BK ROG, champions of LFL and one of the last hopes for a French showdown in the Spring 2025 EMEA Masters, fell 0-3 on Wednesday against a
Los Ratones team that looked sharper, faster, and simply more in control. Marc "Caedrel" Lamont's team once more reaches the grand final in the competition, just like last Winter. They will get a chance to win back-to-back the competition, a feat only accomplished by Karmine Corp. If they do so, they w
ill have won the four competitions they have been playing in since their creation this year.
Heading into the semifinals, France still had two teams in the running — BK ROG and... Karmine Corp Blue. Both had cleared their earlier rounds with authority. A full tricolore final didn’t seem out of reach. But in the first semifinal, Los Ratones, the reigning EMEA Masters champions and NLC’s first seed, reminded everyone why they wear that crown.
BK ROG's kryptonite?
This best-of-five didn’t leave much to the imagination. BK ROG were consistently second to the punch: late to fights, hesitant on key objectives, and punished at every turn. The 0-3 scoreline doesn’t just reflect a sweep, it reflects a gap in structure, execution, and clarity of play. But mostly, this was an opposition of styles, with one betting on scaling while the other simply dismantled the mid/jungle duo who was supposed to scale.
Game 1 gave the illusion of a contest. The early game was tense but relatively even, with BK ROG managing to stay in the race despite a few missteps. A clutch third dragon brought a brief spike of momentum, but a mistimed fight seconds later flipped the game on its head. Los Ratones grabbed Baron, suffocated vision, and closed the game out by the 36-minute mark, holding a gold lead of over 7k.
Game 2 followed the same script, but this time, Los Ratones tightened the grip earlier. They secured four dragons within 20 minutes, dictated every rotation, and dismantled BK ROG’s attempts at resistance. The French side fought back here and there, but their punches lacked weight. Another clean close, another 7k lead, another step closer to the final.
By Game 3, the writing was on the wall. A rough early game from BK ROG quickly snowballed. Los Ratones locked in their third dragon by minute 17, chained a flawless teamfight on the midlane, and started the final sprint. Soul at 23 minutes, ace on topside at 24, Nexus down by 25. Ruthless. Unforgiving.
Who can take them down?
BK ROG didn’t just lose, they were shown what still separates a solid domestic champion from a seasoned European contender. Los Ratones played with superior tempo and tighter synergy. Tim "Nemesis" Lipovšek and Martin "Rekkles" Larsson roamed with purpose, Veljko "Velja" Čamdžić anchored every skirmish. Their macro game was polished and their execution decisive. On BK ROG’s side, the cracks widened as the series went on. Mid-game misreads, missed windows, and lack of pressure on major objectives. They rarely looked like a team ready to seize control throughout the whole series. Individually, few rose to the occasion.
With BK ROG out, the weight now falls on Karmine Corp Blue to carry LFL hopes into the final. They face Barça eSports this Thursday, June 19, in the second semifinal. As for Los Ratones, they move into their second consecutive EMEA Masters final—on course to defend their Winter title, and once again proving that when playoffs hit, few teams scale like they do.
Header Photo Credit: NLC/Los Ratones
