This year in the EMEA Circuit, many teams succeeded, but others were left disappointed by a performance well under the expectations. After visiting the Prime League and the Ultraliga with
NNO Prime and
Zero Tenacity, we set sail for the spanish Superliga for our third episode about Barça Esports, the now 3-years old Catalan structure in the
League of Legends ecosystem.
A first goal : escaping the middle-tier
Barça Esports' journey in the Superliga has mostly seen finishes between 4th and 6th place, despite a 2nd place finish in the first split of the team's history in the 2022 Spring season. Since then, Barça hasn't reached the podium, either in the regular season or in the playoffs, and has therefore failed to qualify for the EMEA Masters since their first appearance, remaining in the shadows of other major Spanish teams like Heretics and Movistar. Despite always fielding rosters considered among the strongest, Barça consistently ended up being the least solid among the top teamsâa reputation the club intended to cleanse this year with a rebuild centered around the very promising midlaner Jan "SAJATOR" ZĂtek, who has been with the organization since 2023.
Since joining the organization in 2023, Sajator has been a stable of Barça Esports
Barça would also keep veteran toplaner Matti "WhiteKnight" Sormunen, and even though he is far from his best years in the LEC, he remains a strong option for ERL contention and a guarantee of stability in the topside.These two players would play alongside former Bisons Eclub ADC Sergio "Legolas" Vicente Gispert, who finished 2nd in the 2023 Summer Split of the Superliga; veteran Morgan "Hustlin" Granberg; and Milo "Pridestalkr" Wehnes, who found a promising resurgence at BK ROG Esports in the LFL.
This roster isn't on paper far above the rest in the Superliga but it is once again considered among the top teams (with Los Heretics and Movistar KOI for instance). One can say that the LVP Superliga was slightly weaker in 2024 than in 2023, and with a roster that was on paper at least as strong as the previous year, Barça would thus be part of the favourites to win it all.
Losing is another way of escaping the middle-tier
Barça's 2024 Spring split was a disaster and it would be tough to argue against this conclusion. With a 9th place and a 4-14 scoreline, Barça were among the worst teams in the LVP Superliga, being outclassed in mediocrity only by a very weak ZETA team which consisted of rookies and players who never really approached European's top League of Legends.
It wasn't a matter of form as Barça Esports had the same scoreline in the first and last 9 matches : 2-7. They even had to wait until the third week to grab a victory against Guasones, thanks to a scaling draft that saw WhiteKnight demolishing the only win condition of Guasones in the laning phase. Quickly, many issues were clear in Barça's play : outside of Legolas' centric team comps, their cohesion was basically non-existent.
Legolas' performances were indeed not that bad compared to Barça's gigantic failure, but they were dependant on Barça scaling the game to late teamfights. Something for which an erratic Hustlin in support wasn't helping. Week 8 saw Barça win two games with a Smolder-Braum botlane in a fashion were it was as if Pridestalkr and Sajator had close to no impact on the outcome of the game. Barça's drafts would way too often put them on very hard win conditions that required basically no mistakes in the early games with ADCs such as Senna and scaling 2 carries - 3 frontlines compositions. Without any sense of collective play during the first minutes of the game and the lack of any ability to make a difference during the laning phase, Barça were stuck in a passive game, letting their opponent choose the way they would cook them.
After hell, a bitter heaven
Barça Esports didn't let this awful split ruin their 2024 year, and made a smart move, bringing in Guasones jungler Francisco "Thayger" Mazo, who showcased many early game prowess in the Spring split, something Pridestalkr was far from doing. With the trust in their old players and the recognition that Legolas was a very strong adc to play around, Barça reunited him with his former team mate in Bisons VĂctor "Oscure" GuzmĂĄn FernĂĄndez who was for some reason teamless in Spring Split.
Legolas, paired with Oscure, found much more impact in Summer
The effects of the changes showed instantly. Barça started the first week in the top 2 to never leave it until the end, even securing the first place of the regular season over Los Heretics thanks to a 2-0 head-to-head. The two new players were the exact fixes Barça needed to get back on track. With such a performance, the honeymoon managed to last throughout the whole 18 matches of the regular season. Oscure would indeed allow Legolas to play much more agressively in lane, the same way they did when paired in Bisons, while Thayger kept on his rampage with harassing early game presence and an excellent pathing to help his sololaners. Barça Esports also started picking much simpler drafts with straightforward win conditions around botlane dominance and strong 1-item spike. SAJATOR's and Thayger versatility allowed the team to adapt in the changing meta of the Summer Split, guaranteeing an end as strong as the start.
There is in fact little disappointment in the Superliga Summer split, however, not managing to win it all in the end and getting seriously clapped by Los Heretics left an unfinished taste in the mouth of Barça players, who set their eyes on the EMEA Masters to make a noteworthy performance. Losing 0-3 in the finals in games that never exceeded 30 minutes was a reality check to Barça that their problems weren't all gone, and therefore the top spots of European League of Legends were still beyond reach.
A very humiliating EMEA Masters showing
Coming as the second seed of the Superliga, Barça Esports were legitimately considered among the favourites to make a good placement - if not win it all - in the EMEA Masters. They would however never be able to showcase a level worthy of such expectations, flirting with blunders and being obliterated by Vitality.Bee in a record-breaking fashion.
On paper, Barça Esports made it to top 16, a performance better than some others of strong ERL teams such as Nigma Galaxy, Z10 or NNO Prime, they can nonetheless thank the gods of the random draws as Barça can be seen as the luckiest ones of the Swiss stage, having to beat 0 major ERL team (SL, AL, LFL, TFC and PRM) to make it out. In the end, Barça's wins or loss were fairly easy to see : if Barça's players could make a difference individually, Barça had chances to win, if not, things were significantly tougher for them. Sometimes Legolas or SAJATOR could have a highlight, but Barça struggled to find teamplays in the end. In their first 4 matches, Barça were stomped by Karmine Corp Blue, then stomped the very dangerous Portuguese seed of EGN, were outclassed by BDSA and had one close game against SKP (which they lost).
After facing a reality check in LVP playoffs, Barça couldn't find back a momentum to perform in the EMEA Masters
Barça Esports still remained strong enough to avoid an exit in the 5th match against GTZ Esports, although the BO3 was very close and saw Greek ADC Paris "Unkn0wn5" Fragkos, former French 3rd division player, outclass Barça during one game. The same small margin would be kept against Team Phantasma, which Barça beat thanks to a clever Malphite pick by WhiteKnight that managed to punish the mistakes of Phantasma's carries. Lastly, Barça managed to win on the edge a BO3 against Venomcrest who threw the game due to the stakes. At the very least, Barça kept its head high when the stakes were at the maximum, which means one thing : their tough Swiss stage wasn't due to the pressure, they were just not that good. Their wins could also not be explained by a clutch factor, they were more linked to Barça's resolve and the other teams' lack of capability to close out games properly.
24min30 ; 20min07 ; 29min24, the shortest BO5 of the EMEA Masters saw Barça being outclassed by Vitality.Bee. Unable to play their win conditions as they did during the Spanish regular season, Barça never managed to find a second wind, with Thayger seeming like another player in the European stage. Barça hyper-aggressiveness relied too much on strong momentum and a purple patch. Once their trust in themselves was wounded, they would never recover. In the end, the 5 players played underwhelmingly, failing to show the fundamentals that are required to perform on the bigger stage.
Header photo credit : LVP Superliga/Kirill Bashkirov
