Many LCS fans may not have heard of Peter Dun. To be honest, though, you can’t blame them. Peter Dun made his career coaching dominant teams in other regions including CBLOL and the LEC. Finally though, he has made his debut in the LCS with Evil Geniuses. If Coach Dun can carry over his success from his previous ventures, Evil Geniuses will stand a great chance of winning the LCS or even making Worlds.
Peter Dun at INTZ:
Coach Dun started off his League of Legends professional career on INTZ. INTZ is a historic team from the CBLOL, making Worlds numerous times, one of which was under Coach Dun. In his first year on INTZ, he was an analyst. During this initial debut, INTZ won the Spring Split making it to the International Wildcard Invitational for the 2015 MSI tournament.
They unfortunately ended up losing this and did not make it to MSI, but it showed how strong INTZ and ultimately Peter Dun both were. In the Summer Split of CBLOL, they once again made it to Finals. Ironically, they played against Pain Gaming, who they beat in the spring. Pain Gaming ended up taking the series 3-0 and made it to Worlds that year. Pain ended up going 2-4 taking down CLG and Flashwolves which many people did not expect. It brought respect to CBLOL and showed that this region wasn’t a joke.
For the 2016 season, Peter Dun was promoted to head coach. INTZ once again dominated the league making the finals and beating Keyd Stars for another CBLOL Championship. This qualified them once again to get a shot at MSI. Unfortunately for the roster, they had a disappointing run and placed third. INTZ and Coach Dun were so close to making international play yet again, but didn’t. This would all change in the Summer Split. INTZ once again dominated their way through the CBLOL season and made it to the finals. They once again won and had the chance to make Worlds. At the 2016 International Wildcard Qualifier, INTZ placed second in the group stage giving them a chance in a BO5 to make worlds. They played against Dark Passage from Turkey and won the series 3-2. Finally INTZ and Dun got a chance at Worlds.
INTZ was placed into group C which consisted of H2K-Gaming (LEC), EDward Gaming (LPL) and ahq eSports Club (LMS). Their first day started strong taking down EDward Gaming who were favorites from China to possibly win the tournament. Unfortunately, despite the 1-0 start, the rest of the tournament wasn’t so kind. INTZ lost the next five games. This wasn’t the end for INTZ at international play or Coach Dun. This was only the beginning.
Splyce
After proving his worth in the CBLOL, Spylce from the then EU LCS decided to make him their Head Coach for the 2017 season. This was the first time Dun got to coach in a major region. Unfortunately, his first year didn’t go as planned. During this time, the EU LCS had two groups, similar to the AFC and NFC. Splyce was in Group B, which had Team Vilality, Unicorns of Love, Origen and H2k Gaming. The ended up placing third in Spring Split for Group B and made the playoff. First game of the playoffs though, the lost to Misfits 3-2. No MSI for Splyce or Peter Dun.
Despite not winning the Spring Split and making it to MSI, Worlds was still on the table. They once again placed third in their group making playoffs. This time, they placed against G2 Esports. Not surprisingly, G2 bested them winning the series, killing Splyce’s dreams of international play.
The 2018 season came around and Peter Dun was still the Head Coach. Splyce didn’t have a bad year, but they knew they could do better. Their 2018 roster consisted of a lot of players many people would have heard of including Nisqy, Kobbe, Xerxe, Odoamme and kaSing. This roster had the talent to win. The question was, could they do it? They started off the Spring Split in a dominate fashion being tied for second with a 11-7 record. They made the playoffs and swept their first round series 3-0. This is when they had to play against their nemesis G2 Esports. They lost once again to them 1-3, but won the third place match against Vitality.
Splyce went into the Summer Split hoping that they could possibly punch their ticket for worlds improving over their spring performance. They ended up only going 9-9 in the regular season and made playoffs. They then played against Schalke 04 who beat them 3-2. This didn’t mean that Splyce’s worlds dreams were over. They still could win the Regional Qualifiers.
Splyce beat Misfits round one and then played against G2 Esports yet again. Unfortunately, Spylce lost this incredibly close series 2-3. Splyce was yet again so close to making it and failed. The foundation was there. Splyce showed that they could be a top team in the LEC.
Spylce Steps It Up:
2019 was the year in which Peter Dun and Splyce stepped it up. They tied their 2018 Spring Split record once again going 11-7, getting 4th place. Playoff time was around and could they make the run? They won their first series against SK Gaming 3-1 in a dominate fashion. Next up though was one of the two kings of the LEC, Fnatic. While the score of 3-1 Fnatic might not show it, the series was incredibly close with a lot of tight games. Splyce ended up placing 4th this split.
Summer Split was going to be the chance Splyce and Peter Dun needed at making worlds. They placed 3rd in the Summer Split with a record of 12-6. They got to choose who they would play against in the playoffs and chose Rogue. This ended up being a bad decision as they got swept 3-0. This means the only path to Worlds was the Regional Qualifiers.
In Round 1, Splyce played Origen. Unlike their playoff performance, this series was back and forth, but Splyce won 3-2. In Round 2, they played Shalke 04 and swept them. This qualified Splyce for Worlds 2019 and for Peter Dun his return to the international stage. This didn’t mean the regional qualifiers were over though, they still had to play Fnatic to see who got the 2nd and 3rd seed. Splyce ended up losing the series 3-0. It didn’t matter, though. This was their chance for glory.
