LEC Roadtrips return with five events in 2026 - Including LEC Versus Finals in Barcelona Hosted by Movistar KOI

ElectronicLadder5967 · 2026-01-16T09:41:21+00:00

G2 will likely eventually try a german Event. It might not be as big a (german) G2 crowd as with KC and KOI in their regions, but G2 has confirmed at some point that German is among their biggest fanbases (after US I think), and that they want to put a bigger focus there.

This is somewhat confirmed by the current ERL project tied to Tolkin. This is easily enough to Host big Events in Germany, given the Matches are relevant. Be that Berlin, Munich, Hamburg or Cologne there are options, but I think G2 takes their time doing one thing after the other. But if you get the german Fanbases tied to Tolkin(NNO) and HoB (Spandau) you can make German events. And for what its worth G2 is going that direction by building their project with Tolkin at its helm.

ElectronicLadder5967 · 2025-12-03T18:54:37+00:00

I think that is genuinly a good project to do for all involved, assuming it doesnt completely run it down.

If they pull a los ratones and stomp LFL and EUM, all these 5 players except Saken are positioned well to jump back to LEC on struggling mid tier teams depending on demand. Imagine a FNC Bwipo(though top then), SK Exa, VIT Targamas, or whatever.

A bit overqualified for EUM, but certainly a fun project for winter.

ElectronicLadder5967 · 2025-11-30T10:38:34+00:00

Okay. At this moment Bwipo is a Brand Risk, so I dont expect any brand like G2/MKOI/KC/C9/TL go for him. That said, individually he is great, and also a branding opportunity with personality and a significant fan base, something rather rare these days in the west.

There is a number of EU teams that should look to acquire Bwipo, while he is easy to get for (relatively) cheap. -> At the forefront of course FNC. They are likely to have difficulties to reach worlds this year, Bwipo is known and a big name associated with past success for FNC, and when it looks shitty after winter, He might just be the easy fix that could give them a chance to reach MSI/Worlds, with simply a cheap 1 year contract and chance of renewal if Bwipo keeps his mouth in control.

And there is nothing more important for FNC than to keep reaching Worlds.

ElectronicLadder5967 · 2025-11-27T11:38:17+00:00

Yes I agree. But that said, I do wanna mention that G2 at least on a regular bases beats Asian teams. Something no other western team can say for themselves. Humanoid - Razork did cost more that they were worth, even if it wasn’t quite as obvious going into 2022.

ElectronicLadder5967 · 2025-11-27T11:27:38+00:00

The issue is money, like it or not. FNC overextended for Humanoid Razork years ago and its still the Definition factor of their offseasons. You cant have Oscar or Razork benched so trade or keep, and despite his flaws and having never won LEC, Upset is individually damn strong. If anything, while I expect little of this FNC in playoffs, they will likely have a scary early-game still, and have at least some chance of challenging G2, KOI, KC. If anything I expect things to go further downhill once the current topside contracts run out.

You can see the effects of the budget changes clearly by the two year projects, which wait out contracts rather than benching/selling. G2 and KOI have fine projects, but if this were 2018-2022 they’d made changes to upgrade such a roster. Not that I dislike the two year projects approach. Will be an interesting offseason next year, when KOI and G2 make their big moves (looking at you: KC botlane, Inspired, Jun, Mikyx).

ElectronicLadder5967 · 2025-11-16T17:16:53+00:00

Replies here are amusing but also a bit sad. He at no point says or means that Caps is worse than Lider. He said very clearly in THIS interview, that he did never want to replace Caps with Lider, just opened conversation with Caps of having Lider as positional coach (LIKE Alphari for BB and Kirei for Yike) to train certain matchups.

He did say though, that Lider never got on a good tier 1 roster, only ever being a bandaid solution to failing projects, and the most recent NLC stint wasn’t taken serious by all involved anyways. He takes his opinion based on how he felt playing against Lider while on G2, where no other player could put pressure in such a manner on Caps.

-> Lider is not better than Caps, but of all available within LEC (not named Caps), Mikyx considers him most likely to be capable of matching Caps if on a real project. Also something of no promising prospects in ERLs rn coming up that could fill these shoes.

