ENUK editor Dom Sacco shares his views on UK League of Legends team MnM Gaming as they take part in the EU Challenger Series Qualifiers (CSQs) this week.
Day 1: Monday May 23rd
The competition (Millenium)
Millenium took part in the Challenger Series last split, however they acquired an entirely new roster for the CSQs.
The roster is being referred to as slightly more amateur, and before the match MnM said they’d be disappointed if they lost.
Regardless, French organisation Millenium are a big name in esports, and let’s not forget over the years they’ve had some well-known LoL players including YellOwStaR and sOAZ.
Rosters & picks
Millenium
- Blomster Finn (top) – Kled
- Nerroh (jungle) – Elise
- Kruimel (mid) – Taliyah
- Murmel (ADC) – Caitlyn
- Akutsune (support) – Shen
MnM
- Rifty (top) – Camille
- Kadir (jungle) – Lee Sin
- Larssen (mid) – Orianna
- Luddehz (ADC) – Ashe
- Hadow (support) – Karma
The match
MnM got off to a rocky start, with two early bot lane ganks from Nerroh taking out Luddehz and Rifty dying in the top lane.
Despite this, Larssen and Kadir established an early CS lead over their opponents.
And it was MnM’s young promising mid-laner Larssen who picked up a quadra to help MnM take their first tower and really get into the game.
He also helped them clean up and take a baron at the 20-minute mark:
As the match went on, it was largely even, however Larssen continued to be such an effective force in teamfights.
Millenium did cause MnM some trouble around objectives. They pushed down mid and aggressively on a couple of occasions to take towers, killed several MnM players after MnM took the baron, and Millenum stole a drake at one point.
Elsewhere, Rifty looked a little nervous and hesitant at one point when solo pushing in the bottom lane, which seemed unlike him. He lost in a 2v1 skirmish with a 2/4/5 scoreline at one point. However, Rifty came alive in the latter half of the game.
At the 30-minute mark, Larssen had 332 CS to Kruimel’s 232. At the end of the match, he had 411 CS!
Rifty and Larssen picked up the final few important kills of the match to help MnM take their first win in the qualifiers. It was an important one and bodes well for the UK org’s chances in the rest of the qualifiers.
Final score: MnM 1 – 0 Millenium
MVP: Larssen
He made some incredible plays as Orianna, picked 12 kills, 9 assists and over 400CS. And only died once. What a monster.
Post-match reaction and comment
The UK hype is unreal right now. #eucs
— Munch (@ESL_Munchables) May 23, 2017
Really important first win in CSQ, i had a pretty solid game aswell…
— lars (@Larssen00) May 23, 2017
@Larssen00 @xKadirlol Suh Dude pic.twitter.com/w7Hp0Lx0Aq
— KalKal (@KalKalCS) May 23, 2017
i wish i could say i was surprised nobody picked up @xKadirlol for EUCS this split, but it’s become clear decision makers don’t watch games.
— Alicus (@AlicusOfficial) May 23, 2017
I played nowhere near my level today, It was far from what i wanted, I need to fix my focus in games. Sorry.
— Teimpo (@PureRifty) May 23, 2017
We win 1-0 against @Millenium larssen is baby perkz
— Kadir (@xKadirlol) May 23, 2017
ggwp @Millenium, we did few mistakes. Hope we can clean it up for tomorrow
— Mantas Šukevičius (@Hadowlol) May 23, 2017
forgot to fix settings before the game, played with rly weird settings, sry all?
— Ludde Johansson (@luddehz) May 23, 2017
Only a quadra kill @Larssen00? Tut tut 😛@MnMGamingUK
— Husker (@RiotHusker) May 23, 2017
gg wp @MnMGamingUK , we lost and I really didnt play as well as I’d hoped, we will fix our mistakes and come back stronger
— Blomster Finn (@FinnBlomster) May 23, 2017
@Esports_News_UK @MnMGamingUK @Millenium @Larssen00 really close game, just shows they cant take anyone for granted. well done @MnMGamingUK
— RailzyTV (@RailzyTV) May 23, 2017
Other stuff
That great British casting duo – Excoundrel and Medic – were on point as usual.
And today they gave the Rift Herald a nice new British name – the Rift Harold!
When British casters give the Rift Herald a nice new British name https://t.co/FoYUEa0JxQ #RiftHarold #EUCS pic.twitter.com/wAhaRiOXqM
— Dominic Sacco (@Dom_Sacco) May 23, 2017
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
