The Spring EM in League of Legends concluded on June 21, 2025, crowning Twitch streamer Caedrel’s team as champions for the second time in a row. However, despite these successes, his team cannot play in the LEC.
Which team is involved? In November 2024, Twitch streamer Caedrel founded the LoL team Los Ratones. Already in their first EM in March 2025 (via lol.fandom.com), Los Ratones showed what they are capable of and won the tournament with a 3-0 finale. In June 2025, they followed up with the Spring EM (via lol.fandom.com), where Los Ratones again dominated and secured the finale undefeated.
Why can’t Los Ratones compete with the greats? The EM of League of Legends is a so-called Tier-2 tournament. The tier describes how good the respective teams and their players are. A Tier-1 tournament would be the LEC in Europe or the largest LoL tournament in the world, the Worlds.
To compete in the LEC, the team needs an official spot. These spots cannot be earned through play but must be acquired by paying a million-dollar amount. In the case of Los Ratones, founder and coach Caedrel stated that he would need to put down 20 million euros to bring his team into the LEC. In an interview, Caedrel (via esports-news.co.uk) discussed the system behind the LEC and the spots for the teams:
“The problem we have now is: We play Best-of-Ones in the NLC, then go to the EU Masters, win, and that’s it. That’s the ceiling. And currently, we keep running against this ceiling because everything above is franchised and revolves around business. It’s all about sustainability and profitability. There are no tournaments, no third-party competitions, no qualifiers, nothing.”
In the video, you can see the trailer for the current Season 2 2025 of League of Legends:
Los Ratones has few options to reach the top
What paths are there for Los Ratones to join the LEC? The fastest way to get into the LEC is simply to pay the money. However, this option is not available for Caedrel, as the 20 million euros would not be financially viable.
Another way would be for Los Ratones to be signed by a large team or organization to secure a spot in the LEC. Caedrel commented on both paths in the interview with Esports News UK:
So these are the only options we have: Sitting here and repeatedly hitting this damn ceiling unless A) you pull 20 million out of your ass and flush it straight down the toilet or B) a generous hand reaches down and says: Give us your brand.
Los Ratones wants to continue participating in the EM and the NLC (Northern League of Legends Championship) despite this hurdle to compete with the best. Los Ratones has already won the NLC in Winter and Spring 2025 and played in the finale against the German LoL streamer and pro NoWay: Twitch streamer builds his own team in LoL, fights in the finals of his league against NoWay, fans celebrate: ‘Was so satisfying’
