Photo: LoL Esports
The French League of Legends scene is doing well and is taking full advantage of the locomotive LFL. The latter, in addition to winning trophy after trophy at the European Masters, manages to attract bigger and bigger fish in her nets: Rekkles, jeskla, Cody Sun… Div 2, 2nd French level also benefits more or less directly from this influence and we are also starting to find real sizes in the league.
Today, we decided to highlight some of these players via the entry of champion titles. In Div 2 currently, who has the best track record? Obviously, choices had to be made. The titles are difficult to compare and there will be some subjectivity in our ranking. We promise, however, we have peeled the entrails of Leaguepedia rigorously.
Max “Satorius” Günther, much more than the Origen flop
Notable teams: Oirgen, PSG, Millenium, MOUZ, BK Rog
At 28, Satorius is a player who has had many adventures. Before arriving in Div 2 during this transfer window, he has come a long way with good and less good. Unfortunately for him, several of his failures stick to his skin… We obviously want to talk about his nightmarish segment with Origin in LCS EU (0-13) punctuated by relegation. In France, we also pointed the finger at the player during his visit to Millennium. But at the time, there was more criticism of his large emoluments which had leaked rather than his results. Yet the community should learn to dig a little deeper. Casually, the German surely has the best record of Div 2.
Some of his most notable titles include winning the Winter Cup in the German league (ERL level 1) with MOZthe victory of the ESLM Summer 2019 (ancestor of the Prime League) with EURONICS Gaming and a victory for the Turkish 2nd Division in 2016 with Crew e-Sports Club. Add in a plethora of small victories on the German scene and you get a self-respecting trophy cabinet. Obviously, Satorius did not have the career he was promised and he was less successful than some of his illustrious former teammates (xPeke, Humanoid, Nisqy…). But he still has a very nice CV which must make more than one Div 2 player dream.
Jakub “kubYD” Grobelny, a real good ERL player
Notable teams: Anorthosis Famagusta, PDW, Atletec
During the mid-season transfer window, Atlétec totally upended his roster operating at no less than 4 changes in his starting 5. Among the newcomers, the leaders got their hands on a player who has several fine trophies to his credit: the support kubYD. At 26, he has already had a lot of experience and has traveled in Europe in different ERL 1s. During his career, he notably managed to win once the Ultraliga (Polish league) with PDW and twice the GGL (Greek league) with Anorthosis Famagusta. He also played in PG Nationals (Italian league), but with less success given that he did not manage to do better than a 4th place.
Even if the level of the different ERLs is quite heterogeneous and nothing beats the level offered by the LFL, these three “European” titles are still notable successes. We will also add that thanks to these titles, kubYD had the opportunity to play two European Masters, with a quarter-final at the key in Summer 2021 alongside a certain Czajek.
Nicolaj “Achuu” Ellesgaard, the only Div 2 player who played the MSI
Notable teams: SuperMassive, Dark Passage, Tricked Esport, beGenius
Achuu is also an old-timer who is now 28 years old. Before joining beGenius during the mid-season transfer window, this Dane chained the teams and looking through his career, we came across a little madness: Achuu is the only player currently in Div 2 who has played in a major international tournament. Obviously, it’s getting a bit dated, but no one can take away his participation in the MSI 2016 with SuperMassive, following his title of Turkish champion. To get there, he had even won the tournament IWCI 2016, qualifying tournament between minor regions (Japan, Brazil, Russia, Vietnam…). A participation is not equivalent to a trophy, but this success still deserves to be mentioned… especially because during this tournament he had crossed swords, excuse me, with SKT T1 (Faker), RNG (Xiaohu) or even G2 Esports (Perkz).
Winning a qualifying league for the Worlds is a performance that deserves to be highlighted and which already justifies the presence of this ADC in our selection, especially when we add the MSI and its context. Achuu can however also boast of having once won the Turkish 2nd Division (TPL) with HWA Gaming, success followed by a rise in the 1st division. We could also note a victory for the League Championship Denmark in 2018.
esport-lol
The community has been waiting for long weeks for Team Vitality to officially decide on its LEC roster. It had been a while since the information had leaked, but we now have the heart net. Bees will have several new to League of Legends this summer.