Los Ratones handed first NLC match loss of the year by Jankos and NORD Esports

After conquering the European Tier-2 scene by lifting the EMEA Masters Winter 2025 trophy, Los Ratones came into the Spring Split of the NLC as they undisputed favorites to win it all. Caedrel's team's flawless run in the Northern European league, however, had to come to a halt at some point.

Today, the task came to the hands of NORD Esports and their veteran leader in the jungle, Marcin "Jankos" Jankowski, who managed to take down Los Ratones during their Spring Playoffs bout, handing Los Ratones their first match loss in the NLC all year long.

Standing up to the colossus

Los Ratones came into their match against NORD after putting up 13 consecutive match wins in the NLC across the Winter and Spring Splits. Naturally, few could imagine NORD would be able to leave a dent in the most dominant team in the Tier-2 scene, let alone take them down altogether.

And yet, that is precisely what they did. NORD came flying out of the gate to dominate the first game of the Bo3 series, grabbing the win in just 34 minutes of play after amassing 17 kills to Los Ratones' 5.

NORD managed to grab a kill lead in game 2 once more after Jankos took over the early game on Naafiri. Despite falling behind in kills however, the Los Ratones squad managed to keep the gold within a manageable distance throughout thanks to the team's superior macro.

The squad could only hold on for so long, though, as NORD secured a final team fight win more than 40 minutes into the game to secure the 2-0 victory for themselves and see the Los Ratones win streak in the NLC come to an end.

No time to mourn

Despite the shock loss, Los Ratones' journey at the NLC Spring Playoffs hasn't come to an end just yet. Now in the Lower Bracket, the team still has one life left at the tournament.

Up next, the reigning EMEA Masters Champions will have to face the winner of Venomcrest Esports vs DMG Esports in a Bo5 match on Thursday, May 8th, where the loser will be immediately eliminated from the tournament and miss their chance to compete at the upcoming EMEA Masters Spring 2025.

Credit: Arozzi NLC

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Featured image credit: Los Ratones

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