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An era in European League of Legends is coming to a close. One of the best coaches in Western history, Luis “Deilor” Sevilla, has stepped down from his position with Fnatic after nearly two full seasons with the team, the organization announced in a press release Saturday.
Deilor was hired in January 2015, after Fnatic’s first-ever EU LCS split that didn’t result in a championship. From there, Fnatic went on a run, winning the next two EU LCS splits, making the semifinals of the 2015 Mid-Season Invitational and Worlds and making the 2016 IEM World Finals.
Deilor is perhaps most well-known for leading Fnatic to a perfect 18-0 regular season in the 2015 EU LCS Summer Split, becoming the first LCS team ever to run through a perfect regular season.
But Fnatic struggled this season. After losing long-time starting support Bora “YellowStar” Kim to North America, Fnatic went 9-9 in the regular season, salvaging third place in the playoffs. YellowStar returned for the Summer Split, but Fnatic’s fortunes did not improve — the team went 7-6-5, collapsing down the stretch and finishing in fifth place.
In the release, Deilor said changes needed to happen before Worlds:
Our results are the consequence of how the team has been working and it's clear that there are issues that I'm not able to fix. For the last couple of months my work hasn't lead us to a healthy environment, the team has barely improved and we didn't have positive results. From my point of view, this is not acceptable with such a talented roster.
As a coach, if you are not able to fix the issues it means that you are not doing your job properly or players aren't willing to cooperate. In any case, changes need to be made as soon as possible so the team continues growing looking into Worlds.
Deilor will be replaced by former Origen head coach Nico "NicoThePico" Korsgård, who had been working as an assistant head coach with Fnatic. Fnatic plays H2K in the quarterfinal round of the EU LCS playoffs Sunday, August 14.