The kid: Pobelter's potential

With a new season comes new stars and new stories. Here is one of the players you should look out for in 2015! Team: Winterfox Region: North America Position: Mid Despite being among the youngest players in the LCS, Eugene "Pobelter" Park is one of the veterans of the competitive League of Legends scene. He was one of the founding members of the team that became known as Curse all the way back in 2011. And though he was forced out of the professional scene due to his age, since his return has been one of the most hyped players in the LCS. While I asked Pobelter questions about buying into his own hype, he would have none of it. He only considers how he can get better. "I think that I need to play against top teams from other regions to see what I am lacking," Pobelter said. "I improve by always trying to strive for perfection." However, his potential has yet to transition to many wins for Winterfox. "One big issue was that we were really bad at initiating fights and closing out the game," Pobelter explained. "This is why in a lot of our games that we lost, we would be very ahead in the early to mid game, but were not able to close it out, allowing our opponents to recover and outplay us in the late game." Near the end of the season, Winterfox started to hit their stride, including a perfect 4-0 Week 11. Pobelter in particular was able to exert his will on other mid laners, and help take control of the mid game. "Once we fixed [our problems], we started winning much more, and were even forcing 25-ish minute victories against our opponents towards the end of the split."

Building a Better Genius

Most recently, Winterfox's off-season has been marred with admitted uncertainty. Top laner Innox and support Krepo left the team, leaving a void. Even Pobelter himself was recruited heavily by various other teams. Meanwhile, they changed the image of their team entirely, dropping the EG name and adopting the title of Winterfox. Winterfox's issues haven't kept Pobelter from being optimistic about improvement in 2015, despite being unable to practice as a team for much of the off season. "We can be the best, and will be capable of winning both splits and going to Worlds," he states and humbly reinforces. "Of course, I'm sure that's what every player from every other LCS team would say as well." Pobelter has evolved into a more complete player and his stock only seems to be rising. "I think that I'm much more cautious and usually think my plays through rather than relying on pure mechanics to guide me through a game." In 2015, Pobelter has high expectations for himself. "I want to be the best. [I want to be] the best mid laner for the best team." It seems that his expectations now match those of his fans. Check out the full list of players to watch in 2015 right here.