After a nail biting World championship Finals which closed out an incredible season of League of Legends it's time to have a deeper look into a year full of upsets, surprises and revelations. This is why we decided to offer you a series of articles about the main events of 2016.

To start this series off, we will be focusing on the rising stars that emerged around the world during the year. But first we need to address this question:What is a Rookie? According to us a rookie is a player who is making their debut in professional leagues. The only past competitive experiences we are allowing is when a player participated in a Challenger level league or a tourney like the KeSPA Cup or Demacia Cup which are open to subdivision organizations. Also a Rookie has to participate for at least a full split in order to be considered.

As for how we ended-up with this list, we evaluated the players on their overall performance, their progression, their reliability and their team success. This is why we favored a rookie which team had a breakthrough during the year, if possible on the international stage, over a player who couldn't carry his team when it mattered. One example to illustrate this is our pick of Sencux over guys like FoFo (J Team LMS) or NighT (Giants Gaming EU LCS) while both may be more talented than the Danish midlaner, his play helped his team qualify for Worlds.

During the preseason of the 2016 EU LCS Spring Split, most of the attention about Splyce focused on Sencux and Kobbe. While the Danish team endured a difficult split, finish near the bottom of the rankings, the fantastic development of Martin « Wunder » Hansen was one shining ray of hope for the organization.

One of the youngest player in the LCS (he is barely 18 years old), Wunder rise to fame by becoming one of the most complete Toplaner in Europe. Similarly to his teammate Sencux, his main strength is his versatility which enables him to adapt to various styles and strategies.

During the Summer Split he utilized 13 different champions, showing off his ability to understand the Meta and think outside the box. By improving his synergy with the rest of the team, he also became a threat every time he used his TP. His performances were a major factor into Splyce qualification to both the Summer Finals and the World Championship.

However Wunder first international experience wasn't an easy ride. Facing a fierce competition into the « group of death », the young Danish toplaner was regularly dominated by better teams who made a point to crush his lane early.

Although his lack of experience affected his game, he displayed the ability to switch between a large range of champions, like when he debuted Kled against Samsung Galaxy. Though he did have some good moments (the victory against Royal Never Give Up) his showing on the World stage was lackluster.

It's certain that Wunder will use this experience as a fuel to boost his inner fire and keep on working on his game in order to show the naysayers that his EU LCS First Team spot during the Summer Split wasn't a fluke.

Runners up: ADD (MVP), Lourlo (Team Liquid), Ray (Apex Gaming)

2016 was a great year for newcomers of the Korean scene, yet one player standout among the rest: Kyu-seok « Beyond » Kim. The young Jungler signed with MVP at the end of last year and right off the bat, took the Korean Challenger scene by storm. Indeed, by the end of the regular season, his team had won 24 out of 28 games and he was leading all Junglers in most statistical categories.

Fighting Kongdoo Monster for the last LCK spot, Beyond displayed his skills by outjungling Crush and came clutch in a pivotal game three with a 13.0 KDA. The 3-1 victory qualified the very young and inexperienced roster into the highly competitive LCK. While it took some weeks for MVP to adapt to its new environment, the second half of the season was much better for the organization.

In the end Beyond and his teammates concluded the season with a sixth place finish (7 wins and 11 losses), a very promising start. But his personal achievements were greater than that, the young jungler rapidly became one of the best of the league thanks to a first-class pathing, supreme mechanical skills and great timings on his ganks.

Even when MVP was outmatched, like during one series against future World Champions SKT Telecom T1, Beyond was still dominating Blank. Highly considered by the rest of the community, he ranked fourth overall in the MVP race with 800 points, tying Faker, Score, Bang and Kuzan.

Often compared to former MVP Ozone star DanDy, it's still unclear where Beyond is going to play next year. Indeed rumors about a trade are spreading since the end of the season and it's unlikely that MVP will be able to keep such a hot commodity. Without a doubt a lot of organizations, both Koreans and Chinese, are going to offer a lot to get the Korean Jungler.

Runners up: Dardoch (Team Liquid), Crash (Longzhu Gaming), Inori (Phoenix1), Maxlore (Giants Gaming)

Denmark is known for its Midlaners: Bjergsen, Jensen and Froggen have been the top dogs for several seasons across the LCS. But one more player will be added soon to this prestigious list, SplyceMidlanerChres « Sencux » Laursen.

Based on an amazing season in the European Challenger Series which ended with a qualification for the LCS, fans had great expectations of Splyce and its Danish Midlaner. However the Spring Split was a very thorny experience for the young organization which accumulated only 5 wins.

