Going into the summer split for North American League of Legends Championship Series (LCS), NRG eSports was ranked pretty high on most analyst’s pre-split rankings. They came in with a nice roster of veterans that should have had the ability to mesh nicely together, but they just could not make it work. The team was relegated from LCS play with their last place finish in this year’s Promotional Tournament. The NRG organization has since terminated their contracts with the whole LCS roster. This makes them all free agents for 2017, according to ESPN.
There was a clause in all of the player’s contracts that said if they were relegated from LCS play that they would all be lawfully terminated. Even though they effectively do not have any members on their current roster, Co-Owner Andrew Miller has since tweeted that the NRG eSports Organization plans to stay in competitive League of Legends. He says, “we let our LoL players go this week to allow max time to catch on with another team.”
(1) We let our LOL players go this week to allow max time to catch on with another team or move on with personal plans.
— Andy Miller (@amiller) August 12, 2016
Lucas “Santorin” Tao Kilmer Larson had the best split out of anyone on the team. He lead the league in kill participation, even though he was on a last place team. He also had the third highest KDA (Kill/Death/Assists Ratio) for the jungle role this split. Santorin, originally from Denmark, expressed his interest in staying in North America.
I'm now a free agent! I appreciate all offers and I look forward to continuing my career in League. Thanks for everything @NRGgg !
— TL Honda Santorin (@Santorin) August 10, 2016
Lee “GBM” Chang-Seok did not have a good split at all. He was rather consistent in the first half of the year, but could not finish as strong. Before coming to North America, he was an absolute monster of a player over in Korea. GBM took to twitter to announce that he will be switching his role from the Mid Lane to Jungler.
I am now officially a free agent.
I will return next season as a strong jungler and leader.
You can look forward to it😎— GBM (@GBM_lol) August 11, 2016
Alan “KiWiKiD” Nguyen has been a veteran in the LCS since 2012. The first half of the year was just as horrible for KiWiKid. He played for the previously relegated team, Dignitas. He also tweeted his free agency and mentioned that he would like to do things other then play competitively.
Am officially a free agent, looking to do stuff other than playing(Worlds Prep!). Appreciate all offers, contact: [email protected]
— Alan Kieu 🥝 (@KiWiKiDLoL) August 11, 2016
NRG eSports is one of the organizations with the most weight behind it’s name. Andrew Miller and Mark Mastrov co-own NRG, and they also co-own the NBA team, the Sacramento Kings. Among their current investors are another few names that sports fans would recognize, Alex “A-Rod” Rodriguez, Jimmy Rollins, and Shaquille “Shaq” O’Neal.
Currently, NRG eSports has a lot on their plate. With the recent rise, demise, and then scheduled rise of their League of Legends team, they also have competitive teams in Counter Strike: Global Offensive and Overwatch.
VIA ESPN
