The UKLC is only a few days away and with all the rosters announced, anticipation rises for the first matches.
One team that will be looking to start off with a convincing win will be Enclave Gaming. Last split was an interesting one for Enclave. Despite finishing 5th the side never truly competed with last years big four sides, failing to win a tower in spring. However, it seems that the organisation have bigger ambitions, and so they have taken the bold move of replacing three of their starting players from the last split. Whilst also committing to a six-man roster.
One of the new additions to their line-up is their jungler Skude, who rejoins Enclave for the second time (or a third if you want to include his run with Enclave Dusk in 2018). Skude was somewhat of a big signing for the British side given the fact he had recently played for Unicorns of Love in the ESLM 2nd Divison. The jungler states that the reason he decided to rejoin his former side was because of one major factor. It just felt right.
He says: “I went over my offers and decided to pick something I was happy with, Enclave was that. I knew the org from way back and really liked the roster we built for UKLC, all of us are friends and its great to be back.”
Joining Skude, alongside Enclave’s bot lane of Kehvo and Raizins, are mid laners Primacy and Beeley and top laner Renghis. Primacy will be known to fans of the German scene having played for PENTA 1860 under the name Yixiao. Beeley will be a more recognisable name to those who watched the UKLC last split as he was previously at DarkSpawn. Despite his team getting relegated, Enclave where clearly still impressed to have him on board for the summer split. Finally, Irishman Renghis will be entering his first major professional league having previously played for Nuclear Storm.
Skude feels that with this line-up, many people may be wrong to underestimate his side.
“I believe in all my teammates and I think we will come into the league as underdogs, our bot lane is hungry to win, also they have bonded well together from the last split. Renghis is an unknown player in the UK with tons to prove and will be underestimated. Primacy took some time off and I think with some time he will get back to his form and do really well against other mid lane opponents. I believe we will make top 3-4 for sure and can contest the top two if we keep working hard and improve.”
These may seem like bold words from the Danish jungler. However, every team will want to be contending for a top-four spot by the end of the regular season.
To be a top four team though, you must beat your opponents and be better than your opposition. Skude firmly thinks that when it comes to jungle match-ups, there aren’t many in this league that can match-up with him. He is especially looking forward to coming up against a local friend.
“I look forward to playing vs Ceikey because I know him from school and so it will be really fun. Also, PFI and Sof actually play aggressive junglers so I respect them a lot. The academy junglers Nji and Taxer have got a lot of strength in their laners and so they will probably play tanks like Taxer did last split. So, I don’t really look forward to playing against them, it will be boring matchups. I believe I can match well against them all.”
When everything is said and done, there will be only one person standing at the top of the tower. With exceL, MnM and Fnatic Rising looking stronger than ever before. It might be difficult seeing a world where Enclave comes out on top. Still, not many people predicted Diabilous to finish first in the regular season. In the UKLC anything can happen.
By Tom Daniels
Gromp News 