(Photo credits go to: lolesports' flickr)
YellOwStaR makes his way back home to EU after not finding success in NA.
Back in December 2015, we announced Bora “YellOwStaR” Kim’s departure from Fnatic. He had decided that he wanted to experience a change of scenery, having spent a majority of his professional gaming career with FNC. Today, however, marks his return to Europe as he will once again be donning the infamous black and orange jersey.
YellOwStaR spent the entirety of the 2016 North American League Championship Series Spring Split with Team SoloMid. Although TSM is a highly respected team in North America, their powerhouse roster seemed to only look good on paper. Many thought that with the new bottom lane additions of both YellOwStaR and Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng, TSM would reclaim the first place spot in the rankings that was taken away from them during the 2015 NA LCS Summer Split by Counter Logic Gaming. Sadly, things didn’t go as planned.
TSM struggled throughout the Spring Split, lacking synergy within the team. This could have been caused by having three players (that were once the shot caller for their team) in one lineup. At one point it was even doubted that TSM could acquire a playoff spot, but luckily for them, they were able to snatch the very last spot.
During playoffs, TSM had to go against two of NA’s arguably best teams – Cloud 9 and Immortals. Although it seems reasonable to assume that TSM could beat C9 easily, many people were flabbergasted at the fact that Immortals, the team that has only lost one game during the regular season, were 3-0'd by middle-of-the-pack team TSM. Sadly for them, their success was ended as CLG once again claimed first place in the NA LCS by going 3-2.
Fnatic had somewhat of a similar story as TSM. Throughout the 2016 EU LCS Spring Split, Fnatic had been a middle-of-the-pack team and had barely secured a spot for playoffs. FNC showed dominance when playing against Team Vitality, one of the top three teams of EU, but fell short when going against G2 eSports during the Semifinals. It was clear that what FNC lacked was synergy in the bottom lane. Martin “Rekkles” Larsson, arguably one of the best ADCs in EU, had gone through having two different supports during his return to FNC in the Spring Split.
The return of YellOwStaR to Fnatic could potentially be a win-win situation for both TSM and FNC. Team SoloMid can continue trying out different Support players to see who will mesh best with their current roster while FNC will now have their beloved shot caller back on the rift.
