18-year-old becomes champion, is considered a huge talent – ​​throws everything away, ends career at 19

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American Kyle “Danny” Sakamaki had a fantastic debut season in League of Legends in 2021/2022. The ADC was considered one of the greatest talents US LoL had ever produced. The 19-year-old even became champion with Evil Geniuses. But then, before important finals, he disappeared from the limelight. Now it’s clear: He’s not coming back.

That was what made Danny special:

  • The USA has big problems developing strong LoL players. Korean legionnaires like Impact or European import players have dominated the league for years, especially Scandinavians like Bjergsen, Jensen or Zven.
  • But the “Evil Geniuses” team broke new ground in 2021: They gave young North American talents a chance, didn’t park them forever in the Academy teams, but put 2 young North Americans on the professional team: Botlaner Danny (19, USA) and jojopyun (18, Canada).
  • Around these 2 young talents, Evil Geniuses formed a team that was even able to become champion of the LCS in April 2022.

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    Danny was so successful: The then 18-year-old Botlaner got off to a dream start in his professional career.

    In the final of the 2022 Spring Split, Danny trumped everyone, even superstar Bjergsen:

  • Danny had 111 kills in the playoffs — no one had ever racked up more kills in the final round of an LCS season. The old record had lasted 9 years.
  • He had the most penta kills over the season: He managed four penta kills this season.

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    In his second playoffs came the crisis

    Then what was the incision?? Also in the regular season of the next season Danny played a strong LoL. But in the playoffs, he began to struggle.

    Opposing teams had identified Danny as a key player in Evil Geniuses but now focused their efforts on taking him out of the game.

    While Evil Geniuses was able to use this focus on Danny and let other players win the game, Danny’s performance now deteriorated.

    Surprisingly, Danny announced in September 2022 that he was taking a break from professional gaming and would no longer play the final games. Evil Geniuses promptly went down 2-3 to 100 Thieves.

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    Fans speculate: Danny could have fallen out with the team

    What happened then? Danny didn’t play Worlds 2022 after the season either. But many fans expected to see him back at Evil Geniuses at the start of the new 2022/2023 season. But that just didn’t happen.

    Instead of Danny, Evil Geniuses was suddenly playing with FBI, a 24-year-old botlaner they newly acquired in November 2022.

    The fans speculated: There could have been a break between Danny and his team. And Evil Geniuses prevent him from moving to another team, so Danny is now sitting out his contract. But that’s not the case.

    Danny says: Pressure was too high, led him to ‘Breaking Point’ – Now becoming a full-time Twitch streamer

    This is what Danny says now: Months after his sudden disappearance, Danny, now 19, tweeted a short message.

    He says: Nobody should blame Evil Geniuses, it was his decision alone. The pressure of being an eSports professional overwhelmed him and brought him to the “point of breaking”. His team always supported him.

    Danny says he loves LoL and wants to bring unique insights to the community, so he will now become a “full-time Twitch” streamer on the Evil Geniuses content team.

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    This is special: It does happen that LoL pros decide to become full-time Twitch streamers after a long career in esports. In Germany, ex-professionals like Tolkin or NoWay4u have taken this path and are successful with it. There are many examples of ex-professionals among streamers in the US.

    But usually players do this in their late 20s, after a multi-year career and when they realize they can’t keep up with younger players. It’s rare for Danny to end his career before it’s even started.

    It is reminiscent of the case of the footballer, Sebastian Deisler, who was considered one of the greatest talents in Germany but ended his career at the age of 27.

    More on German ex-pros in LoL who became Twitch streamers:

    LoL: German twitch streamer gives up the dream of becoming a professional in 2020, starts a job – now he has to quit because he’s too good

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