Forged from both the still vibrant fires of veterans and the spirit of one of Europe's top rookies in his position, Origen was xPeke's vision of accomplishing his dream while starting from scratch. Fnatic has long been one of, if not, the premier esports brand in recent European esports history. It had served as a safety net of success in the majority of League of Legends' lifespan.  Fnatic had a history of never quite being the best internationally but always ranking around top 4, as their talent and resources would always lead them to achieving respectable performances and standings.  

Not many would suspect the faces of the team, the "bread and butter" solo laners that have helped define the squad so long, leaving not for greener pasteurs, but to start a new nation with a vison of their own.  xPeke and Origen weren't just going to buy a spot to gain a shortcut into the LCS and start where jr left off; he was going to qualify for the challenger series and climb his way to Worlds.  An unprecedentedly brave move, xPeke set foot outside of his former comfortable shell to start a success, noticing a potential kink in the armor of Fnatic that may have been invisible to the naked eye -- and even had that been a misplaced perception, his ambitions were greater than what he'd achieved with his prior team.

World Championship interview when the two veterans were on Fnatic

"The team was not going to stay the same because Cyanide wanted to retire.  Rekkles was not sure if he was going to leave the team or go to Alliance," xPeke stated as his reasoning for his decision.  "I decided it was the perfect time for me to make the team [starting from] zero."  sOAZ followed him late into the team's formulation. Alongside the two premier veterans, the rest of the squad was handpicked, and one of the greatest success stories for a fresh organization was born.

Teams have oft been cricitized for their habit of retaining old, "washed up" players.  While more of an issue sustaining a competitive level of skill in North America, European teams have seen their fair share of problems, sharing a stubborness that would often leave cracks in an otherwise powerful crew. Several problems lie in keeping legacy players and not developing new talent, but Origen would look to crush this negative stigma within their own empire. 

"Even if they would be past their prime, they'd still be better than 75% of players in the LCS." - Amazing

Mithy not only found the potential of the team fitting, but also sought after it as a method of redeeming his previous behavioral issues, patching himself up as a human being. "I had a shady patch and found the best thing for me was to start from scratch with a team of respectable players," he stated in a prior interview. Mithy was invisible for much of 2014 due to racist and generally toxic behavior, but had wrestled through his 2015 season on Origen with little to no controversy over his actions, and instead was responsible for creating one of the strongest bottom lanes Europe's seen.  

Enter Niels, partner to Mithy, who has had no LCS experience prior to joining Origen.  Niels was as good as they come for rookies, becoming a semi-finalist at Worlds in his very first year as a professional level player.  Niels finished his very first regular split in summer with the third highest KDA overall and the second highest KDA in his position at 8.53, only losing to Rekkles, who had a KDA of 10.67. This was, however, on a team that had a far less impressive record than Fnatic, who went undefeated, while also surpassing Rekkles in kill participation for his team, where he was third in the league compared to Rekkles at a meer seventh.

Amazing had improved since his stint in North America with Team Solomid. His shift from champions like Lee Sin to team oriented picks like Gragas and Rek'Sai meant he could contribute more as a team player.  With his contributions and the improved environment for him combined with the aforementioned development of the team, the five were ready to begin their journey, starting with their qualification into European Challenger Series, defeating Millenium Spirit 2:1.

No one was even close to dominating the Spring Challenger Series as Origen, who finished 9-1 and only dropped a single game in the regular season to LowAndLions. Origen had only dropped one game come the playoffs as well to Reason Gaming's all-Polish line-up.  However, they went on to face Copenhagen Wolves Academy, dominating them 3-0 in the grand finals.

Typically, this is the yielding point for many challenger teams, as entering the LCS is a whole different ballpark and the competition can be on a much higher level. However, for Origen, they had no problem toppling other giants, including remarkably poor performances from previously well-established teams such as Elements (formerly Alliance), Gambit Gaming, and SK Gaming who were near the bottom of the barrel. Their toughest competition were other relatively fresh organizations, including H2k and Unicorns of Love. However, what's most impressive for Origen's story isn't the success in doing what they did even domestically, completely ignoring international results, but the context behind them.

