Los Ratones are undefeatable. They're now back to back EMEA Masters Champions and back to back NLC Champions. From their formation in late 2024 to now, they've run the table. Their Leaguepedia Tournament Results chart is a straight gold bar from top to bottom.
However, this presents a major issue. And not just for Los Ratones, but for professional League of Legends as a whole.
Los Ratones is a League of Legends team formed by Marc "Caedrel" Lamont in the winter of 2024. The roster matched respected veterans with some explosive up-and-coming players, and the result has been pure alchemy. Not only have the Rats won every competition they've played, but they've done so in convincing fashion. They haven't lost a game in any of the four title matches they've played in 2025.
Why is this problematic? Because there's nothing left for Los Ratones to win.
Los Ratones compete in the second tier of professional League of Legends in Europe. And for some time now, there has been a firmly maintained gap between the second tier and the LEC, Europe's top professional league. For instance, EMEA Masters is usually a tournament where some of the top players will hope to receive offers from LEC teams. The best case scenario is for them to move up to greener pastures. Which makes Los Ratones, a full team who wants to play together and continue to win together, an artifact from a previous age.
For many years, professional League of Legends operated with a promotion/relegation system by which hungry amateur teams could compete for spots in the top leagues by beating the lowest performing teams from those leagues each year. Some of these rosters and players would go on to long, fruitful careers in the professional scene after proving that they had the talent required to take on the best of the best. However, in a search for financial solvency, in the late 2010s, Riot Games (the publisher of League of Legends) switched its leagues to a franchising model by which spots in the league could only be bought and sold, rather than earned.
This brings us back to the predicament that Los Ratones face. And it's worth mentioning that this unprecedented run hasn't gone unnoticed. The Rats boast a following that rivals, and eclipses, many of the west's most established franchises. For point of comparison, their X account, which is less than a year old, has already eclipsed the following of North American stalwarts, and current LTA North Champions Flyquest (whose account was opened back when the platform was still called Twitter in 2017). Their practice of streaming their practice matches with other teams ("scrims" in League parlance) certainly has helped, as their YouTube videos frequently see north of 300K views. They also receive a boost from Caedrel himself, being one of the most popular English language League of Legends streamers whose broadcasts of matches on his own channel can reach up to 500K concurrent viewers.
This is the sort of organic, engaging growth that fans of professional League of Legends have been craving. And surely the other organizations in the LEC would enjoy the increased viewership that Los Ratones might bring to Europe's top league. But as of yet, there has been no indication that Riot intends to provide any option for Los Ratones to sidestep the 50 million Euro cost of an LEC roster slot. With the communal feeling that Los Ratones may not be able to survive in its current state if they have to endure another year outside of top tier competition, Riot has been mum in regards to League of Legends' hottest up-and-coming property.
Of course, Riot Games could open up a Guest Spot for the 2026 season for Los Ratones to occupy. There is precedent, as in 2024 Riot Games offered a guest spot in the North American league to Disguised, which would allow them to play in the league without the acquisition of a costly franchise slot. Disguised, similar to Los Ratones, were founded by an immensely popular streamer by the name of Disguised Toast, who was able to use his influence to bolster mass interest in the team.
But that seems to be the only recourse for Los Ratones. And it's something they'd like to see happen sooner rather than later. Viewership numbers for the Rats slightly declined in their second dual NLC/EMEA Masters campaigns, no doubt due to the decreased excitement in seeing a team repeat something they've already achieved. And though none have taken the bait yet, Los Ratones team members have been hearing offers from LEC teams. Will the bond of the team and the exposure from the Los Ratones content machine be enough to keep these players around long term? Every month that passes without an announcement of advancement for 2026 seems to cool the fervor surrounding the team (and we still have a while yet to wait, as Disguised were not announced to receive their guest spot for the 2025 season until October of 2024).
In July, Los Ratones will begin the third and final NLC split of 2025, looking to become the first team since Karmine Corp to win three EMEA Masters tournaments in a row. For all involved, it seems both a foregone conclusion and a moot point. Because the real Karmine Corp achievement fans would like to see The Rats replicate is their acquisition of an LEC roster spot, which they finally secured in 2024 after years of dominance in Europe's second tier. Will Los Ratones be able to continue their meteoric ascent into Europe's top tier? How long will it take? And will Los Ratones still look the same when that day finally comes?