Immortals cuts ties with LCS head coach Zaboutine, general manager

Immortals has made a drastic change ahead of week three of the 2020 LCS Summer Split.

The organization revealed onTwitter that it has parted ways with LCS General Manager Keaton Cryer and head coach Thomas “Zaboutine” Si-Hassen. The decision comes after a poor, 0-4 start to the split.

“I don’t think this is the time to make speeches, confessions, or conclusions. I think the only thing that is important now is to thank all the people who believed in me, my ideas or my projects. Thank you from the heart. Thank you,” Zaboutine wrote on Twitter.

Immortals did not announce any candidates for replacing Zaboutine.

Zaboutine’s release from Immortals was a long time coming

While it seems like a sudden change, this shakeup was a long time coming. Despite having a good roster, Immortals finished spring in eighth place and is looking bad in summer. Changing coaches is one thing but the team requires more than this move to improve in the LCS, with some drastic roster moves likely being necessary.

Is Eika out?

The first question Immortals fans had was whether mid laner Jérémy “Eika” Valdenaire would remain a starter. When Immortals announced Eika as its mid laner, many speculated it was Zaboutine giving preferential treatment to a fellow French player.

What started as an innocent meme on Twitter, quickly evolved into a full-blown attack against Eika. The mid laner had to take to Twitter to defend his position on the team.

“Me being picked up had nothing to do with me being French, I talked ONCE with Zaboutine before he made me an offer, and it was on OgamingTV during worlds 2019, which I was an analyst for a day. Just depressing,” Eika wrote on Twitter.