After a short break from competitive play, one of League of Legends best-known players is returning to Summoner’s Rift this week.
Origen owner and substitute mid laner Enrique “xPeke” Cedeño Martínez will play in place of starting mid laner Tristan “PowerOfEvil” Schrage this week against Unicorns of Love and Team ROCCAT. Schrage is sidelined due to health issues, according to a statement on the team’s Twitter.
XPeke has not competed with the team since the 2015 World Championship semifinals, where the team faced eventual champions SK Telecom T1. Shortly after that series, the team acquired PowerOfEvil from Unicorns of Love and shortly thereafter he helped the team to a winning performance at Intel Extreme Masters San Jose.
Prior to this season, Origen was favored by most analysts and commentators as a top three team. But they currently hold sixth place, beneath teams like G2 Esports and Unicorns of Love, both of which most analysts pegged to finish significantly lower than Origen.
Luckily for Origen, however, they do sit three games above seventh place—which is currently a tie between Splyce and Elements—meaning that, without any upsets in the next two weeks, they should compete in the playoffs.
This has arguably been PowerOfEvil’s worst season yet since joining the LCS in Spring 2015. With the Unicorns of Love, he was the team’s best player, with masterful play across numerous champions. But he hasn’t seen as much success on Origen.
Now xPeke, surely rusty after a season on the sidelines, will have to fill the role until PowerOfEvil recovers whatever ails him.
Photo via Riot Games/Flickr (All rights reserved, used with permission)
