ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS GAMING

The 2015 LCS Spring Split will be underscored by returning faces. In Europe, Giants Gaming is back after nearly two years out of LCS competition. While the first group of Giants had a rough ride in 2013, this new team looks to carve their own legacy.

LOST THEIR LUCKY BALL AND CHAIN

Giants was one of the eight teams in the inaugural LCS way back in spring 2013. They ended the season with an 8-20 record, and a close 3-2 loss to Team Alternate during the promotion tournament. In 2013, the Challenger Scene was still incubating, so teams that fell out of the LCS faced a tough road back. The Giants did try to stick together, and competed in smaller tournaments such as Gfinity London and the Black Monster Cup, but it wasn’t enough. Two months after their relegation, the Giants Gaming organization released their active roster.

Fast forward to July 2014. After a year away from League of Legends competition, Giants formed a new roster, but it was short lived. Barely a month after the Giants return to the Rift, the organization released their roster and rebuilt it into the team that qualified for the LCS. The only other change that the organization undertook after this complete retooling was to add support Fernando “Rydle” Soria. He joined a week before the expansion tournament began in November.

THEY WANT A ROCK

The LCS Expansion Tournament turned into a Giants thrill ride. They beat heavily favored Millenium to move onto the offline portion of the tournament, and then swept Reason Gaming twice -- once in the winner’s bracket and once in the loser’s bracket -- to punch their ticket to the LCS.

During the tournament, the Giants middle laner, Isaac “xPePii” Flores was a consistent force for his team. He earned multiple Xerath bans throughout the tournament after utilizing the Magus Ascendant to put up monster KDAs against Ascension and Millenium in group play. Unfortunately for the rest of the tournament, xPePii isn’t a one-trick pony. When Xerath was banned, he showed a deep champion pool including LeBlanc -- which he piloted to devastating effect against Reason Gaming -- and an Ahri that he used to clinch the Millenium series.

xPePii was the brightest star for Giants during the Expansion Tournament, but he wasn’t the only one. The other two traditional carry players, top laner Jorge “Werlyb” Casanovas and AD carry Adrián "Adryh" Pérez, shined on a variety of champions when teams tried to nullify xPePii. Even jungler Federico "Fr3deric" Lizondo got into the carry action when he had good games on Kha’Zix.

Coordinating all of these potential threats falls to Rydle. During a Reddit AMA in early December, Giants admitted that Rydle was working toward becoming the team’s shotcaller. Rydle, known for his time spent on Gamers2, will have had the entire offseason to work on this crucial role for his team. As the LCS begins, and Giants battles the best in Europe, Rydle’s newly developed skills will be crucial to the team’s success.

THEY ACTUALLY ARE GIANTS

Since All-Star Paris 2014, much of the western League of Legends scene has been obsessed with infrastructure, and teams building support around their favorite players so that they can compete at their best. Entering the 2015 season, Giants Gaming is on target -- if not ahead -- of the infrastructural curve.

The Giants Gaming organization is based in Spain. The organization has existed since 2008 and sponsors teams in other esports including Dota 2 and FIFA . That longevity, coupled with previous LCS experience, has given the franchise a blueprint for success going into the 2015 season. The team has a pair of managers -- Rogelio Galvin and Germàn Domìnguez -- as well as head coach David Alonso Vicente that have been preparing them for the rigors of the Spring Split.

Even though the starting five have only been together since November, the Giants have already notched one upset when they beat Millenium. They’ll look to continue that trend on January 22nd as the EU LCS commences. The team may have been the last to qualify when they beat Reason Gaming, but they’ve got all of the tools, from individual skill to infrastructure, to shake up Europe during the 2015 season.