Following reports that the European League of Legends squad for ROCCAT Gaming has had two of its players signed by H2K for the start of the 2016 LCS season, it looks like coach Jakob “YamatoCannon” Mebdi will be also leaving the organisation. Industry sources, who wish to remain anonymous, have told Breitbart Tech that the coach has been cleared to talk to other organisations about joining them and has begun that process.
Mebdi is a popular figure in League of Legends thanks to his appearances on the LCS broadcast analysis desk and his on-stage showmanship. His time as a coach in ROCCAT has seen the team achieve unspectacular but steady mid-table finishes.
As the organisation looks to rebuild a team around Norwegian star player Erlend “Nukeduck” Våtevik Holm, it seems that Mebdi has become increasingly frustrated with these efforts. The tipping point seems to have been the departure of Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski and Oskar “VandeR” Bogdan to European rivals H2K.
“Ideally for him he’d not leave the organisation,” one source told us, “But with so much money in League these days ROCCAT is struggling to hold on to their best players. He really wanted to keep hold of Vander and Jankos. They also haven’t been able to bring in the players he wants due to this.”
The source also explained that ROCCAT had attempted, at Mebdi’s behest, to bring in star players Konstantinos “FORG1VEN” Tzortziou and Lucas “Cabochard” Simon-Meslet from Gambit gaming but were unable to compete with other offers those players had on the table.
Breitbart contacted Mebdi, who offered no comment.