But Sencux' talent rose above the adversity, letting nobody indifferent. While his team was dominated across the map, the young Midlaner showed he had the level to face-off against the best. Although the Dane played his heart out, it was Perkz (G2 Esports) who received the Rookie of the Split award.

Nevertheless Splyce remained in the LCS and decided to make over its gameplay, replaced Nisbeth by Mikyx and kept on practicing during the offseason. During the Summer Split Sencux showcased once again why he was one of the best pure talent of the league by improving his flexibility and his level of play.

The results were amazing for the young roster which quickly became the second best team in Europe, trailing only G2 Esports. While Sencux was unsuccessful during the Summer split Finals, he was able to help his team qualify for the World Championship. Yet his first international experience was a difficult one, the young Midlaner was powerless against some of the best teams in the world. Even if some of his performances were pretty solid, his team was outplayed macro-wise all tournament long.

After this harsh first experience, it's important to look at Sencux bright future. The young Danish now wants to prove he can carry his team to an European title. And who knows, maybe one day he may cross the Atlantic like his predecessors?

Runners up: FoFo (J Team), Scout (EDward Gaming), Athena (I May), Icon (Oh My God), Huhi (Counter Logic Gaming) Perkz (G2 Esports), NighT (Giants Gaming), Exileh (Unicorns of Love).

While a lot of rookies had an exceptional first season in 2016, nobody had a 6 months journey like Jae-hyuk « Ruler » Park. The young ADC was still playing in the Korean Challenger Scene in April, yet he faced SKT Telecom T1 during the World Championship Finals few months later. Scouted by Samsung while playing for Stardust, he quickly became their starting ADC, a position the organization had trouble to fix since the departure of both Imp and Deft.

The signing of Ruler helped stabilize the roster which was switching between Stitch and CoreJJ during the Spring Split. The former Dignitas player, once thought to be the answer at the position, switched to Support.

Early on, Ruler displayed an incredible level of maturity and quickly developed into a very solid ADC. Even with several switches between Wraith and CoreJJ at the Support position, his level of play seemed to be unaffected. His strong performance during the Korea Regional Finals against KT Rolster helped Samsung Galaxy to finally get over the hump and qualify for Worlds.

In the US, the team completely transformed itself after a wake-up call when they lost against Team SoloMid. While facing some of the best players in the planet, Ruler dominated most of his opponents, powering Samsung to a 10 wins streak on his way to the Finals. There, he outplayed Bang on multiple occasions but couldn't carry his team to the victory, ending up losing to SKT 3-2.

If Ambition had to wait for 4 years before finally qualify for his first Worlds, it's unlikely that Ruler had to wait as long to get his second international experience.

Runners up: Stixxay (Counter Logic Gaming) PentaQ (Game Talents) Kobbe (Splyce) LokeN (ESC Ever)

Xpecial, Lustboy or even Yellowstar, the position of Support for Team SoloMid has always been occupied by a veteran. This is why, when the front office announced the signing of Vincent « Biofrost » Wang as the starting Support after a short bootcamp, the news came as a surprise for most fans and analysts.

However the newcomer was immediately incorporated into a very experienced line-up and it felt like he was part of the team for several seasons. His synergy with Doublelift felt innate, allowing the veteran to play one of his best split of his illustrious career. Even with the pressure of playing for one of the most covered and supported organization in Esports, the rookie didn't let the critics derail his play and his willingness to improve made him a better player through the split.

His role with TSM kept on evolving, allowing him to roam more in order to create extra opportunities for Bjergsen and co. His map awareness and his reactivity around the map gave Svenskeren further freedom to counter-jungle and gank. But it's his ability to adapt that made Biofrost a great asset when the Meta changed again to force standard lanes during the Playoffs.

On the other hand, the World Championship was a painful journey for him. Facing first-class botlanes, Biofrost did have some solid games (like during the victory against Samsung Galaxy) but overall TSM botlane was dominated during most of the group stage. The main example is probably the two games against Royal Never Give Up, the matchup against Mata proved too much to handle for the young player.

Next year will absolutely be an interesting one for the TSM Support who is going to play the first split without Doublelift. It's still unclear who is going to replace the veteran ADC but this will be without a doubt another way to evaluate Biofrost' progression.

Runners up: Hybrid (Origen), Mikyx (Splyce), Matt (Team Liquid)

Rookie First Team

Wunder Beyond Sencux Ruler Biofrost SPY - EU LCS MVP - LCK SPY - EU LCS Samsung - LCK TSM - NA LCS

Rookie Second Team

ADD Dardoch FoFo Stixxay Mikyx MVP - LCK TL - NA LCS J Team - LMS CLG - LCS NA SPY - EU LCS

French version