Esport has its way of throwing up heroes in the most unlikeliest of situations. Teams often get a second shot at redemption, even if the wait for it can be killing at times. Favorites get dethroned, underdogs emerge, heroes rise and fall, coaches come and go and teams build legacies, teams rebuild, teams tear down templates and exceed expectations.
You get the drift, right?
Now imagine a fine cocktail of all these elements in a single tournament. Exciting enough? Welcome to the European Masters 2022, a tournament that comprises the top teams from the several European Regional Leagues.
EU Masters 2022 is packed with talent
The 16-team event is set for an April 14 kick-off, with each pool consisting of four teams based on the regional seeding. Teams have been grouped in such a way that there can’t be more than one team from the same region. Each side plays the other three sides in a double round-robin format, which means in the group phase, each side plays six matches. The top two from each group advance to the knockouts, where matches will be played in a best-of-five format.
There’s good cash to be won too. The tournament has a prize money spread of 150,000 Euros that will be divided among the top four. A blockbuster tournament needs blockbuster players and teams. In a sense, this is like the LoL’s version of football’s Champions League, boasting of some fine players and teams that have transcended several boundaries.
The talent lineup in full is equally insane, from Crownshot to Kasing and Jeskla, Jacktroll and Cabochard in between, EU Masters has it all. Old and new collide to give us a true League of Legends competition.
Great’s grinding for their spot in the big leagues
Take for example Rekkles. An eight-year LEC veteran, and a dominating presence and aura that is unmatched. Karmine Corp have been the beneficiaries of his offensive proficiency in what was a dominating spring split 2022 show. Their LFL playoffs, though, didn’t go to plan. Tipped to go all the way, they fell agonisingly short, beaten by underdogs BDS Academy in the semi-final.
The early-game behemoths were shown the door by getting a taste of their own medicine. The EU Masters is a shot at redemption, an opportunity to prove the LFL playoffs were an aberration. Their exit was their lowest of lows ever since they completed Rekkles’ signing in a record multi-year deal.
Karmine are placed in Group B, which has another top side in X7, and their match-up promises to be stuff box office dreams are made of. X7, meanwhile, have earned the right to be here after beating Bifrost in the final of the Northern LoL Championship Spring 2022 playoffs. They’ve elicited so much interest because they made history recently by becoming the first esports team from Isle of Man to be placed among Europe’s finest teams. Their bot laners Nata and Chasing going up against Rekkles and Hantera promises quite a contest.
Meanwhile, Bifrost, by virtue of having been the losing finalists, also have had to go through the play-ins, and are grouped alongside Fnatic, BDS Academy and Team ESCA Gaming in Group B. Bifrost too did wonderfully well at the play-ins, winning four out of six. Beyond the NLC, you can find Rogue and Vitality in Group A while LDLC OL of France will square off against Unicorns of Love Sexy Edition, Bisons eclub and Atleta esport in Group D.
As is tradition, we follow EUM closely each year and provide you with the hottest predictions come match day.