PHOTO - Origen (Facebook)

Origen's story is already a success of epic proportions for a western team, but it wasn't until the playoff onwards where they truly shined.  While Origen's regular summer split finish was nothing to scoff at, it only wielded a 67% win ratio at 12-6, which couldn't hold a candle to Fnatic's legendary 18-0 run and was only slightly better than H2k's third place finish at 11-7. Origen's playoff run was much more impressive, only dropping 1 game to a heavily lauded H2k team in its state at the time, and then nearly taking the grand finals over the previously undefeated Fnatic.  

During the grand finals, Origen seemed like an almost entirely different team.  Prior allegations of their time on Fnatic would suggest xPeke and sOAZ especially were irresponsible with training and often would have a skewed priority system when it came to preparing for tournaments in big matches.  They were often criticized for their nonchalant attitude towards certain matches or opponents, and even famously were cited to have been out partying during 2014 All-Stars. The two buckled up in spite of this along with the rest of the team to give Fnatic the hardest games they've seen all split. These victories would follow them to the European Regional Finals, where they defeated Unicorns of Love 3-0 easily in the grand finals after their, oddly, toughest set against ROCCAT, winning 3-2.

Their success didn't stop domestically as previously stated; they went onto the 2015 World Championship drawn into debatably one of the toughest groups, Group D.  In order to make it to the playoffs, they had to defeat an admitedly slumping Team Solomid from North America, China's strongest strategical team in LGD, and the daunting KT Rolster who had just come off a 2nd place finish in the LCK and a 3:1 victory over Jin Air Green Wings in the Korea Regional Finals. 

Despite many predicting the eastern teams to easily make it out of this group, LGD faltered, even though they were the cause of one of two defeats Origen suffered in the group stage (the other to KT Rolster, who finished first in the group 5-1).  At the same time, Origen was the only team in the group to take a win off an otherwise undefeated KT Rolster.

In the playoffs, Origen would draw Flash Wolves, who despite not being the worst draw they could have had to decide their fate, was no slouch either.  

Flash Wolves surprisingly placed first in their group, which consisted of finalist KOO Tigers.  The team is often known for its ability to play to the level of their opponents, as witnessed by the difficulty of their games against teams with varying levels of play, and especially noticeable after dropping games to Wildcard Brazilian team paiN Gaming.

This narrative didn't live long into the playoffs, as Origen took the set after only dropping one game to the Taiwanese powerhouses.  This victory would make remarkable history for the organization, as it'd mark the furthest a western team has ever come in a World Championship (barring Season 1, which didn't include the powerhouse regions that paved the way for steeper competition today) by tying Fnatic's twice-accomplished top 4 finishes and Moscow 5's top 4 finish at Season 2 Worlds. This accomplishment is especially astonishing when you consider the context of Origen being an entirely new team with allegedly "washed up" players including an owner that served as mid-laner, a tale without an optimistic ending for many others who have tried the same balancing act. Origen also accomplished this in a year where Korea's gap from other teams is the largest it's been yet.

PHOTO - Lolesports (Flickr)

With that said, Origen met their demise in a crushing 0-3 defeat against the Season 5 World Champions SKT T1, who finished the World Championship dropping only one game in the grand finals to fellow Korean team KOO Tigers.  Origen had proven themselves on every stage imagineable.  They'd gone from the infantile stage of qualifying for Challenger Series to a semi-final finish at the World Championship on a mysterious and undiscovered patch and meta.

What Amazing said held true; the veteran players held their own.  The smarts carried by years and years of experience was possibly a key point to Origen's success, which allowed them to adapt quicky to an unseen patch. The environment was clearly good enough for rookie player Niels to shine even against the best AD Carries in the world, rightfully stoic and unshaken from the stage at which he played. While this swift transformation could not topple Korea's best, the corresponding journey to the top of their respective regions, with some arguing Origen may have been better than Fnatic at Worlds, marks this as one of the highlight stories of 2015 and potentially one of the most admirable ones in the scene's history yet.

Drexxin is the Editor-in-Chief of EsportsHeaven. If you enjoyed this piece or are looking to write, connect with him at @ESHDrexxin.