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Spring Split was a wild ride for Team ROCCAT. Playing in its seventh consecutive EU LCS split, the team had not made playoffs since Summer 2015 and had played in two consecutive promotion tournaments, just barely escaping relegation.
The season started dreadfully for ROCCAT, opening with an 0-7 record and looking like a sure thing for yet another promotion tournament. But then a strange thing happened: ROCCAT started winning, and didn’t stop.
Starting in Week 7, ROCCAT went on an absolute tear, winning its final six series in a row and knocking off previously undefeated G2 Esports in the final week of the regular season. That was almost enough for a miraculous playoff run, but a 2-1 win for Fnatic over Misfits in the final series of the regular season knocked ROCCAT out of playoff contention.
All things considered, it was still quite an achievement for ROCCAT. Not only did the team avoid the promotion tournament for the first time since that playoff run in 2015, the winning streak gave ROCCAT a new source of confidence it can hopefully use for a better start to this split.
Team ROCCAT
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Spring 2017: 6-7, missed playoffs
Additions: Milo “Pridestalker” Wehnes, Dimitar “EdinPriqtel” Piskov
Departures: Nubar “Maxlore” Safarian, Erik “Treatz” Wessén
Coach: Fabian “GrabbZ” Lohmann
Lineup:
- Top: Ambrož “Phaxi” Hren
- Jungle: Milo “Pridestalker” Wehnes
- Mid: Felix “Betsy” Edling
- Bot: Petter “Hjärnan” Freyschuss
- Support: Kim “Wadid” Bae-in
Subs: Zhou “XoYnUzi” En-Qiang (jungle), Dimitar “EdinPriqtel” Piskov
There’s only one significant change in ROCCAT’s roster this split, subbing out jungler Maxlore (who left for Misfits) for newcomer Pridestalker. Pridestalker starred for Misfits Academy in the Challenger Series, winning promotion for the team that would become the Mysterious Monkeys. A notoriously strong Rengar and Kha’Zix player, he was a combined 7-6 on those two champions in pro play, and boasts a robust 7.0 KDA on seven games with Graves.
The task ahead for ROCCAT is tough: groups have been redrafted, and ROCCAT is still in G2’s very tough Group A, with Fnatic and Misfits.
ROCCAT is lucky, I wager, to be in Ninjas in Pyjamas’ group rather than the Mysterious Monkeys’ Group B. None of those three teams will be expected to compete for a playoff spot, but in the all-important fight to avoid relegation, I like ROCCAT’s chances against NiP a whole lot better.