The team of Schalke 04 is struggling in the summer of 2020 in the League of Legends. After 8 losses at the start of the LEC, they have now won their first game in LoL, and that against Fnatic. However, they are facing ridicule.
Here’s how the LoL team of Schalke 04 has been doing lately: The professional team of Schalke in LoL is in a downward spiral:
- In the second half of 2019, they finished 4th in the LEC – with 11-7, Schalke was a playoff team
- In the first half of 2020, they only managed 8th place with 6-12 – the season began with a 7-game losing streak until Schalke swapped out the player they originally brought in as a beacon of hope and key player
- In the second half of 2020, the team is now in last place, 10th, with 1-8 – Schalke has lost 8 games in a row before finally securing their first win
The great talent is gone, now stability is missing
Why is Schalke so bad? The simplest reason is: The players are just not that great. The star of the successful 2019 team, the bot laner Elias “Upset” Lipp, has been gone for a while. The attempt to replace him with the veteran FORG1VEN failed and ruined Schalke’s last season. Since then, Schalke’s bot lane has been changing constantly.
Even this season they still have no stable lineup, frequently swapping players from their second team in and out.
Schalke’s coach, Dylan Falco, says in an interview with Inven, they actually have two bot lanes:
- Neon and Dreams
- Nukes and Innaxe, who looked like the new Schalke star in the last split but is now rotating out again
Both duos are almost equally strong and could play at a “decent LEC level”. At the moment, they have chosen Dreams and Neon because they are stronger in the laning phase.
Those who often lose are afraid of every opponent
Regarding the two long losing streaks at the start of the season, Falco says:
It may sound obvious, but the problem with a losing streak at the start is that you have 0 in front. No matter what happens in a game, or how long or short the losing streak lasts, as long as you have 0 wins, it can’t get worse. That’s a mental burden for the players. If you get a few wins at the beginning of a season, then you have proof of success, something to fall back on and draw ideas from.
Dylan Falco, Schalke 04 Coach
Falco notes that he has been with Schalke for two years now, and every time, they have such an “ugly losing streak.” Apparently, the past plays a part as well.
According to Falco, the issue when one loses as much as Schalke does is that they tend to be afraid of what the opponent does. Now, they want to focus more on what they can do well and do that.
No one beats Schalke … 9 times in a row
That was the first win: Last weekend, Schalke surprisingly achieved their first victory. They defeated the nominal top team Fnatic with 15-1 in just 32 minutes. Fnatic seemed completely off during the match and faced a lot of ridicule for losing to Schalke.
The success of Schalke was also sarcastically commented on. On reddit , it says: “Guys, let’s not overreact … but Worlds, here we come!”
After all, Fnatic was one of the teams that even made it to the knockout stage of Worlds in 2019.
Even the caster ridiculed Schalke’s victory a bit, saying, “Let everyone know: No one beats Schalke 9 times in a row.”
This is a saying that goes back to tennis player Vitas Gerulaitis, who lost 16 times in a row to Jimmy Connors. When he finally won, he said: “Let this be a lesson to all. No one beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row.”
The saying is picked up and repeated on reddit. A sign that an actual loser is basking in the glory of his triumph, even if it may not be entirely appropriate.
Schalke has also used this saying themselves (Via twitter). Humorous clips from Schalke on Twitter show that they are aware of the quirky situation currently and deal with the ridicule lightly.
Fnatic also seems to be somewhat off this split. The team around star player Rekkles is underperforming. There were hints of this back in November 2019, when the team’s successful coach left. What he said upon leaving must have troubled every fan of the team:
LoL: Successful coach leaves Fnatic – He says there are issues within the team
