"Los Ratones is definitely my favorite team I’ve been a part of” Nemesis after his team's elimination from LEC Versus

The Los Ratones adventure came to an end in the LEC, leaving behind a bittersweet feeling. They were kept in suspense until the very last match of the final day of the LEC Versus stage, unsure whether they’d secure a playoff spot. In the end, Marc ”Caedrel” Lamont’s squad was eliminated, finishing in 9th place. Still, they exited through the front door — after putting on a show and fully living up to their reputation as the ultimate underdogs.

Following their elimination and the close of their remarkable run, midlaner Tim “Nemesis” Lipovšek went live on stream last Monday and shared: “Los Ratones is definitely my favorite team I’ve been a part of.” His words added both warmth and melancholy to a project that now seems to have reached its end.

In that heartfelt moment, he continued: “I didn’t think I was going to be able to have a more enjoyable journey than the FNATIC runs that we had,” recalling his two-year tenure with the Black and Orange in 2019–2020, when he led the team to back-to-back Worlds quarterfinals, faced the best players in the world, and stood as G2 Esports’ fiercest rival. “But this was just as crazy, if not more,” he added — a final note of gratitude and farewell to his teammates and coaches, who helped him return to professional play after four years working as a content creator for Gen.G.

These words carry even more weight when put into the context of his Fnatic chapter, which effectively pushed him out of the LEC and off any competitive roster at the time. At the end of 2020, after a Worlds quarterfinal reverse sweep loss to Top Esports, Nemesis was benched during the offseason and never found another team, and found himself happy in streaming.

Some said he had built the image of a player who only thrived in the late game; others criticized his overly pragmatic playstyle or his outspoken nature within the team. Gabriel “Bwipo” Rau even said back then that “it can be quite rough to communicate with Nemesis,” suggesting this sometimes created tension among players.

While nothing was ever made official — and the true circumstances within Fnatic at that time remain unclear — one thing is certain: during his end-of-2025 interview with DonJake, following his fantastic season with Los Ratones, Nemesis admitted, “Los Ratones saved me. I still have scars that haven’t healed.”

Watching his return to the top of European competition during this LEC Versus split — carrying his team to every victory, earning two MVP awards, acting as the team’s primary playmaker, and finishing with the 5th-best KDA among midlaners — it’s hard not to think that perhaps European teams were wrong not to give him another chance back then. As a reminder, he was widely considered the second best European midlaner back in 2019-2020, being the only one able to match Rasmus “Caps” Winther.