We kickstart the new season with a preview of some of the teams that will be playing in the upcoming European VGL qualifiers. We will be taking a look at the top 4 seeded teams from each bracket with a little bit of insight into the teams.

CATHERINE BRACKET

Media Pixel (1)

Media Pixel entered the EU live finals as the 8th seed but were the undisputed champions showing a knack for developing innovative strategies. They’ve demonstrated they’re not afraid to take risks with unusual team compositions in tournaments. Mowglie debuted an extremely strong Phinn who had until then proved to be a poor pick. One of their major strengths is their excellent team synergy and their coordination is almost unrivalled. However, we have seen them perhaps a little bit over-reliant on the Saw, Adagio and Phinn push comp and with the upcoming update Media Pixel may have to find a new favourite composition or suffer for it. This VGL they will no longer be the underdogs and they’ll be returning with the pressures of higher expectations.

Roster: Mowglie, Saif, Palmatoro, ICESword, cOucOu, KValafar

One to watch: Mowglie

SK Prometheus (2)

After winning the last VGL qualifier, SK Prometheus are back and looking to replicate their previous success. SK have restructured their teams and Prometheus see jetpacks coming over from Chimaera. With Season One’s ONLY Vainglorious gold player this is probably one of the strongest teams in Europe. SK Prometheus have always veered towards aggressive early and mid- game heroes preferring to snowball and finish games fast.

Roster: Raph29, L3oN, jetpacks, TetnoJJ

One to watch: L3on

SK Odyssey (3)

We have ADzero and Bayu re-joining us after their stint in Korea for the VIPL. After not performing as well as they’d have liked against the other server regions they’ll no doubt be looking to prove themselves back at home. However this may be a tougher ride for them as they go straight from one bracket of death into another.

With further SK roster changes we see them joined by Cr3am and WalDeMar- the previous support and laner for Chimaera. We can expect this team to be playing very passively early and mid-game but if they get to that late game they’ll be sure to dominate.

Roster: ADzero, Bayu, Cr3am, WalDeMar

One to watch: WalDeMar

RebelLion (4)

Overshadowed by their more successful sister team in the previous VGL, RebelLion have yet to make a strong impact on the competitive scene. As the oldest team coming out from their guild the players have excellent synergy and no doubt will have been working on strategies and drafting in the downtime between qualifiers. With the guild fielding 3 strong teams we should expect to see the Rebel tag reaching the late stages of the tournament. RebelLion definitely have the toughest bracket out of their three teams and will have to work harder to earn that place in the semi-finals.

Roster: Nissim, Arkay, RebelBukky, TrOY

One to watch: TrOY

ADAGIO BRACKET

Rebirth of Empire (1)

Beaten to that 1st place position by Media Pixel in both the EU live finals and in the VWS finals they’ll definitely be out for blood. However, they will need to be careful not to get tripped up along the way as the competition will be much tougher this time. This team has shown fantastic improvement over the past few months and if they continue along this trajectory they’ll no doubt place very well.

Roster: nettetoillete, GreatkhALI, IroNs, UpFyr

One to watch: GreatkhALI

SNOW Tsunami (2)

This is a new team that we’re seeing with plenty of old faces as Black Hawk and SNOW combine forces to send two hybrid teams to these qualifiers. PTLam has been one of the rising stars in the European servers over the past season and with such a strong team we should certainly expect them to go far but a lot will depend on how they synergise.

Roster: alexmagic, lookatme, 1Lt, Sosiska, PTLam

One to watch: PTLam

AngryPandasBlack (3)

AngryPandasBlack sees the original Angry Pandas team joined by legendARIEs. A typically very aggressive team, especially with XuanXuan on that support-carry Ardan, the Pandas certainly know how to snowball a game however with the new kill bounty changes they’ll have to be more careful. Everyone’s favourite Taka, TonyLuo, is back however he has to show that he is no one-trick pony. With the 1.13 meta yet to be established the team’s performance could very well depend on Taka’s strength in the fold.

