With Eintracht Spandau (EINS), the YouTuber HandOfBlood has built a team that competes in the highest German-speaking league of League of Legends – the Strauss Prime League. After four consecutive defeats, they achieved their first victory. And it was celebrated properly.
What exactly happened?
- At the end of 2021, HandOfBlood, together with his agency INSTINCT3, founded the LoL team Eintracht Spandau. They took over the spot from EURONICS in the Prime League and aim to compete for the EU Masters in the long term, as they stated.
- The start in the Strauss Prime League, however, did not go well at all. The first four matches were all lost. While the team has been able to stabilize in the early game, there continue to be issues, particularly in team fights and with objectives like Dragon and Baron.
- On Sunday, Eintracht Spandau faced Team Wave, which also suffered four defeats. For long stretches, EINS was able to control the game and ultimately won.
- The team celebrated their victory with some fans in front of a tavern. There, they sang loudly, similar to what you would expect from football fans.
Eintracht Spandau wants more storytelling and fan culture like in football
What exactly did the celebration look like? Together with fans, Eintracht Spandau went to the tavern Spandauer Bock after the match to celebrate. In front of the tavern, the anthem of Eintracht Spandau was sung, as this video on Twitter shows:
This aligns perfectly with the goals that HandOfBlood has set for the team. Eintracht Spandau wants to become a constant presence in esports, with which fans can identify. A fan culture should emerge, similar to what is typically found in football clubs.
There should be a lot of “storytelling” around the team. So far, there have been “press conferences” with the responsible parties, “leaks” about signings, and a rather curious presentation of the actual team. HandOfBlood and the other team members do not take themselves too seriously, which makes the whole show even more entertaining.
The hype around the team is real. Many fans have already found their way to Eintracht Spandau, some even created their own Twitter channels and celebrated the victory, like here the “Nordkurve Ultras”:
Does Eintracht Spandau influence viewer numbers? Yes, at least on Twitch it is evident. While the official channel of the Prime League peaked at 28,899 viewers with its shoutcast, the channel of Eintracht Spandau managed to reach 20,927 viewers.
After Eintracht Spandau played, the viewer numbers on the official channel dropped significantly.
The last matches at 8:00 PM and 9:00 PM saw only 12,028 people at peak, and starting at 9:00 PM, the channel even fell below the mark of 10,000 viewers.
In general, interest in the Strauss Prime League has risen significantly compared to the previous year:
- In January 2022, they averaged 12,735 viewers on Twitch, peaking at 35,441 people watching at the same time (via Sullygnome).
- In January 2021, only an average of 6,363 viewers tuned in on Twitch. The peak was just 15,709. In January 2020, the numbers were very similar, with 6,352 average and 14,666 peak viewers.
If you want to learn more about the team Eintracht Spandau, we have introduced the players in more detail here:
LoL: YouTuber HandOfBlood founds his own esports team – We introduce you to the players
