Brawls, fiestas, clash of styles, unusual picks, big upsets…wait, is this the EU LCS? No? Oh right, this is the EU Masters! After two weeks of national prides clashing, fans clenching their teeth in anticipation, unlikely upsets and countless fiestas…the 20 teams have finally narrowed down to a mere 4, the best of the best and survivors of one of the closest tournaments to date.

And that’s not even an hyperbole.

None of the first seeds from Groups made it to the semifinals and none of the four semifinalists look clearly ahead of the other 3. Every single one of them has unique traits, picks, strategies and win conditions that can realistically take them to lift the coveted EU Masters trophy and be crowned the sole title of Master of the EUniverse.

Before we get to the Elite 4 of the EU Masters,.a word in honour of some of the teams who didn’t make it.

Atlantis, Nordics’ first seed, failing to qualify ahead of Greece’s Panathinaikos in the Group of Death, or also Illuminar Gaming, runners-up against Origen in Spring, toppled by the Italian prodigies of OutPlayed. Or Team Echo Zulu, who came out winners from that absolute fiesta against Misfits Academy, kings of the UK. The minor regions definitely didn’t come for hot chocolate and cookies; they came for scalps. Poland, UK and even France, since both GamersOrigin and Gentside failed to make semis, will be very disappointed with their performance this split and will certainly look to bounce back stronger next split.

If you haven’t had the chance to follow the matches so far because of wordly commitments or just simply passing out from the hype and suspense, here’s what you missed — and what you shouldn’t miss this weekend!

Euronics Gaming (Germany)

Avenging last split’s atrocious record and salvaging pride for the DACH circuit, Euronics Gaming look to bring Germany right at the top of the standings. Besting the Italian Battalion Outplayed during the quarterfinals in convincing fashion, they’ve given German fans a lot to be optimistic about. Despite their fellow team, Mousesports, falling in the Play-In Stage, the German team has upheld the nation’s honour with their unique groove of personalities and banter by producing very good results on the Rift. Expectations from themselves and in general the fans were not high coming into the EU Masters, but Euronics Gaming has exceeded all predictions thus far, giving the team a shot at the title live in Katowice.

What we expected: Slow, stalling, reactionary play based on lategame teamfighting and long range poke compositions (aka The Gustav Gun). Agurin being the only aggressive element throughout while the rest of the team drafts siege comps and just waits to scale. Also, the German aimbot NoWay4u’s nutty skillshots.

What they showed so far: Well…pretty much exactly that! Some games featured more playmaking/aggressive picks, such as NoWay4u’s Cassiopeia or Ventair’s Irelia, as well as a very safety-oriented Tahm Kench for Pandar, which are all unusual picks for their style but still tailored around their own unique flavour. Agurin has also shown he is not afraid of the other junglers in the tournament, busting out picks like Kha’Zix and Shyvana to duel and pick off vulnerable targets. Broeki has also been very consistent thus far with either his Ezreal pick or his usual selection of mages. Also another thing Euronics have displayed is their ability to win early. Drafting champs and utlising strategies that don’t require stalling and scaling, this team has dispatched lesser teams swiftly with their strong, decisive macro and individual plays. If they get an inch, they’ve shown they can take the mile. And your nexus.

What we can expect: Given the streaming culture of almost every member of the team, it’s likely that Euronics will land in Katowice with the same assets shown so far: don’t fix it if it’s not Broeki (or uh, broken)! But also an unexpected upside must be taken into account: how do you practice against a style so unique, if the team doesn’t scrim against anyone? Euronics Gaming counters predictability by denying their opponents practice and they will gladly drag you in the mud and then beat you with experience!

On the other hand, the downside of their low-scrim policy will probably be predictability: their opponents know how they play, what they play, even if some of them still couldn’t fight them on even ground. We can almost certainly expect this team to draft full siege and attempt to whittle their foes down. However, taking this to a best of 5 environment and against the strongest teams in the competition might be lethal for them should any team find a way to exploit their predictability.

To add to that, Euronics are the only team that feels generally comfortable with disregarding early controlled aggression in favour of lategame scaling, albeit sometimes they can show up with a gold lead at 20m despite being down in kills. For Euronics it will all be a matter of how well they can keep the enemies in check before deploying their own heavy artillery.

