Caedrel has announced that his streamer team Los Ratones is disbanding. The fan-favorite squad barely missed the cutoff to qualify for the LEC Versus playoffs. This marks the end of their stay in the LEC, and as such, the end of this project.
Caedrel made Los Ratones with the intent of having a fun and more transparent team, one that would merge pro play with the players’ personalities.
| Role | Player | Background |
|---|---|---|
| Top lane | Baus | Streamer and Sion one-trick famous for dying a lot and still winning |
| Jungle | Velja | Promising tier 2 player |
| Mid lane | Nemesis | Streamer and retired pro player, formerly Fnatic’s mid laner in 2019 and 2020, two-time Worlds quarterfinalist |
| Bot lane | Crownie | Long-time pro player with potential that never turned into strong results |
| Support | Rekkles | Best Western ADC and legendary Fnatic player, Worlds finalist |
This experiment ended up wildly successful, with the LR matches drawing 10 to 100 times more viewers than any other ERL team’s.
Los Ratones played in the Nordic league throughout 2025, and smashed all competition. LR then went on to win the Winter and Spring EMEA Masters in similar fashion. Only in Summer did they lose to Karmine Corp Blue in the semifinals of the Masters.
Afterwards, Riot invited LR and KCB to play in the LEC Versus 2026, and for that split only. There, Los Ratones started 0-4 before going 5-2 in their remaining games. Unfortunately, they came one singular play away from being third place in the LEC. Instead, they finished in 9th, and missed the playoffs.
Los Ratones is out of the LEC. Image Source: Wojciech Wandzel / Riot Games
In November, Caedrel had announced that Los Ratones would not go back to ERLs in 2026. As such, today’s announcement is no surprise. Regardless, it’s not what the fans were hoping for after the team’s improvements in the LEC.
No one in Los Ratones counted on the project lasting for more than a year, and a year is what they all committed to. Riot’s offer to include them in the LEC Versus changed the deal, and so the players stayed in for one more split. No one would have stayed longer than that, although missing the playoffs cut off the team’s lifeline a few weeks earlier than they would have wanted.
On top of that, the European scene left LR with nowhere to belong. The rats were way above the levels of ERLs, and franchising means that they can’t enter the LEC without buying off a spot for millions.
As more people gathered to watch their games than any other team’s, Los Ratones had the most exciting story out of any Western team in years.
That story is now over, and Los Ratones is no more.
YamatoCannon, coach of Los Ratones. Image Source: Wojciech Wandzel / Riot Games
After the announcement, the community reacts as if waking up from a dream. What happened was incredible and got people interested in the LEC. Interest that for many won’t remain now that they’re gone.
This makes everyone agree that franchising snuffs out the soul of pro play. Los Ratones made the community realise that they cared about players, not teams; and franchising only secures the spots for the teams. Riot has no simple way out of it, however.
At the same time, there’s no formula to replicate LR’s success. American tier 2 team Near Airport also tried putting up a roster of streamers and ex-pros, and it failed completely. Hence this feeling that we witnessed something glorious that is now gone and never to happen again.
Featured Image Source: Riot Games
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