“I think I could be a decent coach, but if I’m sitting here talking of how I think I could possibly replace their support player, could you really have a coach that, before that, wants to replace one of your players?”

--Krepo, Summoning Insight episode 31

Krepo’s twitter handle is a self-claimed nickname “Skumbag Krepo” that reflects his tendency to steal kills from his AD carry as a support player. As a member of Counter Logic Gaming Europe, one of the top three European teams in the history of League of Legends, he didn’t so much steal kills from YellowPete as earn them. On a team that preferred to draw out laning phases and outfarm the opposition, Krepo was a support who chased down kills with gusto. Froggen will always stand out as CLG EU’s centerpiece, but Krepo’s initiative cannot be overlooked.

That's just one narrative that could be spun in this scenario. One of the biggest criticisms levied against Elements’ current roster is their passive play. This criticism misses the mark, and even if it didn’t, Krepo’s presence won’t change the identity of the team, as he didn’t change the identity of CLG EU.

That’s why this roster change seems hopeful.

At the moment, Elements’ identity is the only thing they have going for them. When you pull up an Elements VOD, you know immediately how it will go. Froggen will outfarm his opponent, Elements will wait for the opposition to make a move and reactively position to team fight. If they win, the long game paid off. If not, someone lost his lane horrifically, or, as in the Giants game, a misplay resulted in a throw.

These issues arise when every man plays like an island. The game against ROCCAT didn’t go south because Overpow and Jankos played more aggressively; it went south because they played together. Twelve minutes into the game, ROCCAT had made three gank attempts on Kev1n with assistance from Vander and Jankos, resulting in two kills, a dragon, and a tower. Elements’ other players didn’t seem to acknowledge anything that happened on the bottom half of the map. The laneswap that followed simply swapped islands, setting an underfarmed Kev1n against Woolite and Vander for yet another kill.

The first gank on Kev1n

Before 15 minutes, four of ROCCAT’s players had begun to snowball off Kev1n with Elements getting almost nothing in response. At twenty three minutes, ROCCAT continued to group and managed to grab an inhibitor while Elements tried to hold their lanes as pairs or single players, insisting on prolonging an extended laning phase that had already ended.

This isn’t because they’re passive. This is because Elements is a team where “he’s not my problem” might as well be the slogan. Irelia is a reasonably bad matchup for Gnar, and it makes sense that ROCCAT would pressure it. Little effort was made from the team to protect the lane with vision. The first blood Shook acquired, Elements’ only kill without the aid of their Fountain, wasn’t attained through coordinated effort, but a lucky invade without cover. While ROCCAT took Elements’ bottom inhibitor, Froggen was working on the first tier mid turret by himself.

Krepo has been praised for his outspokenness and his analytic approach to the game. During the offseason, Elements, then called Alliance, pursued him as a coach for his game knowledge and his ability to communicate. He isn’t as mechanically skilled as Nyph. He won’t make “sick Madlife plays” with high frequency—but in the case of the ROCCAT game, he’d say what apparently no one bothered to say. “We need to talk about Kev1n.”

On Episode 31 of Summoning Insight, Krepo explained to viewers why he did not accept the role of coach for Alliance; he wanted Nyph’s job. In his Facebook post explaining his departure from Evil Geniuses, he went into great detail regarding his attempts to foster communication on the team and, if not shotcall, open up lines of information sharing. His ability to breakdown and reflect on the game has landed him recurring spots on Riot’s analyst desk. It’s clear from all of his interactions with the community that Krepo’s heart is still on the Rift and playing the game, but with a caveat: “going into next year it'll be 100% to win, or not at all.”

Krepo controls the laning phase at IPL 5 against Team IceLanD

Elements has the components to win, as they consistently showed by remaining at the top of the EU LCS table through the Summer split under the Alliance brand. Froggen’s approach to the game and the identity of his teams has been relevant in the competitive scene for years. Elements just needs a voice. Krepo doesn't even have to shotcall—which is good since he doesn't have the track record in that roll—as long as he gets Elements to talk. If successful rosters in the past have taught us anything, voices are much harder to coach than they are to swap in. Despite the consensus that Nyph has a higher mechanical upside, Krepo seems like a good move.

Unless he isn’t. In his announced departure from Evil Geniuses, Krepo declared “It's impossible to lead if you don't have the respect from the people you're trying to help, and there I failed.” The exact nature of the ills plaguing Elements aren't clear, but respect could well be one of them. By all accounts, Krepo gets along well enough with the players of Elements to coach them, but if the environment on Elements is anywhere near as unsettled as the community has been lead to believe, Krepo as a player won’t fix anything right away. Anyone who is expecting a miracle will likely be disappointed. The short-run goal is avoiding a promotion tournament spot.

The Krepo pickup is a long game, something with which Elements is familiar. From an outsider’s perspective, the team doesn’t seem to be talking. It takes a lot of work to get a group of people who haven’t been talking to start, especially in an environment with two recent roster changes where no one’s position seems stable, and a battle to fend off relegation appears assured. Elements hardly looks like the Worlds-bound team for which Krepo told fans he would trade his position on the Riot broadcast. His personal account of his departure from EG suggests he was deterred by a constant environment of stubborn, uncooperative silence, not unlike the community perception of Elements. Even if changes happen, they aren't happening immediately.

The difference is that Elements is a Worlds-bound team. Kev1n has historically stood out as a strong performer, putting up high numbers on lower tier teams, sometimes listed among the best top laners in Europe. Shook’s skill ceiling is more than enough to forgive his blunders. Rekkles' safe positioning should allow him to clean up and output damage with more guidance. Froggen needs no explanation.

Krepo isn’t a mechanical genius, but he already has some of the best Europe has to offer at his disposal. Elements can be a Worlds-bound team, Krepo just has to help them communicate like one.