The League Championship Series (LCS) Spring Split was ruled by rookies in Europe, with the top three teams featuring rosters filled with players new to the LCS. But the Summer Split may belong to the veterans.
Origen, the team founded by former Fnatic mid laner Enrique “xPeke” Cedeño Martínez, returns two three-time LCS champions to the LCS, xPeke himself and Paul “sOAZ” Boyer. The pair of solo laners formed the core of the Fnatic team that dominated Europe for years.
They’re flanked by two more veterans—jungler Maurice “Amazing” Stückenschneider, who became an LCS champion himself as a member of Team SoloMid in North America, and support player Alfonso “Mithy” Aguirre Rodriguez, who placed second in his last LCS season as a member of Lemondogs in the Summer of 2013.
Origen made their debut against Giants Gaming, the Spanish organization that nearly avoided falling out of the league after suffering relegation thanks to a 5-13 record. That’s not exactly a stiff test for their debut match, but that’s okay for Origen’s return to the LCS.
Origen jumped to an early lead, turning kills into objectives. But Giants made some mid-game plays that threatened to turn the match around. It wasn’t enough, though, to stop Origen from shutting them down.
Origen’s veterans put together solid games. Mid laner xPeke in particular was superb on Morgana, posting a 5/0/7 KDA line while preventing Giants’ lone star player, Isaac “PePiiNeRo” Flores, from impacting the game on Leblanc. Mithy, who finally returned to the LCS after a lengthy period outside the league, put a 0/1/16 KDA up with Alistair, turning a number of solid baits into gold for his team. Origen’s lone rookie, Jesper “Niels” Svenningsen, put up a 7/2/6 KDA line on Kalista—but that wasn’t without a bit of nerves in his big debut.
“I felt like my mouse was not moving,” he said, after the match. “After the first 25 minutes it started to become fine again… In the early game I couldn’t hit a CS and I missed every spear.”
Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere called the match “quiet” after the bout, overall a fairly straightforward Origen win.
“We can call it quiet, but I don’t think we played to our usual standard,” Amazing replied. “I’m slightly unhappy with the game but we took the game, and that’s what counts towards playoffs.”
It certainly wasn’t as impressive a win as Fnatic’s deconstruction of Unicorns of Love, but the former Fnatic boys of Origen and their talented supporting cast put up the W. That’s the start a team with titles hopes needs as they quest to reach the Riot World Championships.
Screengrab via Riot Games/Youtube
