League of Legends pro team, Evil Geniuses, has announced a big changeup in its roster of players, after finding itself at the bottom of the rankings in this current season's Championship Series, a far fall from the lofty heights of one of the world's best teams last year.
The first and most obvious change is that for now, the team's jungler, Snoopeh, is stepping down from his position and will be replaced by 16 year old Mojtaba “Shacker” Aflaton who's coming over from Animate eSports. This decision isn't one Snoopeh is angry with however, as he realises that the team needs to turn things around over the next few weeks in order to stand a chance in the upcoming playoffs.
“As a team we realize that we are running out of time, it's 4 weeks until play offs, we are not where we need to be and we cannot tolerate being anywhere else but Worlds. I don't know and we as a team don't know if substituting me will be beneficial, but we want to try it out now.. rather than later,” he said in a statement on Reddit (via PCGamesN).
Another changeup is that EG is bringing in a team strategist: veteran support player Christoph “nRated” Seitz, who recently left the Fnatic team. As a friend of the displaced Snoopeh, he had links with the team already and is described as a knowledgeable player who's good at in-game decision making. He'll be making analytical choices about the team's actions, something that Snoopeh described as a “hole,” in the team's current gameplay.
The next game for the team is at a LCS matchup in Tenerife, Spain, this Thursday, the 18th July, where they will go up against Fnatic. Having nRated on their team could be interesting there, since he was previously privy to all of Fnatic's tactics and strategies.
KitGuru Says: Sounds like Snoopeh is taking this decision on the chin and not taking it personally. What have you guys thought of Evil Geniuses' performances lately? Is this change warranted?
But isn’t 16 too young to play the LCS? Rekkles has to wait till he’s 17 before he can be legal. How will he be allowed to play?