In the League of Legends there is a German who is right up there. That is Fabian “GrabbZ” Lohmann, the 24-year-old coach of G2 Esports, currently the best LoL team in Europe. He views the departures of European players like Broxah or Kobbe to the USA as easy: they are replaceable.
Who is speaking? Fabian “GrabbZ” Lohmann is 24 and coach of G2 Esports, the world championship runners-up. He is as old as his oldest player there, the jungler Jankos.
In an AMA on reddit there was the opportunity to read his views on current topics. Such as regarding the question of whether the European LoL league suffers from the fact that “top talents” move to the USA every year.
Because there apparently more money is paid.
Fan says: Every year “top talents” go to the USA
This is the situation: Every year some top players from Europe switch to the LCS in the USA:
- The LCS is currently the weakest league of the major 4 regions (China, Europe, USA, Korea) – at the Worlds in 2019, no US team made it past the group stage
- Nonetheless, every year some strong players move there – often these are players from South Korea who have won championships there, like Impact, who plays for Team Liquid – but there is also a trend towards signing Europeans
- The LCS is an import league. So in 2020, there will only be one “mid laner” in the US league who is actually from the USA – also US veterans of League of Legends like Pobelter or young talents like Damonte will have been replaced by “imports” in 2020 (via inven)
With this clip, TSM announced the signing of Kobbe
Which strong players are moving to the USA this year?
The ADC Kobbe is moving to TSM. “Team SoloMid” is known for relying on European imports. Kobbe was last year’s ADC and shooting star for Splyce, the third force in Europe.
Kobbe meets another Dane in the current TSM team: Bjergsen has been playing in the USA since 2013 – the mid laner is considered one of the best players there, but has not won anything in recent years.
Additionally, jungler Broxah transferred from the EU top team Fnatic to Team Liquid . This came after a Worlds 2019, during which some fans identified Broxah as the weakness of his team, which he found unfair.
Top talent does not switch
This is what GrabbZ says:
“I don’t think top talents are switching. The players who go to North America are making the (smart) financial decision to give up winning in exchange for more money. All these players wouldn’t contribute anything to the competitiveness of the LEC on an international level.
As I see it, we get 10 or more hungry rookies every year who challenge veterans. So I’m not worried.”
Fabian “GrabbZ” Lohmann on reddit
When confronted with whether jungler Broxah and ADC Kobbe are therefore not top talents in European League of Legends, GrabbZ replies: Both players would be replaceable by EU talents. They would not leave a lasting gap.
As LoL talents that would be missed, GrabbZ names his players mid laner Caps and bot laner Perkz. There would also be a gap if Doublelift were to leave the North America region.
