With time ticking down until the 2020 LCS Summer Split kicks off, Golden Guardians has made a move.
Golden Guardians has acquired mid laner Tanner Damonte from Dignitas, the organization announced a week ago via Twitter. Damonte spent the Spring Split on Dignitas’ Academy League team after reaching Worlds last year with Clutch Gaming.
https://twitter.com/GoldenGuardians/status/1269037545268150278
The team has said Damonte will start on the GG LCS team, while former LCS starter Greyson “Goldenglue” Gilmer Academy mid Nicholas “Ablazeolive” Abbott will compete for the Academy League position. Golden Guardians also said it had signed Olleh as a positional coach, who will focus on helping support players.
https://twitter.com/GoldenGuardians/status/1269041352886624258
During the offseason, Dignitas declined the second year of Damonte’s contract, making him a free agent. He eventually re-signed with the team but was relegated to the Academy League for the entire split as Froggen occupied the starting LCS spot.
Damonte’s departure comes just a few days after reports surfaced that Dignitas plans to sign top laner Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon to a two-year, $2.3 million contract extension. Huni and Damonte had played together for nearly a year and a half on Echo Fox and Clutch.
With Damonte on the roster, Clutch qualified for Worlds for the first time, although the team struggled at the tournament once surpassing the play-in stage, finishing top 16.
This past year, Damonte showed many signs of greatness throughout the 2019 Spring and Summer Splits, and even helped lead Clutch Gaming to the organization’s first World Championship appearance. In the 2019 LCS Regional Gauntlet, the 22-year old had a 4.0 KDA with 50 percent first blood rate.
Damonte didn’t have a great performance at Worlds, but the entire team was struggling to find a foothold in many of their matches. He has joined a plethora of amazing NA mid laners who are bursting with potential, but will he be able to continue his impressive growth as a mid laner at the Academy level?
GG squeaked into the playoffs last split by beating Dignitas in a three-way tiebreaker for sixth place. Once in playoffs, though, Golden Guardians were swept by eventual runners-up FlyQuest in the first round of the losers bracket.
While GoldenGlue had a pretty good showing the Spring Split, it was not good enough apparently. This is the best for the NA LCS to develop, underperforming players should be replaced and more opportunities given to other new players in the scene.
The LCS Summer Split began on June 12.