MVP: NoWay4u the German Aimbot. He has looked head and shoulders above the competitors in the midlane, being the centerpiece of the team and the playmaking star. Whether he’s slithering around on his Cassiopeia, 360-noscoping noobs on Xerath or his terrifying Corki, he always makes sure his teammates are in the best position to enable him to carry — and man, he does. But the road ahead gets steeper and steeper: the three midlaners left are Larssen, Von1 and Nemesis, possibly the best of all the midlane talents among all EU Masters teams. If NoWay4u can hold up against such names, he can consider himself on top of the list of the next NA imports!

MAD Lions (Spain)

The Spanish Lions are famished. Hunger for the EU Masters trophy compels them onwards, and they are now back right where they left off last split: one series win away from entering the Grand Finals. Fans of the Spanish pride reminisce not too fondly upon this time: last split the roars of the Lions were promptly silenced by eventual champions Origen in the semis. After winning the grueling series against a very strong Gentside, it is their promised hour now. With no Origen in sight, the Lions will have their sharpened claws ready to maul their enemies, determined to let nothing stand in their way for a taste of glory. After all, their enemies know: the rain from Spain is a hella lot of pain.

What we expected: Decisive, strong macro oriented gameplay but not reckless aggression especially during the early game, MAD Lions mostly focus on objectives more than on skirmishes. Solid lanes that would never lose and that would enable jungler Selfmade to invade and/or be proactive in setting up the tempo. Stalling when behind, often slow but solid midgame. Confident teamfighters.

What they showed so far: Generally speaking, in their wins they’ve been as most people expected of them: clean, calm and controlled. Compared to last split, MAD Lions are definitely more proactive early on and are willing to skirmish to gain advantages. Jungler Selfmade has been securing the Lions’ early game with his timely ganks and counterganks while all 3 lanes hold down fast. The Lions also do have a rather predictable strat in all of their games, where they want to rotate the toplane of Werlyb and their duo bot as fast as possible, after Selfmade helps either one of them take the top or bot turret (but mostly it’s been the bot turret). The transition into their solid midgame comes from their rotations after, where the sidelanes collapse early onto objectives or against outnumbered opponents. This then shifts quickly into new lane assignments or remaining objective, remaining consistent with their LVP form of accruing small advantages whenever possible throughout the game (especially drakes).

MAD Lions have shown they are good at taking calculated fights and are probably the best teamfighting team of the 4 left. They understand when to go in and when to back off, most evidently in extended trades.Though in some of their wins and most telling in losses, the Spanish pride have displayed flashes of desperation. Nemesis and Crownshot, the two carries who usually play solidly but never really explosively, are forced to take bad fights and often putting themselves in risky positions. Unafraid to attempt something even when behind, MAD Lions play the patient predator, ever watching for a weakness before decisively striking.

What we can expect: Coach Araneae will definitely be shoring up the Lion’s more obvious weaknesses and strategies. As a unit — at their best some might call them an absolute unit- the Lions can often be unstoppable, out rotating, out fighting and outwitting their helpless foes. We expect them to stick and strengthen their usual and strong macro orientated game with Selfmade timing his ganks carefully and their ADC Crownshot to play safe and scale. Nemesis will be the focal point for the team and foes alike, his solid play and champion pool will be a boon to the ambitious Lions. Ever brave and skillful, Werlyb will probably be stuck on tanks but count on him to try out other champions such as his signature Jax. He has already brought out the Licorice-style Hecarim and could look to do it again. Teamfights will be the name of the game and they will most certainly try to collapse early and often, especially into the midlane once either top or bot tower falls.

Methodical in their plan and execution, the Lions only need to fear for themselves in failing to execute. For the better or worse, this tournament has been unexpectedly hard especially for them, fighting tooth and claw for every win instead of just leaping through opponents as most would expect. Falco, while extremely good in his engages, so far has been suspect to getting caught while fishing for vision and if the botlane is set behind hard, this team might revert to their desperate plays. If MAD Lions want a sure shot at redemption, the pride will have to do what they do best and prove they are worthy of being labelled the favourites to win it all two splits in a row.

MVP: Just when Lions need him most, Nemesis can step up and be the clutch carry that turns around a game. His timely Galio ults and taunts have given several headaches to Gentside during their quarterfinals, and the Slovenian midlaner has shown he should be feared on mechanically heavy champions such as Irelia and Akali. When the team is in control, he looks just like a solid midlaner, but his true MVP potential shows when Lions are in a pinch. If Lions really want to show they are the SKT1 of this tournament, well, Nemesis is their Faker.

ASUS ROG Elite (Balkans — Serbia)

“They’re not as good as Kliktech”.

“No way Balkans are relevant this tournament”.

