0:00 – What’s an average day for the Immortals Head Coach?

0:47 – How did you become the coach of a professional LoL team?

2:21 – What is it like working with Dardoch?

3:44 – What separates IMT from other VC-funded eSports orgs?

5:04 – What’s been different in your second year coachin for IMT?

6:20 – Will Immortals go to Worlds?

The flurry of offseason trades between splits in League of Legends eSports has begun with a bang. Immortals have traded star jungler Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett to Counter Logic Gaming in exchange for veteran Jake “Xmithie” Puchero.

This roster move came after Immortals missed playoffs by a razor thin margin, tying with Flyquest in match score but losing in game score. Dardoch led the league in Player of the Game awards in the NA LCS Spring Split, carrying several games for the Immortals side. However, the organization decided on a different direction, citing personality clashes as a primary reason for the swap.

On March 29, 2017, Immortals Head Coach Robert Yip sat down with HOWLA for an interview spot on the launch broadcast. Yip discussed his career in eSports thus far, as well as how Immortals plans to adjust after a disappointing spring split finish. While the trade was, at least to the public, nonexistent at the time of the interview, Yip mentioned that working with Dardoch was not going to be an overnight fix.

“It’s a case of ‘I’m going to work on it every single day; try to get better at it,'” Yip said in regards to Dardoch’s approach to his behavioral tendencies, “At a certain point, he has to take ownership of what he’s doing, and we have to be able to say ‘We did everything we could’ so both parties can actually sleep a little bit better at night.”

Yip also mentioned Immortals’ focus on investing in their current players long term, citing a tendency for teams to break up after Worlds as a stigma of the LoL eSports scene. Xmithie’s veteran presence will provide a mentor for rookie AD Carry Cody “Cody Sun” Sun, and should aid roster development due to his wealth of experience both domestically and internationally.

Check out our exclusive interview with Révenge here.