YouTuber Maximilian Knabe, better known as HandOfBlood, founded the esports team Eintracht Spandau in League of Legends. This marked his entry directly into the highest German league and he aims to win the EU Masters, the highest title just behind the LEC, within the next two years. However, the opening match of the league did not go well at all.
Update January 15: The second match against the second team from SK Gaming was also lost. Both in the laning phase and in later team fights, weaknesses were apparent, which are not uncommon in newly assembled teams.
What kind of team is this?
- Eintracht Spandau is said to shake up the esports scene according to HandOfBlood, as they want to foster more identification and storytelling. Therefore, virtual and staged press conferences are recorded where the YouTuber responds to questions from “journalists.” However, these questions come from his staff.
- There was a grand staging around the announcement of their roster. Jokingly, they pretended to negotiate with bigger names like PowerOfEvil, one of the most successful German players. Also, Rekkles, one of the strongest players worldwide on the AD Carry position, was spread as a “rumor” by the team itself. Both have participated multiple times in the World Championships in LoL.
- In the end, the team consists of rather “normal players”, some of whom have already played in the Prime League, comparable leagues, or with academy teams from Schalke and Fnatic. Nevertheless, they hope to win the EU Masters within the next two years. In this tournament, the best teams from Europe that are not competing in the LEC compete against each other.
- On Tuesday, January 11, Eintracht Spandau opened the Prime League with a match against Gamer Legion. However, while HandOfBlood referred to the duel in the “press conference” as “an easy bye,” the game did not go well for Eintracht Spandau at all.
Errors in the Bot Lane and Problems in Team Play
How did the match against Gamer Legion go? Rather poorly. Especially in the first minutes, the bot lane featuring AD Carry Leander “Kynetic” Sydekum and Olivier “Prime” Payet played very aggressively and repeatedly forced fights. They relied on the combination of Jhin and Leona.
However, at a crucial moment and with a bit of luck, Gamer Legion was able to counter and secure first blood on their AD Carry. After that, Gamer Legion dominated with Caitlyn on the bot lane, which was due to her great range and the slight gold lead that continued to expand. The first dragon also went to Gamer Legion.
Eintracht Spandau then focused on the bot lane and was even able to take the lead in kills 5:4 after 16 minutes, but still trailed by over 1,000 gold and two dragons.
Then there was a crucial team fight over dragon number 3, which HandOfBlood’s team clearly lost. The ultimates from Leona and Ornn were wasted, while Jhin and LeBlanc could barely deal damage.
In return, Caitlyn secured 2 kills and they turned the score to 5:8. They also secured the third dragon.
From then on, Gamer Legion dominated every team fight and after a desperate battle for the Baron, in which Eintracht Spandau lost 3 players, they finished the match after almost 30 minutes.
Overall, HandOfBlood’s team appeared very uncoordinated and hopeless in the fights. However, Eintracht Spandau was only founded at the end of 2021 and revealed the roster of players very late. It can be assumed that the team is simply not well coordinated yet.
“We know what we have to work on, but it will take some time”
How are the players and the YouTuber reacting? So far, there is no video from Eintracht Spandau regarding the opening. However, fans can expect another “press conference” soon.
In the Prime League livestream, however, supporter Olivier “Prime” Payet spoke in an interview. He said: “It was nice. Of course, we lost, which is frustrating, but I felt the support from the fans before and after the match. We are aware of the mistakes we made and what we need to work on, but that will take some time.”
Team impresses with viewer numbers and fan support: Even though the opening in the Prime League did not go well, the team from Eintracht Spandau has something to celebrate. They broadcasted the match live on their own Twitch channel, which at times had nearly as many viewers as the official stream.
On the Twitter channel, the support from the fans is praised, who have enthusiastically cheered on the team from Berlin. Although the defeat is said to have been a setback, they now want to “clean up from the back.”
What do you think about Eintracht Spandau? Are you a fan of them or could you at least imagine being a fan of this team? And what do you think about their long-term chances? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
On Friday, the highest European league, the LEC, will also start. We can expect a nearly completely renewed G2 Esports:
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