NLC 2025 news and content powered by AGON by AOC
British League of Legends content king Marc ‘Caedrel‘ Lamont has revealed the 2025 player roster for his new Los Ratones esports team today.
Why is Caedrel forming his own esports team – what’s the story behind Los Ratones?
There’s been talk of Caedrel forming a team for several months now.
The streamer superstar, who was previously a pro player with the likes of Excel Esports before transitioning to casting, and now streaming, has spoken publicly about his fondness towards the EMEA Regional Leagues (ERLs).
The UK, Ireland and Nordics regional league, is of course, the Northern League of Legends Championship (NLC).
Back in the summer, Caedrel said: “Basically, I had this idea. What if me, Nemesis and Thebausffs bought an NLC spot and competed in the NLC, with two others, and we won it, and we went to EU Masters? And if Crownie is down for it, or if Freeze, plus if Ratirl wants to play support, that’d be crazy.
“First, it’s one way to help the UK/Nordics scene a lot to get more views for the NLC, because I feel like it’s been dying for a while. Secondly, it’s not the hardest ERL, so it’s a way for me and bausffs to get into pro play and for bausffs learn more pro play champs.
“Thirdly, I think the content would be crazy if we can win the NLC and stream our scrims. If I practice a bit, I think we can win NLC. We just need permission to do it, I think it’d be the best thing ever.”
“It’ll probably not have any sponsors, it’s just for content, but I think this would be amazing, it’d be sick,” Caedrel continued. “I’ll do all the drafts and reviews.
“I want to help the NLC a lot, but I don’t want to own a team. If five of us bought a spot and played for fun, we can see what happens. But if sponsors want to sponsor Los Ratones, go ahead.”
He also spoke about teams struggling as they need to pay players, but if his five play for fun and content, this wouldn’t be an issue for them.
It’s not clear yet whether this team will actually be in the NLC or another league at this time, or if it will be in a Division 1 or 2. Caedrel said there’s one league in particular they’re looking at. We’ll update this article when it’s been confirmed.
What is confirmed is Los Ratones will be playing in the NNO Cup Season 2 from November 27th to December 8th, with Caedrel stepping in for Rekkles in the support position, and the team will also be playing at Red Bull League of Its Own 2024, against teams like T1!
What is the Los Ratones roster and what was the thinking behind it?
Caedrel announced the Los Ratones roster on Friday November 15th 2024, a team of friends that he is excited to bring together.
The roster is:
- Top: Thebausffs (Sweden)
- Jungle: Velja (Serbia)
- Mid: Nemesis (Slovenia)
- Bot: Crownie (Slovenia)
- Support: Rekkles (Sweden)
- Coach: Caedrel (UK)
Caedrel posted a video about the team here, saying they may bring on more staff like coaches and analysts in the future.
“I had a lot of options moving into 2025,” Caedrel said. “I could’ve gone down to SCL (Streamer League Championship), getting eight to ten creators from across Europe to create their own leagues, but it was hard to pull off.
“Another avenue was an NA Challenger team, but I don’t really know the region that well and the timezones are tricky. I decided to go for making a team here in Europe, it was such an easy process with these guys, everyone is really excited to get started and make a team.”
“The idea behind this was, how do we make a team that’s competitive but also really fun for you guys with good content to watch. I want to give this project my all – I’ve always wanted to find a way to start a team and I feel like I’m in a place where I have the capability to do that. And most of that reason is because of your support for the stream. I hope you support all of us next year!”
Caedrel
“We didn’t want to make a team with five ex-pro players that would just win the league, I think that’s a bit boring, or just five creators who might not be competitive. We wanted this to be competitive and fun.
“All of our scrims will be public, including feedback sessions, reviews and running through different strategies. Some of it will be behind closed doors, important ones on match days for example, and if we scrim an LEC team for example, they’ll probably request us not to stream the scrims. But the majority of what we’ll do will be public.”
On Velja, Caedrel said: “I did want one rookie on the roster at least, and Velja broke the record for one of the highest winrates in Challenger recently. No one has really given him a big ERL chance yet, so he’s someone we really want to work with and try and grow to become a strong player at the end of next year and join the LEC in the future.”
Caedrel also said he’ll ‘fine-tune’ some of Thebausffs‘ gameplay and that he’ll be fine in pro play.
In terms of long-term goals, he said: “We’ll take it step by step. Obviously we want to reach the pinnacle of Europe and the highest competition, but how we get there is undetermined. If you think this roster is crazy, we have a few other things you might think are even crazier over the next few weeks!”
Nemesis said: “We are so back.”
Rekkles added: “Excited to spend 2025 together with friends. I will be going to Marc’s place at some point before the season starts to discuss life in a similar fashion to last time.”
Velja said: “It’s time.”
Thebausffs commented: “Excited to play pro play next year with this roster.”
Crownie added:
It goes without saying this is an all-star roster, with some huge names and millions of followers between them. It’d be incredible news for NLC and the region here if they played in it (more on that, including our views, further into the article).
It also comes after Rekkles announced he has left Worlds 2024 winners T1.
“Thankfully, I have been fortunate to receive an offer that allows me to continue playing professionally in the 2025 season from home,” Rekkles said.
Given Rekkles is Swedish, one of the nations in the NLC, it does add some validity to the roster possibly playing in the NLC.
Can Los Ratones play in the NLC?
Yes, they are eligible to play in either the NLC (for the UK, Ireland and Nordics) or the EBL (Esports Balkan League).
The current League of Legends ERL Rulebook (Version 1.3_27/5/2024) states in section 3.1.5: “Teams will be required to have a minimum of three LTRs and four EMEA Residents (IMP) in their Team Roster at all times. In the Starting Line-up, Teams are required to have a minimum of two LTRs and three EMEA Residents at all times.”
