.

9. ROCCAT - after losing their complete 2017 lineup, Roccat is entering 2018 with  five new members. Profit (of SKT and NiP fame), Memento from Schalke, Blanc from Paris Saint-Germain and Jin Air Green Wings, HeaQ from NiP and Norskeren from Schalke. Overall this is a somewhat confusing roster, it has a couple of staple names, some existing synergy between their jungler and support and to their credit Profit and HeaQ did step up nearing the end of the Summer Split on Ninjas in Pyjamas but it was far too late. While they’re far from a playoff team, they could potentially be one of the better 7-10 teams in the EU LCS.

10. Giants Gaming - as for Giants, they’ve only kept their toplaner Ruin from the Challenger Series lineup and picked up Djoko and Steelback from Vitality and Betsy from ROCCAT. To round out their roster they signed Spanish support Targamas. This team is predicted to inhabit the very bottom of the EU LCS standings and with good reason. With no apparent synergy or carry within the team, they simply don’t have any concrete win condition nor do they have the tools to compete against the upper echelon of the EU LCS.

Overall, we’re in for one hell of a competitive year! Multiple teams really stepped up and signed incredibly potent rosters for 2018.

With so many new rosters there will surely be tons of upsets so keep your ear close to the ground and make sure to tune in when the LCS begins!

Tournament Format

Promotion

The bottom two teams of the 2017 EU LCS Summer Split and the top two of the 2017 EU Challengers Summer face off in a double elimination bracket with all matches being best-of-fives.

The top two teams making it out will be playing in the regular season of 2018 Spring.

Regular Season

The format of the 2018 Spring regular season has been changed back to that of the 2016 season, meaning that the 10 teams participating in the regular season will all be playing in a double round robin best-of-one format.

The top 6 will move on to the summer playoffs.

Playoffs

Single Elimination bracket with best-of-five matches.

The top two teams from the regular season will be seeded into the semi finals.

The teams placing between 3rd and 6th will be seeded into the quarter finals, and the winners of the quarter finals will be re-seeded into the semi finals based on their placings in the regular season.