Melany M. February 12, 2019
In a surprising move, Russian organization Vaevictis Esports has signed an all-female roster for the 2019 LCL Spring Split. The move comes after Riot Games Russia announced its plans to franchise the LCL in 2020.
In January, Vaevictis announced a new roster that would compete in the 2019 LCL Open Cup. This tournament is organized by Riot Games Russia and takes place at the same time as the LCL regular season.
The organization has now announced that a new all-female roster will compete in the spring. The new members of the team are top laner Diana “TR1GGERED” Ivanchenko, jungler Aida “Merao” Kazaryan, mid laner Elena “VioletFairy” Koval, bottom laner Ksenia “Trianna” Mescheryakova, and support Nataliya “Ankote” Zayko.
The five players are rookies with no professional experience. According to online statistics, Merao and VioletFairy are both ranked Diamond while Ankote is ranked Platinum. The ranks of the other players are not available.
Vaevictis underwent rebranding after the announcement, with the new logo that features a female figure in shades of pink and purple. The team is utilizing this new look for 2019 heading towards the franchised LCL in 2020.
The new roster received mixed reactions from the community and sparked a new conversation regarding sexism in esports. Vaevictis was compared to the infamous Team Sirene, an organization that attempted to break into the professional League of Legends scene and failed after poor results.
The new rookie team is set to debut on February 16 when they face RoX. On February 24, Vaevictis will battle Gambit Esports, the LCL’s top team.