How is Caedrel’s new team changing the esports industry and revitalizing the NLC?

Led by Marc Robert "Caedrel" Lamont, Los Ratones is now the leader of the Northern League of Legends Championship (NLC) Winter 2025 circuit with four victories. In 2024, NLC Summer had a pick of 709 viewers. Now, these numbers went up to 54,864. That's a growth of 7,6415%. It's not hard to explain these numbers — Los Ratones revitalized a small league.

"It's not an understatement that Caedrel and his team saved the NLC as a whole," journalist Armand Luque wrote on Reddit.

Los Ratones is a European League of Legends team founded by Twitch streamer Caedrel in November 2024. Caedrel, one of the biggest League of Legends streamers worldwide, who was also a pro player, assembled a team with Simon "Baus" Hofverberg, Veljko "Velja" Čamdžić, Tim "Nemesis" Lipovšek, Juš "Crownie" Marušič, and Carl "Rekless" Martin Erik Larsson, ex-support substitute for T1.

As a minor league, the NLC didn't bring much attention. The European scene was marked mostly by the League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC). Since Caedrel announced the assembling of Los Ratones, the scene changed as a whole. More viewers came to watch not only the Los Ratones games but the remaining games as well. You might be wondering if those games had seen more viewers due to the Los Ratones games. The reality is that it's impossible to be sure if people are indeed interested in watching those games or just waiting for an Los Ratones match to start.

However, it's undeniable that Los Ratones brought some changes to the esports industry's business model, especially the League of Legends one. Streamers are bringing more attention to some problems such as the sustainability of the industry.

A fan on Reddit reminded folks about the new changes coming to the NLC this year and how Caedrel took advantage of them. "I believe the rule changes around streaming coming with this year's update to NLC rules played a part in making it possible. It's also not an entirely new template, with other more successful ERLs having streamer teams bring in audiences (mostly non-English). But definitely, Caedrel jumping on the opportunity created by the rule change and bringing big names with established audiences did a lot," the user wrote.

Not only did Los Ratones bring attention to a small league, but it also allowed fans to experience incredibly talented casters and analysts. This new wave of people knowing different professionals in the area is also an opportunity for them to grow up in the industry, something that is not always easy.

"I expected the bare minimum but the broadcast quality is actually amazing. The spectators are great, and the casters are too, it was much better than watching something like the English LPL/LCK broadcast (no shame to those working on it, but it always felt like 2 dudes streaming from their bedrooms), and that's kinda insane," a fan wrote on Reddit.

One of the things many fans talked about is the players' personality and attitude playing League of Legends. For them, seeing a roster with such personality and funny moments was important, especially for fans who had started to view League of Legends esports as boring to watch.

"I like the atmosphere of the team as well especially with Caedrel owning it and coaching he has more control so he can still joke but keep it serious and the players are a mix of funny/serious/lighthearted good coms," another user wrote.

"This is what LoL lost with the pro scene," observed a user on Reddit. "The problem scene became way too corporate-based and tried to be like the NFL or any other pro sports league. But what the players actually want is to support and be fans of colorful personalities first and foremost and watch them succeed."

Caedrel's new team made a business model in League of Legends popular, and that could have a domino effect on other ERLs. This could be the chance for minor regions to gain some spotlight and fan engagement.

Overall, people seemed to like this new movement in the competitive scene, even describing it as "a new era" or "the future standard" for business models. However, everything will depend on how teams and leagues collaborate moving forward.

That's all for now. Stick around for more League of Legends news and updates on esports.gg.