“It shouldn’t be possible that a team gets to semis without being challenged”.

ASUS ROG Elite have received the harsher end of the comments entering into the EU Masters, and for good reason. After the original roster of Kliktech broke apart for greener pastures and the Balkans were handed two seeds for the Summer edition, any casual fan would easily think this scenario could only end in tears. Play-In compatriots Crvena Zvezda getting their rears handed to them only reinforced this notion. Even taking second in their group after two very strong performances wasn’t enough to convince naysayers.

And yet, here they are.

Step by step, the Elites have climbed to top 4, once again proving that Balkans are a force to be reckoned with. Their win over crowd favourites and former EBL rivals Panathinaikos has placed them firmly among the best but still the doubters are many. Everyone loves an underdog story. Should ASUS ROG Elite successfully scale the summit that is the EU Masters, the silence would be deafening, sealing their triumph and bringing glory back to the Balkans. For the Elites, no victory would be sweeter and they wouldn’t have it any other way.

What we expected: Semi-aggressive early game, specifically built around pressuring the lanes and picking timely skirmishes to pull ahead into the midgame, where the Elites then truly come alive. Solid reactive plays and sprinkled with some risky calls, but then overcoming their own gamble with individual skill. Von1 and DoubleAim playmaking for the team with mechanically intensive champions that can snowball if set up properly. Bruno tends to absorb a lot of pressure for the botlane to shine later on.

What they showed so far: ASUS ROG Elite has proven one statement we made in our last piece: they are the least ‘Balkan’ of all Balkans teams. While other Balkan teams would dive head-first into a teamfight, tower or objective, Elite are much wiser and know how to set up such goals with vision, positioning and global abilities. Bruno can be overaggressive and initiate fights on his own (for better or worse) and that creates immense space for the deadly duo of DoubleAim and Von1. Without key cooldowns on enemies, they are free to commit to skirmishes and fights, unleashing their potential and netting advantages for the team. The botlane is no different: Khantos/Nemky and Limit play as aggressively as they can, often forcing the enemy jungler to pay them several visits in the botlane. Key to all this though is their ability to be patient. Unless they get know they can curbstomp their opposition through superior teamfighting and coordination, the Elites have shown -like their games in the EBL- they are willing to wait and capitalise on mistakes as well as go in full Balkan. This team has shown on multiple occasions they are willing to slow the game down and lock down overly aggressive opposition strategies before applying their own in the mid to late game.

What we can expect: It’s the game of the short blanket for Elite’s enemies: if they pull it to one side, the other remains cold and unguarded. Similarly, if the enemy jungler ganks a sidelane, DoubleAim is free to gank mid or invade, and he does it consistently. Whether or not the enemy is proactive DoubleAim will be doing his darnest to powerfarm and get a sizable lead over his opponent. Look forward to other mechanically intensive midgame picks for the mid/jungle duo, such as Camille, Kindred, Aatrox, LeBlanc, Vladimir and Galio. These are just some of the threats the Ninjas in Pyjamas should be careful of. Even Paris and Dom1nant, one of the scariest duos in the tournament, couldn’t keep pace with them once they showed their hand. On top of this, the recent addition of Khantos in the bot lane has been a welcoming stabiliser. Despite just coming in he’s already shown his prowess to be the primary or secondary carry in more dire situations. Opponents have to be wary of the Elites playing Nemky too, since if he does enter the Rift over Khantos Swain will be a big pick for ASUS ROG Elite, flexing it for both Von1 and the ADC. We fully expect Elite to bait at Baron to fish for a fight and apply their vision denial game to keep foes guessing.

Though based on recent performances the opposition will also look to force DoubleAim into desperation early on by applying a lot of pressure onto his lanes, taking him away from trying to farm up a storm. Elite have sometimes shown a degree of indecisiveness when they are not in the driver’s seat, leading to them either trying to stall and playing it too slow or just outright getting caught while taking a massive gamble in the mid to late game. Tendency of the latter point manifests in the form of their mistimed dives -sometimes while they are ahead too- and gives the opposition a clear window to apply more pressure upon ASUS ROG Elite. Just as comfortable with going full throttle as with waiting for the right opportunity this team will hope to show the infamous unbreakable spirit of the Balkans in their play, and they’re ready to do what Kliktech couldn’t.

Because it’s true, they aren’t Kliktech.

They’re better.

