LEC 2020 Rookie of the Split goes to Razork
The 19-year-old jungler Iván "Razork" Martín Díaz has been declared as the Rookie of the LEC Spring Split due to his incredible performances in his maiden season at the top-level of European LoL play under Misfits' banner.
Looking back at 2019 season, Misfits put up some of the worst displays in the league, having finished Spring Split eighth with 8-10 record and Summer Split ninth with 6-12. What made their final placement even harder to digest was the immense expectations that were put on the team since, they splashed out loads of money to sign former LCK champion and World Championship finalist Kang "GorillA" Beom-hyun, Steven "Hans Sama" Liv and Paul "sOAZ" Boyer.
After their super team fell flat, Misfits opted for a different approach for 2020 season, by releasing the majority of their roster and starting fresh with young rookies in Ronaldo "Ronaldo" Betea, Ju "Bvoy" Yeong-hoon, Petr "denyk" Haramach and Razork, who joined Danny "Dan Dan" Le Comte and Fabian "Febiven" Diepstraten in Misfits’ venture into the new season. This decision, while a complete contrast to that of last season, proved to be an excellent one for Misfits who did not need long to establish themselves as one of the strongest teams in the league.
Although Misfits started their 2020 Spring Split slow, with a 0-2 Week 1, they quickly gained traction and produced a 6-0 run through Week 2-4, which included wins over Origen and G2 Esports. Misfits slowed down a bit in Weeks 5-7, however, where they produced 3-3 record and saw even less success in the final two weeks of the split where they mustered up a slightly underwhelming 1-3 run. Nonetheless, their incredible displays in the early stages of the season proved to be enough for them to secure a top-five finish and a playoffs berth.
Suffice to say, Misfits impressed with their showings, with the whole team stepping up to the task and proving they are one of the strongest European League of Legends teams in the league. While all five members put up solid performances, it was Razork who shone the brightest and played a pivotal role in pushing his team to new heights with his great decision-making and innovative approach to the game.
Although the 19-year-old's numbers are by no means one of the highest in the league, nor did he produce any eye-popping stats, it was Razork's impact on the team and the games they played in that can't be ignored. He quickly gained renown as one of the most aggressive junglers in the league, who proved to be a nuisance to any team that faced Misfits, as they were under constant pressure from the jungle.
Misfits, unfortunately, failed to make a deep run in the LEC 2020 Spring Split playoffs, as they fell short (1-3) against Rogue in round one of Losers' Bracket, meaning they're ending this split at the sixth place, which is slightly underwhelming considering how strong Misfits looked like in the early stages of the split but still a massive improvement compared to their 2019 venture.
Razork's road to the title of 2020 Spring Rookie of the Split, however, was not an easy one, seeing how there were over 10 new rookies joining LEC this season, many of which produced very strong debuts, namely rookies who fought under MAD Lions' banner. Some examples of incredibly gifted rookies who were in contention for the 2020 Spring RotS award were Zhiqiang "Shad0w" Zhao, Matyáš “Carzzy” Orság and Norman “Kaiser” Kaiser, but in the end, it was the Spanish jungler who came out ahead of his competition.
Razork ended the split with 2.62 KDA, 5.00 CSPM, 66.5% KPAR, 19.6% KS and 55.6% win rate in 18 games played.
