Speculation. Hype. Disappointment. The offseason is one gigantic esports soap opera and for these next few months, our children’s video game community becomes almost indistinguishable from the typical high school playground.

So for those of you that hate change, there really isn’t much.

This article is a celebration of the spirit of speculation. Europe as a region has undergone a ton of changes in the last year, but there’s still a lot of work to do. Some players are criminally misused and miscast, some talent is unable to unlock itself and some teams are just one small step away from true greatness.

In the spirit of speculation, here’s my wishlist for the upcoming season. Let the speculation begin!

Steeelback to Gambit

Piere “Steeelback” Medjaldi was criminally underrated coming out of Fnatic. The perceived weak link on a stunningly stacked squad, Steeelback’s eventual fate as a benchwarmer was all but assured before the Mid-Season Invitational had even begun. He was a victim of the times, performing solidly opposite their rival SK Gaming’s star carry Konstantinos "FORG1VENGRE" Tzortziou.

When you’re going to be compared with the single best AD Carry the west has ever produced (sorry CL-I mean TSM fans) you’re unlikely to emerge entirely unscathed. However, the general public hadn’t glimpsed the dark rotting pit of the European Challenger Series pre-Season 5 and was unaware of the significant playstyle changes Steeelback had undergone heading into Fnatic. He was an aggressive risk-taking bully on his previous team, SK Prime, turned positional teamfighter on Fnatic.

Gambit on the other hand have experienced FORG1VENGRE’s take on the AD Carry role for what was nearly their most successful split, if not for some unfortunate competitive rulings. Steeelback’s take on the AD Carry role on Imagine, combining his typical aggression with his newfound positional style, was along the same premise as FORG1VENGRE’s transition into a more ‘complete’ playstyle than he had on SK Gaming. Steeelback could well continue what FORG1VENGRE started or is at the very least in one of the best positions to do so.

G0DFRED to Elements

When Giants Gaming entered the Summer Split, they did so in a disorganized fashion. The addition of one player, Oskar "G0DFRED" Lundström, gave them focus and direction. Their warding patterns started to make sense (albeit whatever genius they had was certainly of the ‘mad’ variety) and their execution started to make sense.

Elements have no direction. In fact, it seemed that as far back as Alliance, that the support role has been a role that Henrik "Froggen" Hansen’s superteam has been lacking — picture the insurmountable lead accumulated in their first game against Najin White Shield...eventually surmounted thanks to some questionable positioning by Patrick "Nyph" Funke.

G0DFRED would fill both for the team. Their previous best bet, Glenn "Hybrid" Doornenbal, has found success with the now LCS Gamers2 squad. Elements played dangerously close to being the outgoing one and a team with star talent in both their carry roles should never find themselves in that position. Both parties deserve a chance to show their worth. Maybe now is the time.

Freeze to H2K and Hjärnan to UOL

Alright, hear me out.

There is nothing terribly wrong with the way Petter "Hjärnan" Freyschuss plays or the way that H2K plays. There is something odd when it comes to priority though. You might be thinking ‘but Veteran, for the No. 1 Gold Share in his role Hjärnan also deals the No. 1 DPM and DMG%’ to which I would say ‘yes, I too have used oracleselixir.com for all my statistical needs.’

But that’s besides the point. Though Hjärnan can be relied upon to deal the majority of damage in teamfights, he does so while playing a very backseat positional role in said fights and utilitarian role in the game itself. Though Hjärnan receives high priority, his DPM/DMG% statistics reflect his status as the only persistent damage dealer on his team, with Yoo "Ryu" Sang-ook relegated to one-shot pick potential in tandem with Raymond "kaSing" Tsang and Andrei "Odoamne" Pascu.

Hjärnan’s entire playstyle is far more suited to a team that takes top priority over bot priority. For example, the Unicorns of Love and their saviour in the top lane (this man is at his most noticeable when the Unicorns’ need is greatest) would benefit significantly from a positionally sound addition to their bottom lane. Maybe someone who can get more than one or two auto attacks off per game.

Meanwhile, H2K Gaming would be left with a void to be filled by somebody with the potential to maximise their significant gold share. If only we knew someone with a prowess in hard carry champions and a history of consistency...

H2K Svenskeren

I’m breaking format just to make that name look even more dramatic.

I haven’t shied away from my opinion of Dennis "Svenskeren" Johnsen. Eternally top two in Europe and frequently the undisputed best in my eyes, Svenskeren has hard carried teams in simpler times and exemplified them in more recent ones. His ability to apply pressure to the opposing jungler with extremely aggressive yet intelligent pathing is second to none. Meanwhile, his playmaking ability and breathtaking mechanics have won SK many a game single handedly.

Svenskeren was always able to take SK to the door of his opponent’s base. In fact, the team’s odds of winning astronomically improved based on jungle disparity. Such it is that SK became a sort of kryptonite to H2K in summer despite vastly contrasting standings. H2K’s former jungler Jean-Victor "loulex" Burgevin was unable to pressure an advantage, tending towards a far more conservative early game style, only making himself truly relevant in the mid-game with co-ordinated dives alongside Odoamne and kaSing.

Svenskeren would not have gracefully farmed the jungle given the 2-0 lead over Fnatic. He would have delivered Kim "Reignover" Yeu-jin’s severed head to Odoamne’s lane and given his top laner the freedom he needed. He would not have thrown many an advantage over the course of the season and would show his best play at the highest level instead of some of his worst. Svenskeren would have done what he has always done: taken his team to the door of his opponent’s base. H2K would have brought it down.

H2K needs Svenskeren. Svenskeren needs to be unleashed.

Cabochard and Forg1ven to ROCCAT

This comes off the basis of this line of tweets but is an interesting thought experiment in its own right.

This would be the creation of the very first true European superteam. This would finally pair Forg1ven with a support player worthy of such talent. This would create a team with true triple threat, a concept currently done correctly by only SK Gaming and Origen. With Erlend "Nukeduck" Våtevik Holm now comfortably adjusted to LCS play, the team may well be set up to play with the malleability of the latter instead of the pitfalls of the ways of the former.

Admittedly there would be issues regarding the makeup of the team itself. For example, the high chance that Nukeduck would be at Forg1ven’s throat upon arriving at the gaming house, or of Lucas "Cabochard" Simon-Meslet downing Marcin "Jankos" Jankowski the second he voices a desire to gank a different lane. Such as Reddit has reliably informed me.

Or maybe these are just people that want to play some great League of Legends. If they managed to make it work, it would be spectacular.

Michael “Veteran” Archer is an EU writer who did this in (almost) exactly 1,200 words just like his editor said to. You can follow him on Twitter.