Jakob ”YamatoCannon” Mebdi during the EU LCS Spring Split. Photo: Riot / Flickr

After an eventful and ultimately disappointing season with MeetYourMakers, coach Jakob ”YamatoCannon” Mebdi is set to part ways with the team to temporarily coach russian squad GpX on their road to the Wild Card Tournament.

But the ultimate goal is to return to the LCS in the near future.

– Right now I really feel ready to coach a LCS team, I want to use the knowledge I’ve gained in MYM, he tells Aftonbladet Esport.

The season started in the worst way possible, as Sebastian ”Falli” Rotterdam was fired after being recorded while threatening Marcin ”Kori” Wolski. After the incident, the team never managed to get themselves together and went on a long losing streak during the spring split.

– What was most frustrating was that Kori left the house, I think that affected us the most as it made the players lose hope. And for Nisbeth, being in a team for the first time, it wasn’t something you’re prepared for. We lost a lot of practice time, coach Jakob ”YamatoCannon” Mebdi says.

Lost the deciding relegation game

Even though MeetYourMakers struggled for the entire season, they had one last chance to avoid direct relegation. But in the deciding game against Giants Gaming, they fell once again.

– It felt like when we lost in Dragonborns during season 3 when we were up 2-0 in the qualifiers to LCS and lost 3-2. I had the exact same feeling. In the beginning it was really depressing we were that close, when you look at the game and see that there were ways we could’ve won it but we did some small mistakes. But at the same time it’s the start of something new when you think about it for a while.

”We accepted what happened”

How has the team spirit been throughout the season after everything you’ve been through?

– It’s hard to say that we’ve stuck together compared to other teams I’ve been in where the spirit has been better, but we accepted what happened and that we could be relegated seeing how things were going.

– From my perspective I’m not completely dissatisfied with how the season turned out. We have to look at how we grew as a team, from how we looked in the start to the squad we were in the end. I’m pleased with that improvement.

There’s been a lot of rumors surrounding the team, players leaving and so on. What have you thought about that?

– It’s like comedy to us, we usually read the articles and laugh because they know things we don’t know. It’s funny, ”oh, we’re replacing a player, we didn’t know that!”.

– The biggest lie I’ve read is that the communication with H0r0 has been an issue. His english is better than mine. We had some trouble that people weren’t talking but you can’t blame H0r0, when things went bad everyone just went quiet.

”H0r0 has taught me a lot”

After the relegation, YamatoCannon now says he’ll move on from MYM as his contract has ended and he wants to continue in the LCS. But first he’ll travel to Belarus and coach GpX during StarSeries, as they try to make their way to the Wild Card Tournament later this spring.

– I don’t like to take breaks and want to keep active. We’ll first play Virtus.Pro and them probably M5. If we win we’ll play the Wild Card Tournament and if we win that we’ll get to play the Mid Season Invitational which is a dream for me, to be crushed by Korean and Chinese teams, he says and laughs.

But the dream is to keep coaching another LCS squad, as the deal with GpX is only temporary.

– Right now I really feel ready to coach a LCS team, I want to use the knowledge I’ve gained in MYM. H0r0 has actually taught me a lot, since he’s been coached by Kim ”kkOma” Jung-gyun that put together SKT with Faker and won Worlds. H0r0 has told me things he does and with that knowledge I feel I want to keep coaching.

After being asked which team he’d like to coach, he thinks for a while and then answers:

– I would like to coach Team Liquid. They should’ve been able to do way better with the team they have.

”Wouldn’t be surprised if someone bid on the players”

Even though Mebdis contract has ended, the players are still contracted by MYM and if nothing happens they will play in the Challenger Series next split, but YamatoCannon thinks some of them will probably be bought out.

– All of them are on an LCS level and I wouldn’t be surprised if someone bid on them.

But according to MYM eSports manager Damir Dedic, no offers have yet come in.

– The players are contracted and so far everyone wants to stay so I guess we’ll keep playing Challenger Series.

And Dedic also tells Aftonbladet Esport that they’re looking into a possible replacement for YamatoCannon.