MVP: DoubleAim, the last true remaining carry jungler of this tournament. After his faceoff with the Greek prodigy Dom1nant, the Serbian jungler proved nobody can be a match for him in jungle warfare. Whether it’s about taking advantages for himself or setting up his lanes to snowball, he does it better than anyone so far in this tournament. Often prowling for early kills, his team gladly offers up their minions to him in lane so that he may rapidly scale up and terrorize at all stages of the game. In a region famed for the amount of midlane talent, DoubleAim will be looking to prove he is the one jungler to rule to them all and take ASUS ROG Elite all the way to the summit of the EU Masters.

Ninjas in Pyjamas (Nordics — Sweden)

The Ninjas, as the namesake goes, are an odd and oftentimes underrated bunch. By winning against GamersOrigin -whom some considered favourites to win it all- they have already one-upped their placings from last split, where they were knocked out in the Quarterfinals against the eventual champions Origen. As the Nordic 2nd seed, expectations coming into the EU Masters haven’t been sky-high. Yet the Ninjas have so far been a pleasant surprise, managing to scrap their way through Play-Ins then groups and now they have a chance to make the Finals. As the final team from the Nordics, Ninjas in Pyjamas have a lot to work on if they want to rule in Katowice: most of their wins have not been pretty or clean, but this squad doesn’t give up even when they are behind. You could say that is their ninja way!

What we expected: Semi-aggressive early game centered around Maxi and his ability to impact the solo lanes while also keeping the botlane safe. Hiiva and XDSmiley to be inconsistent and botlane drafting to scale. Some weaknesses from the sidelanes, who tend to be caught red-handed quite often. Larssen performing on his signature picks whether he loses early on or not and Doxy to remain the rock on the Top…if he doesn’t pick something odd to frontline with.

What they showed so far: Mostly what we expected, and then some. It seems that the Ninjas managed to retain their pressure points while also curbing their struggles, albeit H1iva is still a coinflip support. He showed up a lot better than expected on the EU Masters Main Stage with his superb Shen play and his clutch Thresh in the series against GamersOrigin. Star midlaner Larssen also enjoys a larger part of the team’s economy, thus enabling him to accelerate through the early-game-lacking champions, only to show up massively during midgame fights. Doxy has fallen back on more standard tank gameplay, abandoning the Kennen comps that cost them the Nordic Finals. Definitely better fit for him, with some meat shield in front of Larssen and XDSmiley the Ninjas feel much more comfortable when relying on the midlaner’s skill to outmaneuver and outwit the enemies during teamfights while their marksman cleans up. The Ninjas has shown they are equally comfortable at playing the slow game as well as scrapping it out to win, often surprising opponents with their varied drafts and gameplan.

What we can expect: Given the amount of high-level competitors in the two best roles that Ninjas have, which are midlane and jungler, the amount of focus they will likely put in that direction will be sky-high. Tank picks will be the go-to choice for Doxy once again, and self-peeling botlaners such as Thresh, Xayah, Shen and Tristana will be fundamental to make sure the ADC/support duo can avoid being targeted. We can also expect Graves -his signature pick- or other aggressive junglers to be banned or picked away from Maxi, who has looked very dominant on them, even if he falls behind early on. Ninjas in Pyjamas will rely on their midlane powerhouse Larssen to be the main carry while hoping their botlane can remain relevant, since both Hiiva and XDSmiley have shown high highs and low lows. Safe to say there might be 1 or 2 more surprise picks they have prepared for their semifinals showdown, Ninjas always have tricks up their sleeve.

Consistency seems to be the main issue with Ninjas in Pyjamas. They’ve shown many sides of themselves and seem to rely very much on their set gameplan, which is to make sure they don’t heavily fall behind early on -especially top and bot lane- and get to the mid game, where the mid/jungle duo can shine. If this doesn’t follow through they seem to just crumble, as seen in their losses. Perhaps the squad is still getting used to the late addition of Coach Blumigan, who arrived from Diabolus Esports in recent weeks. Time is certainly in short supply and until they do, you never really know which Ninjas you expect to show up.

MVP: Do you remember that feeling when your team lost everything possible, but you still believe you’re going to win because of that one teammate that is still alive? Enter Larssen. Countless times the Ninjas have taken poor fights, only to have Larssen come in from the shadows, making time stop and then hunting his enemies down one by one. Worth? You bet. Not surprising that Fizz, Cassiopeia, Akali (truly fitting) and his favourite Kassadin make up his arsenal: quietly hiding the blade during the early stages of the game, only to jump at you when you think he’s not going to be a big deal. At this point the competition is well aware of what to expect from the Swedish prodigy. The real question is, can they do anything about him?