Movistar KOI will somewhat attend its own Roadtrip in Madrid

will host a League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) Summer Split Playoffs Roadtrip in Madrid on September 5 and 6. The Spanish organization was initially set to miss its own event after failing to secure a top-four finish in the regular season. However, the org will ultimately be represented at its own Roadtrip… through its academy roster, MKOI Fénix, who will play in the Final Four final of the Liga Española de League of Legends (LES).

enter the matchup as favorites, having already won the LES Summer Split after beating Barça eSports 3-0 in the semifinals and Team Heretics Academy 3-2 in the grand final, securing the No. 1 seed for the EMEA Masters Summer Split. In Madrid, they will face Heretics once again in the final, which will be played as a best-of-five on Sunday, September 6, starting at 12 PM CET, just before the LEC Summer Split Upper Bracket Final.

The presence of MKOI’s academy roster inevitably highlights a painful reality for the LEC team, which will not be attending its own Roadtrip following a highly disappointing regular season for the Spanish organization. They only scraped their way into the playoffs on the final day after GIANTX’s win over Fnatic, but they were still well short of the top four and a spot in the Worlds-qualifying best-of-five in Madrid.

Instead, KOI will only return to action on September 12 in Berlin for the Lower Bracket Round 1, where they will face the highest seed loser of either Karmine Corp vs. GIANTX or Team Vitality vs. G2 Esports. The road to Worlds will therefore be a long one for the Spanish team, as they will need to win two consecutive best-of-fives to have a chance of securing the No. 3 seed and qualifying for the Worlds Play-In.

On the academy side, the year has been going rather well so far. After winning the LES Kick-off tournament in February, finishing third in the Spring Split and claiming the Summer Split title, the Fénix still need a strong regional run at the EMEA Masters to cap off the year on a high note. They only competed in the Winter edition, where they finished 9th-12th.

The roster is led by the academy’s longtime head coach Jorge “Disgrace” López Used and features Ukrainian toplaner Ivan “NightSlayer” Bilous, Turkish jungler Enes “XnS” Hansu who was unable to travel to Spain due to visa issues and will therefore play the series online, Polish and previous LEC midlaner Bartłomiej “Fresskowy” Przewoźnik, French AD carry Zayan “13” Tareau, and Moroccan support Mohamed “Myrtus” Rahli.