Image credit: LoL Esports
Update: Nov. 4, 2020 — Peter Dun has joined Evil Geniuses, as initially reported by ESPN Esports. The team has made the signing official via social media.
Update: Peter Dun may be joining Evil Geniuses in the North American League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) according to a report by ESPN Esports' Jacob Wolf. The move could be officialized as soon as Nov. 1, as coaching staff's free agency starts on that date. Should it happen, all eyes would be on EG to build their squad around jungler Dennis "Svenskeren" Johnsen.
Long-time MAD Lions League of Legends head coach Peter Dun has left the organization on Oct. 21 as his contract expired. The coach shared the news on social media amid his free agency, weeks after MAD’s rookie squad exited the 2020 World Championship.
Peter Dun has ended his three-year tenure within MAD Lions, one that started back when the organization was named Splyce in 2018. Upon rebuilding the squad around Kasper “Kobbe” Kobberup during the offseason, he reached the regional qualifiers fielding then-young players Yasin “Nisqy” Dinçer and Andrei “Xerxe” Dragomir.
In 2019, with Marek “Humanoid” Brázda, Splyce reached the World Championship as the League of Legends European Championship (LEC)’s third seed and proceeded to the quarterfinals from Group B, taking a game off eventual champions FunPlus Phoenix during the group stage. However, that lineup disbanded during the offseason, with Kiss “Vizicsacsi” Tamás's retirement and Kobbe's departure to Team SoloMid.
The organization’s rebuilding effort in 2020 featured four rookies alongside Humanoid: Andrei “Orome” Popa, Zhiqiang “Shad0w” Zhao, Matyáš “Carzzy” Orság and Norman “Kaiser” Kaiser. Although they started the year on a relatively slow note, they picked up the pace from the spring playoffs onward, before reaching the 2020 Worlds as Europe’s fourth seed. However, their inexperience doomed them on the world stage, which they exited before reaching the main event.
During Dun’s tenure, Splyce and MAD Lions fielded strong coaching infrastructure and featured lineups that were considered among the best ‘coachable’ squads, on top of the talent they fielded. The infrastructure he built and the guidance he provided helped Hadrien “Duke” Forestier and James “Mac” MacCormack blossom into head coaches, with Duke taking over Team Vitality's head coaching role in 2020.
Before joining MAD Lions, Dun coached in China before breaking through the international scene as INTZ Esports’ head coach in 2016 and 2017. In 2016, INTZ defeated EDward Gaming in their first game at the World Championship, and that game had significant repercussions down the line as European-side H2K Gaming claimed first place in that group, pushing EDG into an early quarterfinal exit against ROX Tigers.
