The History of Superteams: Are they successful?

League of Legends

3 Dec

Andrew Donovan

With off-season in full swing, many players from the best regions around the world are being shifted around to different teams. Superteams always a chance to be formed during the off-season: are these superteams historically successful living up to expectations?

HOW DOES A SUPERTEAM FORM?

Typically, a superteam is created an already existing, strong roster. A squad of two to three already established players, with maybe a couple other weaker links can be the foundation of a superteam's beginning. Expectedly, an organization with more money to spend in the off-season will form a superteam, dropping the weaker links of the team in place for proven talent who were on other teams.

A great example of this is G2 Esports (G2) in 2019. Already having a strong 2018 roster, G2 opted to sign Mihael "Mikyx" Mehle in the support role, and move Luka "Perkz" Perković from the mid lane to the bottom lane. For the time, this role swap was a huge deal, and one of the first significant role swaps we have seen in League of Legends esports history. Moving Perkz to ADC was done to have legendary EU mid laner, Rasmus "Caps" Borregaard Winther, coming from Fnatic (FNC).

2019 G2 was not EU's first superteam - but it was the first EU superteam to have international success, and actually live up to the expectations set. 2019 G2 would go on to win the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) the same year, slaughtering Team Liquid (TL) 3-0, in what stands as the fastest international best of five. Unfortunately, G2 would get similarly stomped at the 2019 Worlds Finals by FunPlus Phoenix (FPX).

Despite the unfortunate finish at the 2019 Worlds Finals, an MSI title, two domestic titles, and runner-up at Worlds is an incredible resume for just one year.

A LOOK AT TWO PAST SUPERTEAMS

Elements (2015)

Credit: Riot Games

As mentioned before, 2019 G2 was not the first EU superteam. This title goes to Elements. Before the name change to Elements, Alliance was made up of EU veterans of the time: Henrik "Froggen" Hansen Mike "Wickd" Petersen, and Patrick "Nyph" Funke. All three of these players had played since Season 1, and at 2015 - they were already considered veterans for the time. On top of this, Martin "Rekkles" Larsson, a young, proven ADC, joins Alliance.

In hindsight, it seems the negative implication often associated with superteams comes from this Elements squad. The amount of hype the team had going into 2015 was palpable, yet, Elements failed to even meet expectations. In the EU 2015 Spring Season, Elements failed to even make playoffs. With Elements having a 7-11 record in the regular season, Rekkles parted ways with Elements after just one split. Elements would place 7th the next two splits, eventually disbanding and selling their spot to Schalke 04 (S04).

Elements represents a warning when crafting a superteam in League of Legends. Just because a team may look insane on paper, or have incredible combined raw power, great team synergies are typically not formed overnight.

SKT Telecom T1 (2016)

Where Elements tells the tale of why you should proceed with caution when making a superteam, 2016 SKT Telecom T1 (SKT) is the pinnacle of what a superteam can do. SKT, now known as T1, is the single most successful organization in all of League of Legends esports. Three Worlds titles, ten domestic titles, and home to the face of their franchise, and the GOAT of League: Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok.

In 2016, SKT built around their franchise player in Faker, with Bae "Bengi" Seong-woong in the jungle, and Lee "Duke" Ho-seong playing weak-side in the toplane, all to enable Faker to hypercarry on picks like Orianna or Viktor. Whether it was his Orianna Shockwaves finding key ultimates, or racking up damage with Viktor, Faker was enabled to play in such a way due to the support of Bengi and Duke. Not to take away credit from Faker, but this team was made for him.

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