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Yahoo Esports' 2017 EU LCS Spring Split Outstanding Rookie and Coach awards

Kelsey Moser


Outstanding Rookie and Coach of the Split are difficult categories. They require much more context than can be gleaned by simply watching matches. With cups of coffee and bloodshot eyes, Yahoo Esports’ Emily Rand and I debated the impact of each rookie and coach.

Outstanding Rookie: Team ROCCAT’s Ambrož “Phaxi” Hren

Phaxi is the top laner for Team ROCCAT (lolesports)
Phaxi is the top laner for Team ROCCAT (lolesports)

Runners-Up: Unicorns of Love’s Andrei “Xerxe” Dragomir, Misfits’ Steven “Hans Sama” Liv

Of the five major regions, the European LCS had the most rookie players consistently starting this split. With overall roster strengths ebbing and flowing, it’s difficult to pull one clear rookie from the group as a standout performer when multiple impressive candidates exist.

Ultimately, we selected Team ROCCAT’s Phaxi as the most impressive rookie player of the split. His individual growth and ability to rise as the team’s main carry in their 6-0 turnaround cemented him as the standout. The EU LCS had several rookie top laners this split, making Phaxi’s performances all the more impressive. He proved himself a cut above the likes of Barney “Alphari” Morris, Olof “Flaxxish” Medin, and Max “Satorius” Günther.

Phaxi especially stood out in ROCCAT’s historic victory over G2 Esports, split-pushing and playing disruptively in teamfights as Fizz. His coordination with his jungler sets him up as a centerpiece around which ROCCAT can build in the coming split.

Following Phaxi, we discussed several other options. Rasmus “Caps” Winther made our list as an honorable mention. His inconsistent lane pressure suggests that he still needs time to develop.

Our runner-ups came down to Unicorns of Love’s new jungler Xerxe and Misfits’ Hans Sama. While I expected Alphari to be Misfits’ most impressive rookie, Hans Sama’s steady improvements in bottom lane made him an easy third place choice. Hans Sama spent most of the split enabling Lee “IgNar” Donggeun. Despite some questionable low damage builds, proved a solid asset to Misfits with his teamfight positioning and utility.

Xerxe took the last spot on our Outstanding Rookie list because of his creativity in the jungle position and strong communication with his lanes. Fabian “Exileh” Schubert played a larger role in UoL’s map pressure, but Xerxe kept jungle entrances warded and facilitated communication across the map with vision control. He took the tank role, making niche picks work and letting the team’s star, Kiss “Vizicsacsi” Tamas, shine.

Coach of the Split: Team ROCCAT’s Fabian “GrabbZ” Lohmann

Grabbz is the head coach of Team ROCCAT (lolesports)
Grabbz is the head coach of Team ROCCAT (lolesports)

Runners-Up: H2K-Gaming’s Neil “pr0lly” Hammad, Joey “YoungBuck” Steltenpool

No matter how you look at it, Coach of the Split is a cringe-inducing award. Evaluating a coach’s impact requires behind-the-scenes conversations with players and staff. Even then, there’s no clear way to truly evaluate what makes a coach great for each individual player or environment.

Rather than think of this as expressly about the coach, Emily and I chose to think of this as the team’s coach accepting an award on behalf of the entire organization. From that perspective, GrabbZ, pr0lly, and YoungBuck were easy choices as candidates, though the order was heavily debated.

Emily’s choice for first pick was Grabbz, and he ultimately won Yahoo’s vote. Team ROCCAT’s miraculous turn-around from a 0-7 team to a 6-0 team in the second half begs acknowledgement. It’s not something that can simply be pinned on players. The team actually developed and kept a positive atmosphere, which speaks in part to the team’s staff.

pr0lly wound up as our second choice. Until playoffs, H2K-Gaming remained the team best at early map play and trades. Though they don’t always have the best Baron setups, H2K continue to bring strong early advantages and matchup awareness to Europe. pr0lly remains the most consistently praised coach in the region. Even with H2K’s embarrassing failure this past week, it’s hard not to acknowledge his prowess in the context of the regular season.

By the same token, G2’s first place finishes are taken as a given at this point. It’s almost boring to keep praising them for staying at the top, but more than a year undefeated prior to their loss to ROCCAT demands recognition and respect. YoungBuck will make the list again and again until G2 fall.

You can follow Kelsey Moser (@karonmoser) and Emily Rand (@leagueofemily) on Twitter.