Sheepy rejoins Unicorns of Love as League of Legends LCL head coach
After a short run with SK Gaming, Fabian “Sheepy” Mallant just announced his return to the Unicorns of Love. The 25-year-old German announced on Twitter he will be rejoining the Unicorns’ League of Legends LCL team in summer. Sheepy previously coached them for nearly six years and is also the son of their owner, Jos Mallant. The team hasn’t played in a major esports league ever since not making it as a LEC franchise partner, but we have recently reported on them joining the LCL in summer.
Unicorns of Love’s history in the EU LCS
Before 2015, the Unicorns of Love were a fairly unknown team, as they only played in smaller tournaments. After qualifying for the EU LCS, they weren’t expected to do well as they didn’t have any famous personalities. However, they were well known for their unconventional picks — especially Mateusz “Kikis” Szkudlarek, their jungler at the time. Many teams got the taste of their cheese picks, most notably TSM at IEM San Jose with the TF pick.
Defying all expectations, the team did well throughout their EU LCS run. They secured a few second place finishes and were always in the run for Worlds, but they never could make it. They came closest to Worlds in the 2016 season, where they lost to Splyce in the Regional Qualifier finals.
Unicorns of Love quickly got a reputation for being a team with a relatively low budget that could bring up their own highly talented players. A notable mention is Tristan “PowerOfEvil” Schrage, who is currently playing for CLG but previously found great success with Origen. Additionally, players like Kikis and Tamás “Vizicsacsi” Kiss also went on to have quite succesful careers in the EU LCS / LEC. However, the most accomplished former UOL player has to be Zdravets “Hylissang” Iliev Galabov. He joined Fnatic in December 2017 and went on to win two EU LCS splits as well as play in the Worlds finals with them.
Sheepy was forced to leave after the team failed to acquire a LEC franchising spot.
As a fun fact, I’d like to add that Sheepy hasn’t always been the coach for UOL. Interestingly, he first played as their jungler under the name MasterOfSheepy, but later renamed to his current nickname.
Sheepy’s brief affair with SK Gaming
In December 2018, SK Gaming announced Sheepy as their League of Legends head coach. The former legacy LCS organization fielded a roster that looked unimpressive at first glance. However, the team finished sixth in the regular season and made it to playoffs, even with Sheepy getting subbed out mid-split.
Do you think the Unicorns of Love will perform well in the LCL with Sheepy back on board? Let us know in the comments below! And for more League of Legends news, stay in touch with Daily Esports.
