This article is part of our League of Legends series.
The EU Masters tournament features the best from the regional leagues around Europe, similar to the UEFA Champions League in soccer except for lower divisions. While these teams rarely face off head to head, we now get a chance to see some of the best up-and-coming stars from around Europe compete.
1. Schalke 04. Evolution
The German teams have been the top contenders in EU Masters for the past two seasons, and that seems unlikely to change with Schalke 04 coming in off the back of a 14-4 Spring season. Schalke then went on to win the playoffs, dropping only one game to rivals mousesports. A roster filled with rising talent, Schalke look poised to continue the German dominance in EU Masters.
2. mousesports
The second representative from the Prime League takes the second spot on our list, with mousesports coming in right behind Schalke, as they have all season. This roster is stacked with talent, including star mid laner LIDER, who has been the crux of the team. While they came up short to Schalke in the Prime League playoffs, mousesports are one of the best teams around.
3. Fnatic Rising
The first non-Prime League team on this list comes from the UKLC champions, Fnatic Rising. This team ended in 3rd/4th last season of EU Masters and will be looking to go one series further in 2020. Built around mid laner MagiFelix, as well as new addition Pride in the top lane, Fnatic Rising were able to take the
The EU Masters tournament features the best from the regional leagues around Europe, similar to the UEFA Champions League in soccer except for lower divisions. While these teams rarely face off head to head, we now get a chance to see some of the best up-and-coming stars from around Europe compete.
1. Schalke 04. Evolution
The German teams have been the top contenders in EU Masters for the past two seasons, and that seems unlikely to change with Schalke 04 coming in off the back of a 14-4 Spring season. Schalke then went on to win the playoffs, dropping only one game to rivals mousesports. A roster filled with rising talent, Schalke look poised to continue the German dominance in EU Masters.
2. mousesports
The second representative from the Prime League takes the second spot on our list, with mousesports coming in right behind Schalke, as they have all season. This roster is stacked with talent, including star mid laner LIDER, who has been the crux of the team. While they came up short to Schalke in the Prime League playoffs, mousesports are one of the best teams around.
3. Fnatic Rising
The first non-Prime League team on this list comes from the UKLC champions, Fnatic Rising. This team ended in 3rd/4th last season of EU Masters and will be looking to go one series further in 2020. Built around mid laner MagiFelix, as well as new addition Pride in the top lane, Fnatic Rising were able to take the UKLC crown with a reverse sweep of BT Excel.
4. Vodafone Giants
Next on the list is the first LVP Superliga Orange team, Vodafone Giants. They finished the regular season with a 15-3 record, in what is normally a very tough league, and while they were pushed to a full five games by Movistar Riders in the playoffs, they were able to take the series 3-2. Vodafone Giants have a core of LEC talent with promising rookies built around it, and will look to be a dark horse for the EU Masters 2020.
5. Movistar Riders
Movistar Riders, the second seed from LVP Superliga Orange, round out the top five and come in just behind their compatriots. Movistar Riders were one of only three teams to take a game off Vodafone Giants in the regular season and then pushed the leaders all the way to five games, coming up just short and falling to the second seed. Movistar Riders will look towards Xico in the mid lane to be the spark they need coming in to EU Masters.
6. Gamers Origin
The final team from Pool 1 is the first French team on this list, with Gamers Origin of the LFL. Gamers Origin were far from smooth sailing this year, coming in third in the regular season before running the gauntlet of Spring Playoffs. Taking down Vitality.Bee, Misfits Premier and finally LDLC OL, 3-0, Gamers Origin truly showed that they are the No. 1 team in the French league. While they will face a tough task coming into EU Masters, Gamers Origin have the potential to cause issues for anyone.
7. BT Excel
BT Excel are pretty much the opposite of Gamers Origin; instead of a choppy regular season, BT Excel went 14-0, a perfect spring split, sealing a comfortable no. 1 seed for the playoffs. The playoffs began smoothly for BT Excel as well, taking down Nvision Esports 2-0, and moving 2-0 up over Fnatic Rising in the grand final. Unfortunately, despite being one game from a perfect split, they proceeded to drop three in a row and fall to second place behind Fnatic Rising. Their lineup is filled with veteran talent that the potential to upset any team in the competition at any time, something we saw in the UKLC regular season.