Worlds 2019:
Splyce being the third seed from the LEC had to play in the Play-In Stage. They were placed in Group B with Isurus from Latin America and DetonatioN FocusMe from Japan. Spylce went 3-1 in this group dropping a game to DetonatioN FocusMe. This secured them 1st place in the group and their chance at a BO5 in the Knockout Stage. They were matched against Russian favorites Unicorns of Love. This was Splyce’s chance. The BO5 was closest of the entire Play-In Stage with Splyce sneaking away the victory in Game 5. They had successfully made it out of Play-In Stage and now how to face their biggest challenge yet.
In the Group Stage of Worlds 2019 Splyce was put in B. This group had eventual Chinese Winner FunPlus Phoenix, J Team from the LMS and GAM Esports from Vietnam. It’s fair to say this was considered the weakest group of the bunch and was anyone’s game. Splyce started off win a win over GAM Esports before losing their next two to FunPlus Phoenix and J Team. With a 1-2 record going into their second half of the bracket, Splyce would need to win at least two to advance. Splyce though didn’t do that. They won all three catapulting them to a 4-2 record and a tie for first place with FunPlus Phoenix. FPX ended up winning the tiebreaker game, but Peter Dun for the first time made it out of the Group Stage.
Getting out of groups was one thing, but winning a Knockout Stage BO5 is another. This only becomes harder when Splyce realized they needed to play against SK Telecom T1 or better known as SKT T1. SKT T1 was considered the favorites going into Worlds 2019. SKT was full of superstar names including Khan, Clid, Teddy, Effort and of course, Faker. Splyce would need a monumental miracle to make it out of this series. Well, game-day happened and they didn’t. Spylce fell 3-1. They did win Game 3, showing that they were a strong roster, but SKT T1 was just stronger. Splyce had an incredible run, making it out of Play-Ins, Group-Stage and even taking a game off of SKT T1.
Mad Lions:
In the 2019-2020 off-season, Spylce was rebranded to Mad Lions. They kept Peter Dun as their headcoach and went into 2020 with a pretty much brand new roster. They had Orome, Shad0w, Humanoid, Carzzy and Kaiser. What made this roster so special is that for a lot of these players, this was their first season in the LEC. This makes what Mad Lions were about to do even more special. Mad Lions ended the Spring Split with a 11-7 record which seems to be a recurring motif for the brand. For this season, the Playoff bracket had changed. Mad Lions secured 4th, which meant they were in the upper half. So if they lost a BO5, they still could make a run in the lower bracket / losers bracket.
Mad Lions had to play against an old rival from the Spylce days round one, G2 Esports. In one of the biggest upsets in the LEC, Mad Lions ended up beating G2 Esports 3-2 in an insane BO5 series. They then went on to face Fnatic in the Winners Finals where they lost 3-0. This brought them to to play against G2 Esports again to see who would make the finals. G2 ended up taking revenge for their winners side defeat in a 3-1 victory. For a team of mostly rookies, Mad Lions put up an incredible 3rd place finish in their first split. That is the sign of a great coach.
The Mad Lions were not done yet as they had something to prove in the Summer Split. Mad Lions had a dominate split ending with a record of 12-6 which was 2nd place in the LEC. Once again in Round 1 of the playoffs, they played against G2 Esports who beat them 3-1. They were then sent to the losers bracket to play against Schalke 04.
The Mad Lions ended up winning this series 3-1 ending the miracle run from Schalke to even make it to that point. This win confirmed that the Mad Lions would make Worlds this year as the LEC had four seeds due to making it to finals the last two years. In the next series, Mad Lions got swept by Rogue, another team of younger players. Mad Lions ended 4th in the LEC, but still had a post season incoming.
Worlds 2020:
Due to being the 4th place seed for the LEC, Mad Lions, much like Spylce before, needed to win Play-Ins. The format for Worlds 2020 was slightly different due to Covid-19 related complications. Mad Lions were placed in Group A which included Team Liquid (LCS), Legacy Esports (OCE), SuperMassive Esports (TR), and ironically INTZ from CBLOL. Peter Duns coaching career had come full circle at this point. Playing against his old team and needing to beat them to make it out. The first game in Play-Ins for Mad Lions was even against INTZ. In a game which included a misclick TP, tons of questionable positioning and a fiesta-like atmosphere, Mad Lions ended up taking the victory. Peter Dun just beat his old team.
The second game was against the Group A favorite, Team Liquid. TL ended up slaughtering Mad Lions in a dominate fashion. This streak of getting bodied continued for the rest of the Group A games. Mad Lions lost to SuperMassive Esports and Legacy Esports ending with a 1-3 record. Luckily for Mad Lions, they were tied for last place with a good old friend, INTZ.
The winner of this would need to win two BO5 series to make it to the Group Stage. Mad Lions, in a much more dominate fashion, beat INTZ and the hopes of CBLOL. Poetic in a sense. Next up, they had to play against SuperMassive Esports. In an incredibly close series, the Turkish team upset EU winning 3-2. This was a very disappointing end to Mad Lions. They were an incredibly young and talented team that didn’t show up on the international stage. This was also the end of Peter Duns time with Splyce / Mad Lions. After promoting Mac, an assistant coach, to the Head Coach position, Peter Dun said far-well and came to North America to join Evil Geniuses.
This is where we end up today. A historic coach with an amazing career is leading one of the most promising looking rosters in the LCS. A coach with a history of taking teams to the top of their respective competition is now entering a new domain. Peter Dun is truly one of, if not the single best coach in the LCS right now. Dun has already expressed that he hopes to achieve what he did with Spylce and Mad Lions with EG and bring the glory back to NA. Glory is something the LCS needs more than ever right now.
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