Immortals is shaking up its starting lineup for week three of the 2020 LCS Summer Split following the departure of the League of Legends team’s head coach and general manager earlier in the week. The organization will start its Academy roster for today and tomorrow’s matches.
The new starting lineup features top laner Kieran “Allorim” Logue, jungler Xmithie, mid laner David “Insanity” Challe, bot laner Apollo Price, and support Nickolas “Hakuho” Surgent.
Oh, that was fast… I'll do my best https://t.co/VhqabtF5pv
— Kieran Logue (@Allorim) June 27, 2020
The team’s roster moves come after Immortals’ disappointing start to the Summer Split. The team is currently tied with Dignitas for last place heading into week three, having failed to pick up a single win in the first two weeks of the split.
Earlier in the week, the organization parted ways with head coach Thomas “Zaboutine” Si-Hassen and general manager Keaton Cryer. Both Zaboutine and Cryer served as members of OpTic Gaming’s staff prior to Immortals’ purchase of Infinite Esports, OpTic’s parent company, last year.
The organization has yet to find much success in its return to the LCS stage. During the Spring Split, Immortals placed eighth with an 8-10 record. Immortals’ Academy roster ended its spring season in a similar fashion, placing ninth with a 7-11 score.
Immortals was announced on October 7, 2015 as a new esports franchise and also the new brand of Team 8, with that roster being their first of multiple planned esports teams Soon after the team’s creation, support player Dodo8 became the team’s player manager, retiring from competitive play. Immortals ended up with an entirely different roster from the Team 8 players that they started with: on December 8, they announced Huni, Reignover, Pobelter, WildTurtle, and Adrian as their roster for the 2016 season.
As Immortals returned to the LCS at the beginning of the 2020 season, the organization outbid other teams to sign Xmithie, who many considered one of the best junglers in North America. The Xmithie signing did little to bolster Immortals in the spring as the team finished in a three-way tie for sixth place. With a shot at the playoffs, IMT lost in the first part of the tiebreaker.
Before the Summer Split kicked off, IMT benched Xmithie, as well as Hakuho, in place of Nicholas “Potluck” Pollock and Jiajun “Gate” Yu, who spent the previous split on Immortals’ Academy League roster.
Although Immortals has to face Cloud9, the LCS’ undisputed best team, IMT also plays 1-3 Golden Guardians this week, which may give them the best chance to win a game for the time being. It’s going to be interesting to see how a mid-split coaching staff decision can impact their results going forward.
