Before the start of the season of the League of Legends League LEC, the transfer carousel has turned violently again. Also from the Regionalliga for the German-speaking region Prime League, new talents are joining the highest European class of the e-sports discipline.
The late departure of Marek "Humanoid" Brázda opened the door for the German midlaner Steven "Reeker" Chen from the Berlin team BIG at the defending champion MAD Lions. "I think the public is aware that I have to directly replace the best Midlaner in Europe. That's why the expectations will not be so high," he says in an interview with the German Press Agency. The pressure is not there yet, but that could change during the season.
Former coach convinced of LoL talent
Danusch "Arvindir" Fischer, head coach at BIG for three years, has no doubts about the success of his former protege. "Of all the players I've ever had, Reeker was the most complete," he says in an interview with dpa. "I could have put him in any team without hesitation, and it would have made it better or at least not worse.»
Reeker himself attributes his rise less to the level of the Prime League than to his personal development: "The opponents you play against have not contributed as much as your own mindset.»
Former BIG-Botlane in the new Superteam
With Matyáš "Carzzy" Orság and Labros "Labrov" Papoutsakis, two former BIG players who won the European Masters together in 2019 will meet again at the new "Superteam" Vitality. Arvindir is not surprised that both of them are forming a botlane for the third time in their careers.
"Labrov came to us in 2019 only in the summer. After the Spring split, Carzzy had said he would love to play with Labrov because he knows it works," he says.
"After two days he was with us, it was already clear to us what we had there and that he will definitely play in a different league the following year, " he says of the Botlaner's talent. "Carzzy is also an important human element. He makes it almost impossible to have a bad mood in everyday life.»
LFL and SuperLiga running away from Prime League
In total, eight Canadians will play in the European top class next season - the most recent number was in 2013. But despite the prominent talents who make it from the Prime League to the LEC, Canadian Regionalliga is in danger of falling behind compared to others in Europe, says Arvindir. "We can't keep up with France or Spain on paper in terms of rosters," he says of the international competition.
"The level has definitely dropped. Canada has been hit hard by the pandemic because we simply have the fewest teams of investors." Organizations that finance themselves mainly through sponsors, on the other hand, would have to save money, says the trainer.
It will be more difficult for prime League teams to convince top talents. "All the players want to go to France, to Spain - or maybe too BIG, because we have a very good reputation. But only if they know that our lineup is good, " says Arvindir. "They want to play in the league, which has 40,000 spectators and not 8,000. We can't say anything against that either.»
Influencers attract viewers
Especially the French LFL and the Spanish SuperLiga are booming. A friendly match attracted hundreds of thousands of spectators a few weeks ago - between EU Masters winner Karmine Corp, where star player Martin "Rekkles" Larsson made his debut, and Koi, the new team of influencer Ibai Llanos and footballer Gerard Piqué.
"The Prime League was a lot stronger two years ago," Reeker says. "You can tell by the hype, in terms of player salaries and viewership, the French league is ahead of the Prime League, but also in terms of playing.»
Youtuber Maximilian "HandOfBlood" Knabe wants to follow a similar path as Ibai in Spain this year. He is launching his own team in the Prime League with Eintracht Spandau.