An LTR is a Locally Trained Representative, someone who has ‘legally resided and been primarily present in the competitive area of the ERL for no less than 36 out of the last 60 months immediately prior to their participation in the first game of the applicable competition’.
There are more rules in section 1.3 and 3 about this.
As coaches count as a member of a team roster, this means the team has three LTRs for the NLC (Rekkles and bausffs, both Swedish, and Caedrel, British). It also has enough to fit the EBL criteria, with Nemesis and Crownie being Slovenian, and Velja being Serbian.
Why the name Los Ratones?
Well, Caedrel is also known as The Rat King, King of Rats, or Pedro, and his followers are known as rats.
‘Los Ratones’ in Spanish translates to ‘The Mice’ in English.
The logo also features an L and an R, and a rat (or mouse?) in the middle.
Caedrel also added more context about the team’s logo here:
Roster tops off huge year for Caedrel in 2024: Record Worlds co-streaming views, Streamer Awards nomination, League Awards, stats platform and new agency
What a year it’s been for Caedrel.
New records were set in the Worlds Swiss stage, with Caedrel’s Twitch channel generating more co-streaming views that Riot’s official broadcast.
As well as his streaming career going up and up, with 1m+ followers on Twitch, Caedrel is also teaming up with Sjokz for the League Awards 2024, a new League of Legends awards show set to take place in Berlin on December 5th. Nominations for this are open now.
Speaking of awards, he’s also up for Streamer of the Year at the Streamer Awards 2024.
Elsewhere, Caedrel is a co-owner of the DPM.lol stats platform.
“We’ve been developing DPM for a year (we are two French co-founders), and Caedrel approached us six months ago to discuss and see what we could do together,” a DPM spokesperson told Esports News UK.
“He’s now co-owner of the project, and his mission is to help us on the features ideas, with all his knowledge and experience in the league ecosystem – and to market the project to his audience!”
Caedrel has also had a change of talent agency (sort of).
Mitsouko Anderson recently announced that she has set up her own agency, Yume Talent. She was previously COO at DotX Talent, where she signed the likes of Sjokz and Caedrel.
We understand DotX Talent reached an agreement with Mitsouko for her to set up her own venture with a selection of former DotX clients.
Reaction to Los Ratones and what this could mean for the NLC if they join
While it’s not yet confirmed the team will be playing in the NLC, UK LoL caster Middlecott told Esports News UK: “I’ve heard rumours, but nothing confirmed. I think [if true] it’s an absolutely fantastic thing for the region. We’ve got some very talented players in the NLC, domestic players like Buchi and Painful that have developed over the course of this year, who’s gameplay warrants the attention that Los Ratones will bring.
“I can already see a player like FIERCE getting an insane Ekko solo kill against Los Ratones, that being clipped and going straight to the front page of Reddit.
“I think it’s also gonna be a boon for the organisations that are already here. A lot of the fat has been trimmed in terms of who’s in the league; it’s a low bar but I’d be very surprised to see any missed payments or similarly unethical behaviour [Riot has also recently launched a Dispute Resolution initiative in EMEA for tier one and two].
“It feels like a perfect time for the region to get more eyes on it, and it’s a great opportunity for the other seven organisations to build their brand.”
Middlecott, NLC caster
“Banter between Ruddy and Los Rats will be legendary, add in the Ruddy Verdant rivalry, VNCs rapid ascent to the top of the league, the regional support for teams like Lightside and DMG etc – there’s the building blocks for a lot of great stories.
“Of course with the additional attention on the league it does put a bit of pressure on the broadcast team to make sure that we’re pushing the product to greater heights. 2023 felt a bit directionless at times, but with the return of Archarom, there’s a range of different personalities and generally everyone is getting a bit more comfortable.
“I’ve been very happy with majority of the product we’ve put out in 2024. 2025 will be a challenge but it’s one I’m confident we’ll rise to.”
Here’s some more reaction on X:
Streamer IWillDominate has hinted that he will be involved in the NLC with a team too (possibly funding DonJake’s Ruddy Esports? We’ll see!)
If true, this is the biggest moment for our UK/Nordics LoL region in years
Comment by Esports News UK editor Dom Sacco
When I first heard about Caedrel wanting to get involved in the NLC, I was excited to put it mildly.
And although it’s not confirmed yet, if it is true, here we have the biggest name in League of Legends from the UK wanting to support our home region of the UK, Ireland and Nordics, bringing his following and their eyeballs to our little old ERL.
For me, this is bigger than when Fnatic moved their academy team into the UK scene around six years ago now. We’ve had some big players like Febiven in our scene in the past, but none as big as the likes of Caedrel, Rekkles and thebausffs (in terms of how well-known they are right now).
Fnatic are a huge brand in esports, of course, but the gaming community also loves creators and individual personalities.
“Combining Caedrel with Bausffs, Nemesis, Rekkles and Crownie is like dropping the biggest content bomb on our heads in our little NLC region. And I can’t wait to see the fireworks.”
And for me, what I like about Caedrel in particular is he’s creating, not consuming. He’s contributing, not taking.
He seems to be selfless, unlike some other big streamers out there, and this is in line with his views about playing for fun and for content – not for money.
Caedrel previously told me in an interview the NLC fanbase is ‘untapped’. Well, I couldn’t think of someone else better suited to tap into it now.
If it’s true about Los Ratones playing in the NLC in 2025, well, it’s going to be a bloody fantastic year. Not just for our region, but for League of Legends esports as a whole.
Let’s just hope Caedrel doesn’t somehow cancel the NLC in the process.
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.
