Ella McConnell
ESL
From December the 18th to the 20th, six League of Legends teams from around the world will gather at the ESL studios in Germany to compete for the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne title. One of these will be South Korean team Ever, who took first place in the 2015 KeSPA Cup and thus secured themselves a spot at the competition in Cologne – but can they pick up a first place finish here too?
Coming in hot
Ever’s story is one of ups and downs. The season began with them playing in the Challengers Korea Spring 2015 Series 1 and only placing fifth/eighth after losing 2-0 to OverWM, with Series 2 ending even more abruptly as the team dropped out in the first round after a decisive 2-0 loss to MKZ. Ever fared somewhat better in Challengers Korea Summer 2015, however, finishing with an 8-2 record and second place overall, and beat Winners 3-0 in the first round of the Challengers Korea Summer 2015 Playoffs before losing 3-1 to Dark Wolves in the finals. This top two placing earned them a spot in the LCK 2016 Season Spring Promotion Tournament, but this ultimately resulted in a loss 3-1 to SBENU Sonicboom.
However, the 2015 KeSPA Cup is where everything changed. With new additions to the roster LokeN and Ares, Ever upset both Samsung Galaxy and Rebels Anarchy in the first two rounds before sweeping world champions SK Telecom 2-0. Now with more than a taste of blood, they stormed CJ Entus 3-0 in the finals, taking the title and qualifying for Intel Extreme Masters Cologne.
A winning roster?
Before the 2015 KeSPA Cup, AD carry LokeN and former KT Rolster jungler Ares joined the lineup – but how will the new and improved roster fare in Cologne following their maiden voyage?
Top: Kim “Crazy” Jae-hee
• Ever’s dedicated top laner
Jungle: Kim “Ares” Min-kwon, Lee “Ryan” Jun-seok
• Ares: Former KT Rolster jungler, and Incredible Miracle and ShowTime before then
• Ryan: Ever’s sub jungler
Mid: Kang “Athena” Ha-woon
• Ever’s dedicated mid laner
ADC: Park “Police” Hyeong-gi, Lee “LokeN” Dong-wook
• Police: Ever’s main ADC
• LokeN: Sub jungler, joined before the 2015 KeSPA Cup
Support: Kim “KeY” Han-gi, Eun “Totoro” Jong-seop
• KeY: Formerly known as TML, named MVP of 2015 KeSPA Cup for his for his incredible Bard play
• Totoro: Ever’s sub support
See Ever in action in Cologne!
If you want to see how far Ever can go at Intel Extreme Masters Cologne, make sure to tune in from Friday the 18th of December!