With the 2016 LCS Spring Split Playoffs on the horizon, we take time to honor the players and coaches for their outstanding performance and valuable contributions to their teams’ achievements.
Following tradition, we will honor the Most Valuable Player, Outstanding Rookie, and Best Coach of the 2016 Spring Split.
Players and coaches will be presented with their awards over the next few weeks on PTL and at the Spring Split Finals at Las Vegas and Rotterdam. Now, we’ve got some methodology information below to share more context on the awards.
Who votes on the awards?
The awards were voted on by three different groups: Riot’s LCS team, scene journalists that cover the LCS professionally, and the LCS teams. From Riot, people from broadcast, content, casters, observers, and statisticians voted. Journalists that cover the LCS for outlets like ESPN, or The Score, were also given ballots. And finally, we offered each organization, and the starting players on those teams, the opportunity to vote, though not all took us up on the offer.
What is a “Rookie”?
There has been much debate over what qualifies as a Rookie for the purposes of awards. The spirit of a rookie, is someone who is making their debut in professional leagues. But the substitute culture of League of Legends has instances that blur this line. There are situations where a player has limited professional experience, such as Trick from G2 Esports or Keith from Echo Fox. These players have been consistent substitutes in pro play, but have previously never been a regular starter for a professional team. Then there are some other players like Huhi or Gate, who were definitive starters, but for a very short time or in leagues with very few number of games (such as the earlier seasons of Champions Korea).
Situations like these make the term “rookie” ambiguous. Is Huhi a rookie? Is Keith a rookie? The situations certainly feel different, but in a way that is difficult to quantify.
With our new rule, we wanted to make a compromise between acknowledging the substitute culture in League of Legends, and keeping the spirit of what a rookie really is meaningful.
Given that, we decided that the best definition for a Rookie is a player that has played in 1 or fewer series in a professional league.
This means that players that substituted for an extended period of a time in the past would not be considered rookies, and players that were starters for a short time would also not be rookies. However, players who were clearly temporary substitutes (as opposed to regular or long term substitutes), and didn’t get a realistic chance to prove themselves, would remain rookies.
Now, onto the awards. As a note, runner ups are presented in order from 2nd to 4th place.
Europe
Most Valuable Player: Trick from G2 Esports
Runner Ups: PerkZ from G2 | Steeelback from UOL | FORG1VENGRE from H2K
Outstanding Rookie: PerkZ from G2 Esports
Runner Ups: Hybrid from G2 | Sencux from SPY | Eika from EL
Best Coach: Youngbuck from G2 Esports
Runner Ups: Pr0lly from H2K | Shaunz from VIT | Sheepy from UOL
All Pro Teams
1st Team:
- Cabochard (VIT)
- Trick (G2)
- PerkZ (G2)
- Steeelback (UOL)
- KaSing (VIT)
2nd Team:
- Odoamne (H2K)
- Jankos (H2K)
- Nukeduck (VIT)
- FORG1VENGRE (H2K)
- Hybrid (G2)
3rd team:
- Vizicsacsi (UOL)
- Shook (VIT)
- Fox (UOL)
- Emperor (G2)
- VandeR (H2K)
North America
Most Valuable Player: Reignover from Immortals
Runner Ups: Jensen from C9 | Wildturtle from IMT | Adrian from IMT
Outstanding Rookie: Dardoch from Liquid
Runner Ups: Stixxay from CLG | Matt from TL | Lourlo from TL
Best Coach: Dylan Falco from Immortals
Runner Ups: Zikz from CLG | LemonNation from C9 | Locodoco from TL
All Pro Teams
1st Team:
- Huni (IMT)
- Reignover (IMT)
- Jensen (C9)
- Wildturtle (IMT)
- Adrian (IMT)
2nd Team:
- Darshan (CLG)
- Rush (C9)
- Pobelter (IMT)
- Sneaky (C9)
- Hai (C9)
3rd team:
- Balls (C9)
- Dardoch (TL)
- Bjergsen (TSM)
- Piglet (TL)
- Aphromoo (CLG)
What do you think of the winners? Who do you think were the best players of the Spring Split?
Let us know in the comments below!
