Kevin "RotterdaM" van der Kooi (Dutch: ['kɛvIn vɑn dɛʁ ko:i]) is a StarCraft II player and caster from the Netherlands currently playing for Team QLASH.

Overview [ edit ]

RotterdaM was formerly a Warcraft III professional gamer & commentator and later a captain of a professional Heroes of Newerth team before switching to playing StarCraft II. RotterdaM later stopped competing professionally and instead put his talents towards becoming a successful analytical commentator. While he does not play professionally he practices often in order to keep up his knowledge of the game.

In Beta [ edit ]

Rotterdam started playing the beta shortly after the release of the first beta keys. He was at this time competing professionally in Heroes of Newerth. He eventually decided he wanted to switch to StarCraft II full-time and joined Dutch professional gaming team Serious Gaming alongside NaNiwa.

Wings of Liberty [ edit ]

In November 2010, Rotterdam announced that he had began working for Turtle Entertainment (ESL TV) as their main English StarCraft II commentator. He moved to Cologne, Germany[2] and began commentating tournaments broadcasted by ESL TV, like the Go4SC2 bi-weekly cup and IEM. He moved in with British progamer DeMusliM, who had moved to Cologne to participate in another ESL run tournament, EPS, and be closer to the unofficial European hub of esports. DeMusliM became a frequent co-caster with RotterdaM which led to the show "All Eyes on DeMusliM" [3] charting the return of the "Devil Terran" after his absence, due to injury, from the eSports scene. RotterdaM also began the show "Rotterdam University".[4] This educational show was an attempt to teach ESL product manager Carmac how to play StarCraft II. Later DeMusliM announced his decision to move to America and to move in to the EG Lair. This inspired ESL to begin searching for a new, permanent, co-caster for RotterdaM.

This long-term casting partner was found in MrBitter. ESL then announced a trio of new shows that the duo would host: "The grass is always greener",[5] "Map of the Month"[6] and a continuation of MrBitter's old program "12 weeks with the pros",[7] the last of which never came to fruition. The partnership seemed to do only good things for the casters as the were invited to more tournaments within Europe and even in the US. "BitterdaM", as they were now known, known as casted all of the high profile IEM events in the 2011 season together as well as the European Blizzard Invitational and Lone Star Clash. As their popularity increased and they became a more cohesive duo this lead to concerns, voiced by Carmac, that they would inevitably find a better opportunity for work outside of the ESL.[Citation needed]

In March 2012, it was announced that he and MrBitter would be leaving Turtle Entertainment (ESL TV).[8] Shortly after, NASL announced that RotterdaM and MrBitter would be joining the casting crew for NASL Season 3.[9] Apart from casting the NASL tournaments, RotterdaM hosted a show called "Euro update" in which he continued to cover the recent news from the European StarCraft II scene for overseas viewers.[10]

On Real Talk, 2GD mentioned that initially RotterdaM was unwilling to leave ESL TV when MrBitter was going to leave for NASL. MrBitter persuaded NASL to put more effort into getting RotterdaM as without him it would not be the big announcement NASL could have had. 2GD mentioned that RotterdaM left ESL TV on good terms.[11]

On May 10, 2012, RotterdaM confirmed that he would participate in the open bracket of the 2012 MLG Spring Championship as a player.[12]

On April 26, 2012, Serious Gaming disbanded its StarCraft II team[13] and RotterdaM was left teamless. On May 18, CatZ announced that RotterdaM had joined ROOT Gaming, not as a caster, but as a player. With his move from Europe to North America, RotterdaM prioritised his casting career but was looking for a team to quench his competitive nature. RotterdaM sought to be an asset for the team, in particular in the team league region. He also began to regularly stream his practice games.[14]

Heart of the Swarm [ edit ]

As a player he has periods in which he played a lot. He is known for always streaming while playing and being very interactive with his chat and fans. He even reached the level of Grandmaster a few times on the NA server as well as Master on the korean server. Confirming that he is a formidable player. He is especially known for his micro and disgusting protoss strategies. Like the 'Rotti-build', which is basically a tempest rush/contain against terran. Some of his fans claim that the 'disgusting' styles are a tribute to his insight in the game, being able to see inbalances, timings and abuse these. This also seen in his pvz where he uses a combo of dark templars and phoenixes. His achilles' heel seems to be late macro games as he tries to avoid these and focuses on timings and (semi) cheeses.

Legacy of the Void [ edit ]

In the end of 2015, he was invited to participate in HomeStory Cup XII. The dutch protoss did not advance out of the first group stage, but he took a map of HeRoMaRinE, who got out of the group in first place.

He left ROOT Gaming in January 2017.[ Inside Source ]

He frequently places in GM. As of January 3rd 2019 RotterdaM achieved 6235 MMR on stream, usually floating between 5800 and 6100.

In November 2018 he joined Team QLASH.

Achievements [ edit ]

Trivia [ edit ]

He is a fan of the Korean Protoss player Rain. [15]

Frequently streams ladder, playing protoss and random.

Is known for his love of Monster Energy Ultra.

Interviews [ edit ]

2014 [ edit ]

2013 [ edit ]

2012 [ edit ]

Gallery [ edit ]

First Person View Match VODS [ edit ]

Statistics [ edit ]

Matchup Statistics

vs vs vs vs Total Record Win% Record Win% Record Win% Record Win% Record Win% as 47 - 82 36.4 % 49 - 69 41.5 % 45 - 85 34.6 % 7 - 1 87.5 % 148 - 237 38.4 % as 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 6 - 0 100 % 6 - 0 100 %

Earnings Statistics

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Medal Statistics

Tier Total Major 0 0 1 1 Minor 3 2 4 9 Monthly 0 1 0 1 Weekly 2 1 2 5 Daily 0 0 1 1 Total 5 4 8 17