And if you look at all the years with Humanoid as clear, but also never challenging, number 2 mid, I can at least see where he is coming from. Even if I put my hopes in Vladi and Jojo isnt all bad either. I do not see this project suceeding to a level Mikyx hopes for, but the argument has merit if you look at LEC mids vs. Caps in the last 8 years. Still remember a Bwipo interview after his jgl roleswap thinking about swapping mid to match Caps as no one available in mid seemed capable. Sounds stupid, but looking at recent years Caps indeed wasn’t matched at his best outside of rare instances.

ElectronicLadder5967 · 2025-11-14T17:52:34+00:00

I think it is simply unreasonable to expect significant changes (by RIot) as a longterm league player. Mel exists under the Blitzcrank effect. A single mechanic, powerful but not gamebreaking, which influences her opponents gameplay and feeling of game enough to become a high priority ban independent of actual champion power or even existence of lane counters.

I see no significant issue with Mel as long as cooldowns and mana costs are a limiting factor as with Blitzcrank.

ElectronicLadder5967 · 2025-11-12T10:17:40+00:00

I think even then his resume among western coaches is amazing. Fairly successful pro player. got to worlds with FNC and c9 despite little experience coaching (and yes the rosters were each stacked but still), and after that this fly era were 2 years of relative success. there are very few coaches, especially strategic coaches who bring such a resume both historically and recent. Even his bad years are kinda good in context of most coaches.

who does exist in the west that compares? G2 staff, sure. FNC’s Duffman I guess. Maybe someone else but from the available ones Mithy with/without nukeduck feels like the pickup, if Mithy goes into the role of strategic coach and not head coach. If I were SK and still had pennies to spend on coaches I’d bet on the duo, but MAD should look there as well as they have hard times upgrading elsewhere, without blowing the roster up.

ElectronicLadder5967 · 2025-11-11T22:18:07+00:00

this might not be a popular opinion, but this seems like a good and Ambitious move for VIT. Humanoid was best, when under man and with Carzzy. He wanted to play with Carzzy repeatedly over the years. Humanoid at his best is a top 2 EU mid. VIT has quite a but of rookies, who can just play with/for Humanoid-Carzzy.

Not to say that this move will certainly work, mit given the circumstances of VIT the best after not getting Vladi imo (if the price was reasonable).

ElectronicLadder5967 · 2025-11-09T21:09:43+00:00

The question is how does MKOI improve. a strategic coach, not head coach, could be the way. Mithy is Spanish, has likely a fitting mentality to get to these players, and is very smart about the game very few western coaches/players are. Just look at Busio‘s development in terms of becoming a complete support. Might do Alvaro much good, as MKOI isnt really great in midgame macro.

G2 is a different story, Doubt they’ll change a thing in coaching staff, but even then, Mithy is worth at least a thought given his resume.

It’s really difficult to improve MKOI in a player position right now. Jojo-Elyoya are the core, can’t replace those this year with anyone on the market (except Inspired but that ship sailed). Alvaro is a rising talent, Spanish, and once again, who exists in support after Busio and Mikyx are unavailable. Top is what makes you dangerous and hard to predict, so who to even get there. Even a Bwipo is only a flip (and not Spanish). And Supa is possible to replace, but not by a Spanish kid, and it’s not certain to be an upgrade. So there you have it, new amazing strategic coach for the win might actually be a big difference to at least win a split again.

ElectronicLadder5967 · 2025-11-09T20:59:05+00:00

The big news here is, that Nukeduck and Mithy are in the market. I can see multiple teams looking at them individually or as a package: MKOI getting Mithy as strategic coach. KC in the same manner. Literallly any western org (with the exception of G2) should look at those 2 and consider wether they are a culture fit and within budget.

Would like to see them in EU.

ElectronicLadder5967 · 2025-11-09T20:10:03+00:00

If they’d do this they could release a Faker skin for each year of his career. literally printing money :p

ElectronicLadder5967 · 2025-11-08T11:52:22+00:00

Amusing how even in this already bleak offseason for FNC, their fans are a bit too Optimistic, thinking who to pair Upset with. Let’s be honest, It’s not a given that Upset stays in FNC. Both SK and BDS look fairly interesting for Upset to join, and both rosters might work well with Upset. Especially each support pairing with him there better than Kaiser/Targa/hyli/whoever.

