Tom B. July 25, 2019
Misfits Gaming have made dramatic roster changes to their League of Legends team with only four weeks to go in the 2019 Summer Split.
The organization announced on Twitter that it was parting ways with veteran top laner Paul “sOAZ” Boyer and star Korean support player Kang “GorillA” Beom-hyun.
In a pair of tweets, Misfits thanked both players for their service and indicated that there was no bad blood. GorillA in particular was thanked for being able to “light up a room.”
sOAZ thanked Misfits for his time with the team but also dismissed any suggestions that he was retiring despite his not announcing joining a new team at this late stage of the season. sOAZ had publicly addressed his 2019 struggles earlier in July.
“Thank you for everyone who has reached out so far and to all the fans for supporting me during this time,” sOAZ said. “I am still very confident in myself and you guys will definitely be seeing me again soon.”
At the beginning of 2019 Misfits looked like they had created another LEC power by bringing in sOAZ, GorillA, and mid laner Fabian “Febiven” Diepstraten. For reasons that may never become clear the team did not achieve the success that the talented roster had suggested possible. At time of writing Misfits are tied for eighth place out of ten teams in the LEC standings Misfits also finished the spring split in eighth.
The Misfits academy team will replace the starting lineup for the immediate future, leaving main roster players Febiven, Nubar “Maxlore” Sarafian, and Steven “Hans Sama” Liv on the bench. It is unclear at this stage what Febiven and Hans Sama will do, whether they will look to return to a starting position for a different team or if they’ll return next year to Misfits.
On July 26 and 27 Misfits will face Fnatic and exceL respectively as the LEC continues towards the end of the split and the playoffs.