Los Ratones sweep the Finals to become the 2025 EMEA Masters Winter Champions

Capping off an incredible run through the Tier-2 scene, Los Ratones came away with the 2025 EMEA Masters Winter trophy after sweeping the Finals against Ici Japan Corp. Esport.

Now, by combining Caedrel's leadership with a roster made of former pros, popular streamers, and an emerging star, Simon "Baus" Hofverberg, Veljko "Velja" Čamdžić, Tim "Nemesis" Lipovšek, Juš "Crownie" Marušič, and Martin "Rekkles" Larsson walk away as EMEA Masters Champions after a dominant and widely entertaining journey.

The Los Ratones journey

Caedrel and co. came into the NLC, the Northern European ERL, at the start of the 2025 season and immediately made a splash. Having catapulted the league's viewership numbers to new heights, the team conquered the NLC without losing a single match at the time.

With the NLC Championship secured, Los Ratones qualified for EMEA Masters Winter, where they would compete against some of the sharpest teams in the Tier-2 scene. During Group D of the tournament, Los Ratones were handled a shock loss at the hands of the LEC Champions' academy team: Karmine Corp Blue.

The loss, however, would go on to become the first and only match loss of Los Ratones' journey. In the first round of the EMEA Masters Winter Playoffs, the team stood on the brink of elimination when they stood 1-2 down against Papara SuperMassive. With a roster packed with experience, Los Ratones were able to turn the ship around just in the nick of the time to win the match.

From then on, it was nothing but smooth sailing for Los Ratones as the squad swept their rivals in both their Semifinal and Grand Final matches to stampede their way to the 2025 EMEA Masters Winter trophy. Over the course of the Finals, the rising star of Velja completely took over the games from the jungle, putting up a total scoreline of 10/4/23 in the series, earning himself the title of Finals MVP.

Shattering viewership

By combining name value with an incredibly entertaining playstyle, Los Ratones inclusion to the league continues to elevate the EMEA Masters viewership numbers to new heights. In fact, by the time the team was busy celebrating the win, Caedrel's stream alone saw over 300k viewers tuned in to catch the moment live.

As for the tournament overall, the 2025 EMEA Masters Winter peaked at whopping total of 471,691 viewers during the Finals, as per Esports Charts, with that number still expected to rise as more information is gathered. These numbers more than triple the viewership of a major league such as the LTA North, which peaked at just over 150k viewers over the course of Split 1 earlier this year.

The numbers aren't a surprise either, they also set a viewership record for NLC Winter 2025, elevating the region's level of play as well as shattering viewership numbers for the league. Los Ratones' inclusion to the Tier-2 scene in EMEA has been a major win for everyone involved.

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Featured image credit: Los Ratones

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