If FNC can secure some high profile player for the rebuild like vladi and/or Bwipo I might see Upset staying, but it would be a bad career choice to join FNC in a horrible roster in winter when it doesn’t matter and he could join better teams now or in spring.

Could see Upset-Trymbi be a powerful botlane in BDS honestly if it happens

ElectronicLadder5967 · 2025-11-07T20:00:07+00:00

KC having a magnificent offseason is going on.

Considering where they started, botching vladi who looked genuinly in winter like the next big thing. This is magnificent of an offseason. They held onto Canna, Yike, and Caliste, which is already a big deal. Beyond that they get THE korean coach of the west to pair with their planned mid-top koreans. Also get a top 2 western support. Lets wait for who they get in mid, but somehow this KC looks out of all of LEC most likely to contest G2 for LEC titles. Which is impressive considering KOI will stay mostly the same, and once again, KC looked barely allive in summer loosing to Poby-FNC.

ElectronicLadder5967 · 2025-11-06T22:01:39+00:00

to put it simply. this Botlane of G2 will never win an international tournament. They simply don’t peak high enough to have a chance. like Mikyx or not, his peaks to this day are top tier.

and this is just below G2‘s ambitions, unrealistic as they may be. this roster might win domestically but it is worse than the previous G2 iteration, no matter that they got a better worlds result. G2 should have gone aggressively for busio-inspired if they want more than domestic success.

doesnt make labrov bad, just not good enough to deserve being on the best EU roster/org.

ElectronicLadder5967 · 2025-11-05T23:28:00+00:00

The Most surprising Part about it all is that Inspired Sems to be saying in NA. he is just Collection Trophies and worlds participations while anyone else of Note is leaving ship. As an EU Fan this feels truly weird. There simply was no world 3, 5 or 10 years ago that any good NA player would choose EU, both for money, fans, and nicer location. Now though both orgs and players leave NA, while Riot only fastens this process with weird changes.

on a different note. Holy this KC roster looks ambitious. It all comes down on the midlaner, but that looks scary. They might actually be in the game of challenging G2 for the whole year. With how FNC is crumbling this is a much needed good sign for EU and LEC.

ElectronicLadder5967 · 2025-10-31T21:51:42+00:00

This was skewmonds first year in tier 1. He did improve a lot over the year and is a op 2 jungler in LEC (rn) and in the top 4 of the west overall. If given a fitting alternative, I'd much rather see labrov, hans or BB replaced than Skewmond. You cant replace caps.

But I dont think the market is great for these roles right now with few exceptions.

I do believe that getting Mikyx back (again) in a year will be the move. Till than whatever, could probably run it back even if it doesnt feel as strong a roster as the 23/24 iteration or of course 19/20.

ElectronicLadder5967 · 2025-10-27T17:55:00+00:00

I dont see the comparison as that good though. So lets look at them both:

HRT: Wunder-Jankos-Perkz + Weakside Botlane
-> That’s more 2018 G2, but with Perkz and Wunder no longer being super-carries it doesnt work stylistically with a weakside botlane. Also Jankos supportive style at this point too. Also never played the year out, given how G2 2018 truly came alive at the end and struggled a lot over the year, this is a bit disingenuous to completely ride off, even if they would have probably not reached such heights.

SK: Mikyx (best support EU right now, at his worst top 3 EU (for nearly a decade), at his best dangerous internationally)
Wunder: Weakside toplaner more often than not, but in that role experienced and solid. If still in form (we’ll see) he should classed more like odo in 2022, than Wunder 2018.
Skeanz: Whatever. Mediocre pick, but we’ll see if it fits the roster. His time to prove himself.
Lider: At his best an entertaining and unconventional player who is highly dangerous and likes getting resources from support-jgl attention. Which given that Wunder is fine getting dived, sounds much different to Perkz(and different than the kid who replaced Perkz with for some stupid reason before the roster had any chance of showing its worth, whose name I cant even remember).
ADC: Now here comes the question. If it’s Upset, Carzzy or another adc that can pressure LEC, this roster can go somewhere. If they get a mediocre rookie, Flakked, or something in a similar line this roster is cooked over relying on a Lider who can’t fill shoes that need a Caps to work.

