LoL: The Supercoach of eSports

Since 2011, no European team has succeeded in celebrating a major international success in League of Legends. G2 now won the MSI in Taipei.

For the European fans, the almost eternal dry spell is over: G2 Esports made the impossible possible last Sunday and defeated the competition from North America, Team Liquid, in dizzying record time.

The only German of the team, Fabian “GrabbZ” Lohmann, is decisively responsible for the success. Born in Germany, he has been a G2 staff member since December 2017 and previously worked as an analyst for the former EU-LCS teams Unicorns of Love and Giants Gaming before taking on the role of Head Coach at the eSports organisation founded by Carlos “ocelote” Rodriguez.

In his debut season he managed to win the popular regional competition Rift Rivals 2018 with G2 Esports, but in the following summer split he did not manage to get past fifth and sixth place respectively.

Worlds 2018: World Championship appearance

Nevertheless, this was enough for G2 Esports to play in the so-called National Gauntlet for the last European World Cup ticket. In the end, the team defeated the competition from Schalke and took part as the third EU team in the World Championship 2018 in Busan.

Here, G2 provided for attentive glances when the EU-LCS team not only managed to survive the Playin Stage and beat Flash Wolves during the group phase, but especially the open exchange of blows with Royal Never Give Up during the quarterfinals, at the end of which G2 emerged as the winner, put the league community into pure ecstasy.

Although it was not enough to qualify for the final and G2 had to be beaten by Invictus Gaming, it was clear to many that from now on the European organisation was to be expected.

And indeed, after the World Championship and the rebranding of the EU LCS to the LEC G2, the masterpiece and the win of the Spring Split Final in Rotterdam were achieved. Thus the team qualified for the Mid-Season Invitationals 2019 in Vietnam respectively Taipei.

“We beat SKT and iG”

In an interview, GrabbZ revealed that G2 would definitely play for the title, but would like to give priority to the participating teams. “We are currently in this bubble and have no special feelings for the tournament itself, but see teams like SKT and iG that we want to beat,” Lohmann said during the group stage in Hanoi, Vietnam.

In the end, G2 did a great job, winning their first international title for a European team since the first World Cup in 2011. But GrabbZ does not want to rest on its laurels. In just a few weeks, the second half of the season and the summer split in the LEC will start. G2 Esports also wants to win this one.