North American esports organization and lifestyle brand 100 Thieves has parted ways with head coach Neil “pr0lly” Hammad of its League of Legends team. Once a competitive player himself, pr0lly joined 100 Thieves as part of their entrance into the North American League of Legends scene during the 2018 Spring Split.
Today, we part ways with @pr0lly, our League of Legends Head Coach.
Neil, thank you for everything these past 2 years. We wish you the best in the future. pic.twitter.com/1fdhq4x0M4
— 100 Thieves (@100Thieves) November 8, 2019
100 Thieves part ways with pr0lly
“100 Thieves has allowed me to explore my options for the 2020 season. They were a great org, thanks for everything and all the awesome people over there! See you guys soon,” said pr0lly on Twitter. The 29-year-old joined 100 Thieves as Head Coach in 2018, when the organization joined the franchised League of Legends Championship Series (LCS). The initial roster consisted of Ryu “Ryu” Sang-wook, Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho, Sun “Cody Sun” Li-Yu and Zaqueri “aphromoo” Black, and William “Meteos” Hartman.
Since joining, the roster went on to place 1st at the 2018 NA LCS Spring Split and 3rd in the Summer Split. Although the team only achieved a 4th place finish in the 2018 NA LCS Summer Playoffs, 100 Thieves locked in a slot for the 2018 World Championships with their Championship Points. As many expected, the team wasn’t able to make it out of the Group Stage with powerhouse opponents like Fnatic and Invictus Gaming. However, after the 9 – 12th place finish, the team made several roster changes that did not pan out.
Disastrous performance
100 Thieves brought on back-to-back SK Telecom T1 World Champion ADC Bae “Bang” Jun-sik. However, it also parted ways with Cody Sun and replaced Ryu with Choi “huhi” Jae-hyun. After a string of losses, the team tried out several different team combinations by swapping players between the main and academy rosters. This didn’t seem to work out, as the team finished dead last in the 2019 LCS Spring Split. Maurice “Amazing” Stückenschneider replaced huhi for the Summer Split. While the team tried to make a playoffs run in the last few weeks of the Summer Split, it still ended in eighth place.
Even if the players didn’t seem to fit together, it wasn’t surprising that the organization would try a change in the coaching staff. With a recent hire in former League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) caster Chris “PapaSmithy” Smith as General Manager, the team seems to be hopeful for better results in the 2020 season. With bottom-half bracket results, 100 Thieves can try just about anything to find better results.
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