Misfits benches entire LEC team, promotes academy roster

William Davis Published 19/07/2019

Misfits Gaming has subbed out its entire roster.

With the team sitting in ninth place in the LEC, the organization decided to replace the entire lineup ahead of week five in the 2019 LEC Summer Split with Misfits Premier taking over the main stage. The academy team is coming off a victory in the LFL, France’s League of Legends national tournament.

In past weeks, Misfits tried different combinations of players to no avail and ultimately decided to promote the entire academy team.

Misfits’ last shot at playoffs

Despite an ugly start to the Summer Split, Misfits owns a 2-6 record which means they still have a chance of qualifying for the playoffs. The first half of the season closes on Friday with Misfits facing Splyce, which recently pulled off a major upset versus Fnatic. On Saturday, the newly-promoted squad will face Rogue, which is coming off a major victory of its own over Origen.

At this point in the season, it is hard to pick an “easy win”. All of the squads are looking extremely competitive and even the teams at the top of the standings can be challenged.

Misfits finished the 2019 LEC Spring Split in eighth place and is desperate to change that result this summer. The roster change might do the trick, or could simply seal the fate of the already-struggling organization.

Is GorillA leaving Misfits?

A big question these days is what will happen with the original LEC roster? It seems likely that some players will be exiting the organization, specifically support Kang “GorillA” Beom-hyun.

The rumor started with a casual conversation on Lee “Rush” Yoon-jae’s stream where the former Echo Fox jungler was playing duos with Team Liquid mid laner Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen. On the stream, Jensen asked when Rush was leaving for Korea. Rush answered he would be leaving on Sunday and then added he was leaving with GorillA. The jungler tried to backtrack as Jensen laughed about it.

The leak might just have been confirmed by top laner Paul “sOAZ” Boyer. On Twitter, sOAZ wrote about the team’s struggles and his personal feelings about the roster change. He closed by saying “I will miss playing with all of you guys” and mentioned his teammates.

Despite the shocking turn of events, it seems like the players and the organization are parting on good terms.

“It’s been a disappointment for me, it’s been a disappointment for the fans, players, and staff,” Ben Spoont CEO and owner of Misfits said in a statement on Twitter. “It’s also in no part due to any drama, in fact, this is one of most drama-free teams I’ve ever been a part of.”

The new roster must get get ready to face much tougher competition. Despite being dominant in the EU Masters, it remains to be seen whether they can go head to head with the top teams of the LEC.

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