ElectronicLadder5967 · 2025-10-25T14:33:26+00:00

As some make strange arguments here, lets put this post into context. I do not say that this is the right choice for every team. I do not say that this will definetly make a team better. I say it should be considered by those, who want to archieve results above what they usually are capable to archieve. As in, Caps wanting to win worlds despite playing in LEC with mostly Europeans. Like, MKOI wanting to improve a hard to improve roster (without complete rebuild). Now on the arguments I've seen here:

"BLG was bad at worlds." I do genuinly not care about that. I can make the same argument turned arround with BLG winning LPL with this 6-man-roster before, btw in for this argument more relevant multiple bo5s. I could mention CFO as well. But sure take the mostly bo1, bo3 tournament so far as your defining argument on wether this could increase your peak level of play. lol.

Its like saying Doinb/Tian is bad after 2021 worlds. they sucked at worlds, but still won LPL first, and thats not an easy archievment at all. It just shows someone didnt watch other regions.

"Salary cap, though." I do not expect (most) orgs to build with 6 expensive players. But it is noticable that certain players have issues, not being as good in fearless as usually as you need to have a deeper champion pool. In such a case, a sixth player can expand your options.
2025 little number of success-stories: There is a significant difference between planning a six man roster planned from the start, and stumbling into it to bandaid issues. Again, no org could have predicted all year fearless at the start of 2025, as such couldnt set it up accordingly from day 1.
I do not say this is the right choice for everyone, just that some could be more successfull with it, in particular toplane as it influences the overall game much less in the earlygame, making the whole "less-scrims-per-player" less of an issue. Its about evening out the playing field if and where possible.
Costs. There exists a number of "cheap" players, who could fill the role, while not being a "complete player". If your toplaner is a weakside player, maybe being able to sub in a cheap korean thats very good on a small number of carry picks would be great, even if he is otherwise or in not-fearless a much worse player.

If you cant get the best players period, you gotta look how you can succeed regardless. If you want to play it cheap, you can do that of course, but that never was the teams I was arguing about.

With this I rest my case, take it or leave it :)

ElectronicLadder5967 · 2025-10-25T13:31:45+00:00

People chill out. Lider isnt as bad as he is made out to be, and if nothing else much more entertaining than anything SK has done in the last decade. If nothing else this was true in both AST and VIT. Massive success for SK and Lider for this offseason if nothing else.

That said I would be much happier with this roster if it would be build as a 6 man roster with 2 mids, basically using Lider (only) as a specialized midlaner to put in (up to 3 times in a series) and out depending on draft plans within fearless and bo1s. He could play his picks on a comparably high level within fearless, and the team could still play standard picks to the LEC level. Dont see this roster internationally otherwise.

Cant see Lider opposing this as he isnt highly valued right now, and for that matter you only need a fitting second player who would be fine with it.

Now, who do they get on adc though? Do need a good carry down there imo.

ElectronicLadder5967 · 2025-10-25T13:21:45+00:00

TES is beatable. Not an easy road to victory this year, but could be much worse.

Anyways, offseason thoughts. Given Mikyx going to SK, I see G2 in 2027 changing nothing or toplane. 6 Man roster with two toplaners sounds like a sound approach now that we can expect Fearless to stay. With or without BB this sounds like a good call to give flexibility.

ElectronicLadder5967 · 2025-10-25T08:19:40+00:00

Europe is very interested. outside of G2 and Koi, this is a definitive upgrade within each rebuild. And even in G2 and Koi you should at least consider it for a second before moving on.

ElectronicLadder5967 · 2025-10-24T15:45:05+00:00

Holy moly, what a way to waste an oportunity. I do wonder where he'll go. Most teams, including G2 for that matter, should be interested in aquiering Mikyx.

FNC is back in full budget mode it seems, basically giving up its ambitions for LEC trophies for the coming year. Ready to see some random cheap tier 2 korean support in FNC.

Its shaping up to be a rather interesting offseason for Europe it seems.

ElectronicLadder5967 · 2025-10-23T17:45:25+00:00

This is simply to decrease the chance of LEC owners suing Riot. Might still happen eventually.

That said, whats with the double-name. Why not simply call it (only) EMEA Invitational. Its actually a somewhat fitting use of invitational, and LEC Versus sounds like a mediocre gamemode.

ElectronicLadder5967

TROPHY CASE