This morning, Los Ratones — Marc "Caedrel" Lamont's newly formed, absurdly popular esports team — played their first-ever NLC Grand Finals, facing off against NORD Esports for the first NLC trophy of the year. The Winter split champion earns the right to compete in the EMEA Masters Winter tournament later this month against many of the most popular teams in the ERLs, from Karmine Corp Blue to Los Heretics. The matchup, featuring two powerhouse rosters aiming for the trophy from the start, was set to be a banger.

Despite an array of technical issues delaying the first game by over an hour and multiple in-game pauses throughout the series, hundreds of thousands tuned in to watch their favorite creators and professional players fight for a historic victory.

An innovative draft in Game 1

Game 1 was a Los Ratones classic — with Tim "Nemesis" Lipovšek on midlane Cho'Gath and Simon "Baus" Hofverberg on Rocketbelt Volibear, the game turned into a highlight reel for the LR topside. The repeated technical issues ahead of the series, followed by a mid-game pause for Veljko "Velja" Čamdžić to replace his broken keyboard, seemed to fry the nerves of both teams, especially early in the game. LR was the first to recover, landing the first blow in a historic NLC Grand Finals matchup.

The innovative draft in Game 1, per Caedrel, was built the previous night around Cho'Gath — they designed a completely new look for the team that they hoped NORD wouldn't be able to respond to. Game 2, then, was a classic look for the team: Baus on Sion, Velja on Viego, and Nemesis on Syndra. It ended even faster than Game 1.

At 14 minutes, Los Ratones were pushing a 10k gold lead — a lead that large would be impressive in solo queue. LR pulled it off in an ERL Grand Final. Despite constant pauses threatening to kill their momentum, every player seemed unstoppable. After struggling to stabilize during Game 1, Martin "Rekkles" Larsson was a key part of their Game 2 victory, helping Baus and Velja dominate constant skirmishes around the map.

In Game 3, Baus got to play his deadly AP Jax alongside Rekkles's revered Janna — in exchange, NORD secured a draft built around Frederik "NoWay" Hinteregger's Vel'Koz and Matthew Charles "xMatty" Coombs's Ashe. Though Lucas "Santorin" Tao Kilmer Larsen had a solid early game on Sejuani, his second-most-played champion of all time, Velja's Wukong led LR to a narrow early game lead.

300k viewers peak as LR claimed the trophy

Though LR maintained a lead through the mid-game — ahead in gold, turrets, and dragons at 25 minutes — NORD found far more successful teamfights and side lane picks, since Baus was far more vulnerable in side lanes than in the earlier games. Just as the game seemed to slip, however, a key skirmish outplay by Nemesis and Velja helped LR pick up two inhibitors, several kills, and a Baron. Incredibly, though, the game didn't end there.

With Baus repeatedly caught out, NORD managed to find winning fights — at 38 minutes, they looked likely to win after claiming two inhibitors and angling for the nexus towers. A miracle comeback fight from Crownie, however, helped LR survive until an Elder Dragon, which they narrowly secured off of an impressive flank from Baus. In the end, they claimed a nail-biter victory at the enemy nexus.

As the team angled for a 3-0 victory, Caedrel's stream climbed above an unbelievable 200k concurrent viewers — overall, the series peaked above 300k viewers as Los Ratones claimed the trophy, higher than the first LTA Cross-Conference tournament. Now, LR is headed to EMEA Masters, where they'll test their strength against the best European teams outside of the LEC.