Los Ratones made history with their EMEA Masters win.
Los Ratones made history after their win in the European, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) Masters on their debut season. Marc "Caedrel" Lamont and the team set several records in their journey to prove themselves the best EU team outside of the League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC).
Los Ratones in EMEA Masters
After winning the Northern League of Legends Championship (NLC) in the United Kingdom, Los Ratones earned the right to compete in EMEA Masters Winter 2025. They were the only NLC representatives in the tournament.
In their group, Los Ratones dropped one match against Karmine Corp Blue. However, they won the do-or-die against E WIE EINFACH, qualifying them for the playoffs.
They first faced SuperMassive. This was a five-game series and the Rats had to dig deep in their unique champion pools for this match. With Fearless Mode on, LR locked in champions like toplaner Simon "Baus" Hofverberg's infamous gray Kayn, and Zilean and Ryze for midlaner Tim "Nemesis" Lipovšek.
In the semifinals was Team Phantasma. This was a way easier ordeal for LR and they swept the Greek league representatives. This qualified them for the grand final where Ici Japon Corp. was waiting.
IJC was not a weak team - they came in second in the Ligue Française de League of Legends (LFL). But, in the semifinal, they faced KCB in a rematch of the LFL finals. This time though, they prevailed.
The grand final was a clean sweep for Los Ratones. The win was well-earned, and the three games played were back-and-forths. Jungler Veljko "Velja" Čamdžić was awarded the Finals MVP accolade for his performance. Coach and team owner Caedrel thanked analyst Molecule and professional top laner Andrei "Odoamne" Pascu for their work behind the scenes.
The win is impressive as it is this squad's debut season. However, the significance of this extends way past the team.
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Los Ratones set records after EUM win
This season was not only Los Ratones' debut season - it was the same for Baus. Baus, also known as Thebausffs, was primarily a streamer before this stint with LR. He was infamous for his "inting Sion" strategy in high elo. Baus also popularized terms in the LoL community like "solo bolo" for solo kill and "we shilling" (we're chilling). With LR, he's added to this list: "i'm bee" for "I'm recalling."
On a more serious note, Los Ratones broke ground as the first NLC team to win EMEA Masters (previously the EU Masters). Before LR, the NLC was not a particularly strong region, leading to this result.
LR's support Martin "Rekkles" Larsson also set a record as the first player to win EMEA Masters in two roles. Back in EU Masters 2022 Spring, Rekkles lifted the trophy as Karmine Corp's bot laner.
Like Rekkles, bot laner Juš "Crownie" Marušič and mid laner Nemesis are not new to winning EUM. As a matter of fact, they're not even new to each other. They played under MAD Lions in 2018 and won the EM 2018 Summer together.
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