Caps calls G2 the greatest EU roster ever, but is it really?

After G2 Esports won its fourth consecutive LEC trophy, Danish mid laner Rasmus “Caps” Winther spoke very highly about his team, calling it the best European roster ever. 

In an interview with Skysports, Caps said that he thinks it’s fair to call G2 the greatest European rosters after both domestic and international success in recent years. 

“I think it’s fair to say we’re the greatest EU roster – we obviously won MSI as well. And I think when you start talking about the best ever, you have to include international performance right?” Caps said.

G2 Esports is the most winning European organization

The 20-year-old mid laner has now won four consecutive LEC titles together with G2, and prior to that won two titles with Fnatic. On the international stage, G2 managed to win the 2019 Mid-Season Invitational and made the 2019 World Championship final which they lost 0-3 to FunPlus Phoenix. 

The results speak for themselves and put G2 as the most winning European organization in competitive League of Legends history. A big reason for that is the current G2 lineup which was put together in November 2018 when Caps and Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle joined the team. The new lineup placed Luka “Perkz” Perković in the bot lane and was the start of a new innovative playstyle from G2.   

Who could compete with G2 Esports for best European team?

On paper, no European lineup in history comes close to the achievements of the current G2 lineup, but Europe has produced several other great teams throughout the history of competitive League of Legends.

Moscow Five

Going back to the early years of League of Legends, Moscow Five was dominating the European scene. The team had legends such as mid laner Alex “Alex Ich” Ichetovkin and jungler Daniel “Diamondprox” Reshetnikov, who were considered some of the best in their positions at the time.  

Diamondprox is considered one of the players who made the jungle role what it is today by implementing counter jungling and aggressive early game ganks into his gameplay. 

M5 played in a time where League of Legends was a completely different game compared to now, so it is hard to compare them to the current G2 lineup. At the time, they were considered one of the best teams in the world, maybe even the best. The squad won big tournaments such as the IEM Season 6 World Championship and IEM Season 6 Kiev, long before there were any established regional leagues like we have today. 

M5 went into the 2012 World Championship as one of the biggest favorites but was knocked out by Taipei Assassins in the semifinals, who went on to win the tournament. 

M5 never got to win as much as G2 has, but they still managed to become legends of the game. 

Fnatic

Fnatic is without a doubt the biggest rival to G2 and has been so for years. Fnatic is known as the old kings of Europe and has performed well with several top-tier lineups. 

The most notable lineup is the 2018 iteration of Fnatic that won two domestic trophies, followed up by a second-place finish in the 2018 World Championship. Unfortunately, the team didn’t stay together long enough to prove themselves further, as Caps left for a spot at G2. 

The roster swap ignited the rivalry between the two teams, a rivalry that G2 has been dominating ever since they got Caps. 

Fnatic never had a lineup that could compete with the results of the current G2 squad, but it can as an organization. Fnatic is the only European organization to ever win a World Championship, even though it was in Season 1 and the event did not feature a fully international list of teams.