8. LDLC OL
The team rounding out the top half of our power rankings is LDLC OL, the LFL regular season champions and the second seed from the LFL Spring 2020 Season. LDLC falling to eighth on this list speaks to the depth of EU Masters, as LDLC field an extremely strong side. Going 12-2 in the regular season, LDLC were poised to take the LFL, but they couldn't find their footing against a red-hot Gamers Origin side in the grand final. Lead by veteran Yellowstar, LDLC have the experience to work their way through a tough EU Masters run.
9. AGO Rogue
The ninth team on our list comes from the Polish Ultraliga, with its champion AGO Rogue. This roster features LEC-proven names such as Woolite, and comes in with plenty of experience playing at the top end of European Leagues. AGO Rogue finished the regular season in first by going 12-2, but they lost their Round 1 playoff match to second-seed K1CK Neosurf, 3-1. AGO Rogue were able to turn it around in the grand final though, securing a 3-1 victory and the no. 1 seed from the Ultraliga.
10. Gamers Legion
The final team from the Prime League comes in 10th in the form of Gamers Legion, who finished third in Prime League. While Gamers Legion finished third, their regular season left a lot to be desired, ending the regular season in sixth with an 8-10 record, just managing to get into playoffs. Gamers Legion were exceptional in playoffs though, taking down BIG Clan, UoL Sexy Edition and taking mousesports to the full five games before falling 3-2.
11. K1CK Neosurf
Eleventh in our list, and rounding out the participants from the Ultraliga, is the No. 2 seed K1CK Neosurf, who come into EU Masters right on the heels of AGO Rogue losing 3-1 in the grand finals, after beating AGO Rogue 3-1 in the upper bracket finals. K1CK Neo Surf will be looking to cause upset's from Pool 4 while they run a full Polish roster, with Matislaw in the mid lane picking up the carry potential for the up-and-coming team.
12. Defusekids
Defusekids come from the Dutch League and had to play-in to EU Masters despite winning their league. They went 5-1 in their group during the play-in tournament before defeating Sector One 2-1 to qualify for EU Masters. The Dutch lineup will look to play an unpredictable style, with ADC Goose the star of the team, picking up two player of the week awards in the Dutch League.
13. YDN Gamers
YDN Gamers are the representative from the Italian PG Nationals league, and come in to the tournament as heavy underdogs. YDN Finished the spring season as the first seed and came into the playoffs as favorites. They survived a scare to Morning Stars 3-2 before taking down Racoon 3-1 to earn their spot in EU Masters, coming into the tournament in Pool 3.
14. Team Singularity
Team Singularity are the Nordic champions, and come into EU Masters with a very tall task ahead of them. Singularity had a strong regular season, finishing second with a 9-5 record going into the playoffs. Then, they showed their strong form by taking down no. 1 seed Vipers inc 3-1 in the grand final to qualify to the EU Masters, where they will represent the Nordic region, who have traditionally struggled.
15. Energypot Wizards
Energypot Wizards hail from the Esports Balkan Leagues and finished the regular season in second with a 12-2 record, against ASUS Rog Elite who took the top spot with a 12-2 record as well. The playoffs were a different matter though, as Energypot Wizards defeat Elementaries 3-1, before narrowly edging out Crvena zvezda 3-2 in the grand final to qualify for EU Masters. This team will most likely struggle to get going, with the Balkan leagues normally unable to step up to the level of EU Masters.
16. eSuba
eSuba qualified for EU Masters through the play-ins, where they finished their group 4-2 before taking down Racoon 2-1 to qualify. eSuba come from the Hitpoint Masters league, where they were dominant start to finish, losing only four games total across the entire season, including playoffs. eSuba will have one of the hardest times of anyone in EU Masters as they look to make the step up into EU's Premier Regional competition.