Los Ratones has been shaking up League of Legends esports with a unique ‘stream team’ model. The team is now closer than ever to securing a spot in EMEA Masters Winter 2025 after qualifying for the NLC 2025 Winter Finals. Let’s explore everything we know about the NLC, Los Ratones’ participation, and how fans can watch.
The Northern League of Legends Championship (NLC) is a B-tier League of Legends tournament focusing on the game’s European region. Most importantly, the 2025 NLC winning team will qualify for EMEA Masters Winter 2025, an A-tier tournament that operates alongside the League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) circuit.
2025 NLC Teams:
In 2025, the NLC Winter has included ten teams. The tournament progressed through a best-of-1 Swiss-style Group Stage into Playoffs.
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NLC Winter 2025 is also catching viewers’ attention because coach, commentator and influencer Caedrel’s team Los Ratones is participating. The organization has swept the NLC circuit and sits at a comfortable 4-0 ranking as of February 19. After defeating NORD Esports on February 14 in the Upper Bracket Finals, Los Ratones earned a spot in the NLC Winter 2025 Grand Final. Now, the team will face off against NORD Esports once again after their lower bracket run for victory and a spot in the EMEA Masters.
Los Ratones began as the passion project of Marc “Caedrel” Lamont, a coach, caster and content creator with extensive experience in the League of Legends esports world. Lamont, who has over 1.1 million followers on Twitch at twitch.tv/caedrel and 490,000 on YouTube at @Caedrel, announced the team’s formation on November 15, 2025. The team’s roster includes a mix of streamers, content creators, high-level Challengers players and pros (Thebaus, Velja, Nemesis, Crownie and Rekkles) and Caedrel himself serves as its coach.
Los Ratones caused a stir after announcing all of its scrims and practices would be public. These scrim streams have proved massively successful to the point that other organizations like FlyQuest have begun replicating the model, and each scrim often reaches 200,000 views. Fellow ex-pro and creator Doublelift even recently announced a team and took inspiration from Caedrel and Los Ratones.
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The ragtag team has performed incredibly well, causing the world to take note after defeating legendary team T1 in a Red Bull League of its Own showmatch. It placed first in NLC’s pre-tournament seeding with a 100% win rate and also conquered the NNO Cup. If Los Ratones places first in the NLC, it will earn a coveted spot in EMEA Masters Winter 2025. Los Ratones would not gain entry to the greater LEC by winning EMEA Masters, as the LEC is a franchised league. However, it is still an extremely prestigious event that can solidify an organization’s place in League of Legends esports and offer greater opportunities.
Caedrel has also mentioned in recent streams that he believes Los Ratones has the potential to beat several LEC teams. The organization’s performance in the NLC Finals, and possibly in EMEA Masters, will put this statement to the test. Los Ratones’ qualification to EMEA Masters would be monumental, and an upset from a competing NLC team would likewise put them on the League of Legends map.
The League of Legends NLC 2025 Winter Grand Finals will occur on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at 5:00 AM ET. Here’s a quick conversion of that time in multiple time zones:
In this event, Los Ratones will face off against NORD Esports. Los Ratones previously defeated NORD in the tournament’s upper bracket, and the team has returned after a strong lower bracket run. The two teams have also scrimmed against each other. With an EMEA Masters slot available to the winner, everything is on the line in this matchup. NORD Esports has a chance for revenge, and Los Ratones can prove themselves to the world by ascending into A-tier competition once and for all.
Fans can keep tabs on the event’s standings at its official website, www.nlc.gg. The site displays upcoming matches, live streams of ongoing events, information about the circuit, and details on each of its teams.
The NLC has an official Twitch, which primarily streams its matches. Many League of Legends esports creators also hold watch parties or stream their reactions to the tournament. On YouTube, the NLC posts VODs and livestreams games at @NLClol. For quick post updates, the NLC’s X.com is also @NLClol.
Each Los Ratones member also has Twitch and YouTube channels for publicly posting scrims, VODs and reactions. While they won’t be streaming matches live for competitive integrity, the streams often provide insight, analysis and commentary. NORD Esports also has a Twitch channel at twitch.tv/nord_esports, which includes links to each player on its main page.
