Papara SuperMassive top laner İrfan “Armut” Tükek may be joining MAD Lions for the 2021 season, according to Turkish Invade Esports.
The rumors about the Turkish star top laner were further reported by Esporin, which is one of the biggest Turkish esports news sites. According to sources, the negotiations are now in their final stages. If the rumors are true, the Turkish star top laner will replace Andrei “Orome” Popa on the MAD Lions starting roster only a few weeks after the two met at the 2020 World Championship play-in stage.
MAD ARMUT
Personally I didn’t hear anything about it, but like I implied yesterday, I’ve heard he was in “good talks” with a LEC team
Esporin is generally reliable, they also have sources in Turkey, which I don’t.
This is a bit hype 😀 but now I wonder where Orome would go 🙁 https://t.co/8Ti9s15F7z
— LEC Wooloo 🇪🇺 (@LEC_Wooloo) October 15, 2020
Armut dominated Orome at 2020 World Championship
Armut had a great showing at Worlds together with the rest of SuperMassive, knocking MAD Lions out of the tournament. This is the first time a team from a major region has been knocked out of the play-in stage at Worlds, and Armut played a big part in the upset.
Armut wasn’t necessarily a hyped player for this year’s tournament, so his performance took fans by surprise. He started out the tournament with 10 kills on Shen against INTZ, something that is rarely seen for a top laner at such a high level of play. He continued to dominate throughout the play-in stage and managed to beat Orome in lane time and again through their multiple encounters. Armut and the rest of SuperMassive fell short against Unicorns of Love later in play-ins, but proved that players from the TCL can be more than good enough for the LEC.
If the transfer becomes official, Armut would replace Orome, who struggled to perform on the Worlds stage. Before the international tournament, Orome was considered the weak link at MAD Lions even though the team had performed well in the 2020 LEC splits.
Orome joined MAD Lions’ main roster in November 2019 after proving himself in the Spanish LVP league on an academy team. While Orome is good enough to play in the LEC, he might not be the right choice for MAD Lions if they want to compete for a title. Orome is still young and can certainly bounce back with another team.
Armut’s contract with SuperMassive ends on November 16, but it’s not yet official that he will be joining MAD Lions.
UPDATE:
MAD Lions is also reportedly looking towards making a swap in the jungle position. According to ESPN, MAD Lions is looking towards the Spanish LVP SLO league for Movistar Riders jungler Javier “Elyoya” Prades.
Movistar Riders has been sitting at the top of the league throughout the year, placing second in the spring split and lifting the trophy in the summer. Should the move be confirmed, MAD Lions would continue its trend of picking up LEC rookies. The organization has already shown that it can develop young talent, so acquiring Elyoya could end up paying dividends.