Two more players, Tarzan and Wadid, have left former LCK team Griffin, the organization announced today.
After a disappointing Spring Split in which Griffin finished dead last, they were sent to the last LCK promotion tournament to compete for a spot in the Summer Split. But they lost in the final round to Sandbox Gaming and were subsequently relegated from the LCK, going from Worlds quarterfinalists to relegated in the course of just one split.
https://twitter.com/TeamGriffinLoL/status/1263409310983270402?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1263409310983270402%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdotesports.com%2Fleague-of-legends%2Fnews%2Ftarzan-and-wadid-part-ways-with-griffin
Following their relegation, Griffin announced that it was in the process of terminating the contracts of each of its players and staff. Since then, the organization has been slowly releasing players from their contracts and helping them move on to greener pastures. Just this week, Hanwha Life Esports signed former Griffin bot laner Viper.
Tarzan and Wadid were two of the bigger names on the roster. Tarzan has been with Griffin for multiple seasons, leading the team on its impressive Worlds run in 2019. He hasn’t had it easy over the course of his career, though. He suffered from abuse and mistreatment at the hands of his former coach and recently struggled to impress in the relegation match in which Griffin was ousted from the LCK.
Through the fire, however, Tarzan has managed to maintain the status of being a world-class jungler and should be able to find a new home relatively soon.
Wadid’s stock seems to be much lower right now. He only participated in the final month of Griffin’s LCK residence and, over the last couple of years, he’s played on three separate teams in three different regions. He did, however, have a short stint as a commentator in Korea, so he may look to return to that role in some capacity.
Griffin now has just four active players on its roster: Hoya, Sword, Irove, and Naehyun. It’s unclear whether those players will remain on the roster .
Griffin made history this split and has only one chance to qualify for next year’s LCK. They will have an opportunity to apply for a franchised spot if they are willing to pay the initial fee of joining the league. Riot will then decide to accept the organization as a franchised partner or not. It’s going to be interesting to see who will get a spot considering the number of teams that applied for LCK.
While the fate of other players is still undecided, you can watch Viper’s 2020 redemption arc when the LCK returns on June 16.