Roster: XuanXuan, Tombraider, TonyLuo, legendARIEs, LeyaLeya

One to watch: TonyLuo

Rebirth of Kingdom (4)

Confusingly enough we have Rebirth of Kingdom and Rebirth of Empire in the same guild although I am told that they are no longer affiliated in any way. This team has not had much of a competitive presence so far but we can expect some good plays from them in the upcoming weeks.

Roster: Sc4rFac3, GangTurk, WickedJr, KaiMaiBrei, SilentOps

One to watch: SilentOps

REIM BRACKET

­­G2.Kinguin 2 (1)

G2. Kinguin have also had restructured their rosters and we see Tesfaye and Reddix joining us after their time in Korea. We can expect Tesfaye to be in the jungle where he thrives and dominates but with a different and unfamiliar support things might be a little tougher.

Roster: majestic, Pips, Tesfaye, Kwinckultoss, Reddix

One to watch: Reddix

RebelTiger (2)

Bursting onto the EU competitive scene in the previous qualifiers they had some fantastic performances. Although they were created later than their sister team, RebelLion, they had a far better performance demonstrating excellent synergy and diversity far exceeding those of older teams. With none of the original roster playing at the live finals they did not place as well as anticipated however I’m sure they will make sure that doesn’t happen again. If they play as well as they did during the last qualifiers they’ll be sure to make it far and if not they can always #blameloere.

Roster: GreenHornet, ArkLostInSpace, Moalze, Loere

One to watch: GreenHornet

Kraken (3)

Kraken will have a tough ride if they want to try and make it past the semifinals and will have to come up against one of the more established teams to do so. Having not seen them play very much competitively I can’t comment much on their playstyle but judging by their seed they will have a lot to live up to.

Roster: stromsgodset, Aidslip, Kylobayd, Tsi, NIceGraphics, Zeus7

One to watch: Kylobayd

SK Chimaera (4)

Looking at the Chimaera roster we see some of the oldest names from the European competitive scene. With the other SK rosters receiving some shake-ups this team feels a lot more familiar and watching previous tournament footage we can see how much this team has developed. Chimaera, like the other two teams, are no stranger to success and we could very well be seeing an all SK final.

Roster: MYQ, RoccoS, MEDIC, lloH4uK, RedWolf

One to watch: RedWolf

RINGO BRACKET

SNOW Avalanche (1)

This is the second SNOW/Black Hawk hybrid team and equally strong as their sister team. They are a very intimidating team to come up against and not one that you would want to face early due to their excellent mechanics and aggressive teamplay. With one of the strongest supports in Europe it will be very difficult for opposing teams to focus their carries and complete objectives.

Roster: ColdICE, Kentysik, Bashn, araxi, HFGuy

One to watch: Bashn

G2.Kinguin (2)

They also had a less than stellar showing at the EU live finals, losing every game. Without their full roster in Poland the synergy seemed off and we saw a very different team from previous VGL tournaments. However, we cannot disregard the strength of this team, they have a very diverse hero pool and excellent understanding of the mechanics of the game which they use to their advantage. They have had a brilliant track record so far in VGL and we can only expect this to continue.

Roster: TaisukeSan, Face, Tercus, DarkPotato, Zynthox, D1ngo

One to watch: DarkPotato

Team iPooed (3)

Team iPooed have been on the European competitive scene for a while now and have always flown under the radar. Their roster has some very strong players who have excellent synergy, however it’s difficult to say how they will perform under pressure against more difficult opponents.

Roster: Blurink, Emirking, LordGentleMan, AdoneNF, KudoSz, Flobby

One to watch: LordGentleMan

TheNightsWatch (4)

These players are definitely deserving of 4th seed in this bracket but they have a lot to prove against much more established teams. They performed well in the last qualifiers but not quite enough to make it to the live finals. This team plays very carefully, favouring the late game and avoiding those early game skirmishes.

Roster: dzham, SNOWBALL, mm1990, iSteal, POMPYROWTF

One to watch: dzham

Matches start on the 16th of January. You can find the full schedule here. Be sure to go to VaingloryLeague’s twitch stream to catch the first of the qualifier matches.