While his contract appears short, the implications for the North American mid laner joining EG are massive.
Despite signing of Korean top laner Seong-Hun “Huni” Seo before the split, EG has not inserted him into the starting lineup because it already has two foreign players: Korean AD carry Bae “Bang” Jun-sik and Italian mid laner Daniele “Jiizuke” Di Mauro. With Goldenglue in the mid lane, EG could finally use Huni in place of NA rookie top laner Colin “Kumo” Zhao.
EG, who defeated Team Liquid earlier in the split and was briefly seen as the second-best team in the LCS, sit in fourth place with a 5-5 record. The organization has yet to make an official statement regarding any roster changes.
Greyson “Goldenglue” Gilmer has been signed by Evil Geniuses, according to Riot’s Global Contract Database. His contract is set to expire on July 22 in the database, which could mean his stay with the organization will be short-lived.
Previously the starting mid laner for Golden Guardians, Goldenglue said his bittersweet departure from the team on July 3 was due to GG’s signing of mid laner Tanner Damonte. Since then, Goldenglue had been teamless and said he was seeking another opportunity in the LCS as either a player or coach.
In a Twitlonger, the 23-year-old veteran explained the situation revolving around Golden Guardians and how things led to him being replaced in the starting roster by mid laner Damonte. He said the team called him a week before practice was set to start for the LCS Summer Split and told him that Damonte could be joining the team to try out for his starting spot.
“At this time, I was also allowed to reach out to other teams if I wanted to, but I believed my best chances for making Worlds were here,” Goldenglue said. “I was pretty upset because I thought that I without a doubt proved myself worthy in the Spring Split. However, I’m used to competing for my spot and was prepared to fight for it.”
Goldenglue said scrims began without Damonte, but Golden Guardians also decided to give some playing time to Ablazeolive and Darshan, who were performing well in Academy. Although Golden Guardians chose Ablazeolive to start in the LCS, Damonte “was unexpectedly allowed to try out with the LCS team” after getting permission from Dignitas.
Ultimately, the team decided to keep Ablazeolive for the Academy squad after both he and Goldenglue tried out for the open spot because he’s the younger player, according to the veteran mid laner. Goldenglue also knew that the Academy team had plenty of experienced players—like Darshan, Hard, and Keith—who filled the same need as him.
“To be honest, I was somewhat expecting this since he was younger than me and has never played in the LCS before,” Goldenglue said. “Nevertheless, I still couldn’t believe that I went from being a key performer on an LCS team that made playoffs—despite doubt from the community—to being teamless in a span of weeks.”
