The first three members of Origen, the team superstar mid laner Enrique “xPeke” Cedeño Martínez left Fnatic to create, were revealed today.
Alfonso “Mithy” Aguirre Rodriguez and Jesper “Niels” Svenningsen will man the bottom lane, with former Team SoloMid player Maurice “Amazing” Stückenschneider manning the jungle. The news mirrors an Esportsheaven report last week naming Aguirre Rodriguez and Stückenschneider as Origen’s new members. The pair were coy about confirmation, with Aguirre Rodriguez even seemingly denying it, but are now official Origen members.
“I trust all three of them completely,” Cedeño Martínez said on Facebook. “They have shown they are great players and I have no doubt we will together improve and become even better.”
The pickups should instantly make Origen one of the top League of Legends teams in Europe.
Aguirre Rodriguez brings a veteran presence to the bottom lane. He has the highest winning percentage in League Championship Series from the support position in history thanks to his time on Lemondogs. As a member of Ninjas in Pyjamas, his squad lorded over the challenger scene but barely missed out on reaching the LCS. Now, after serving a nearly year long suspension due to toxic behavior, Aguirre Rodriguez is ready for a triumphant return.
Joining him in the bottom lane is Svenningsen, one of Europe’s hotshot up-and-coming ace marksmen players. Originally slated to join Cedeño Martínez on Fnatic, the Danish youngster followed the superstar to his new organization.
Manning the jungle is Stückenschneider after a stint in America on Team SoloMid. The German jungler took some flak for his play but results speak for themselves: his time as a TSM member was their most successful in years, seeing them return to the top of the LCS for the first time since Cloud9 entered the league. Stückenschneider should provide his new mid laner with more active support than he’s used to from Fnatic’s Lauri “Cyanide” Happonen.
That leaves Origen with one spot to fill, the top lane. One rumor places another superstar mid laner who left the LCS as the favorite to land a spot there, Alex Ichetovkin, a player who also has history with Aguirre Rodriguez as a member of Ninjas in Pyjamas. But the bigger question should be Origen’s plan to compete next year.
The squad seems positioned to make a run at the Riot World Championships, considering both Cedeño Martínez, Stückenschneider, and Aguirre Rodriguez have each reached that grand stage at some point in their career. All three players were each members of the best team in their region at one point in time. But right now, Origen does not have a spot in the LCS, meaning they’ll need to earn one in the challenger series this split. While they’d certainly be favorites to make it through, Ninjas in Pyjamas shows that even locks to make it in sometimes falter. Plus, if Riot Games institutes a points system for world qualifications, missing the Spring Split could doom them from reaching their ultimate goal.
Of course, that’s all really just semantics. If Origen really is good enough, they’ll get it done, and with the way the roster is shaping up, they certainly should be.
Image via Origen/Facebook
