Gambit Esports, coming off a middle-of-the-pack finish in the League of Legends Continental League (LCL) Spring Split, will have an almost completely new look for the upcoming Summer Split.
The team announced Monday that it replaced four of its five players and hired a new head coach. Russian jungler Danil "Diamondprox" Reshetnikov is the only player remaining on the job.
Four players who helped lead RoX to the LCL Spring Split title -- top laner Mark "DREAMPYLLA" Leksin, mid laner Alexey "Phlaty" Lemeshchuk, bot laner Artjoms "Shiganari" Pervusins and support player Alexander "Lekcyc" Lexikov -- are joining Gambit.
Alexander "PvPStejos" Glazkov, a 23-year-old Ukrainian who was a player for Gambit from June 2017 to last December, is the new coach. Igors "ATRemains" Radkevic, a 29-year-old Latvian who had coached the squad since February 2018, is out.
RoX swept Gambit 3-0 in the semifinals of the LCL Spring Split playoffs, then won the title with a 3-0 win over Unicorns of Love. The victory in the Commonwealth of Independent States region of League of Legends was worth $26,800, while Gambit picked up $8,375 by tying for third.
Gambit placed fourth in the LCL Spring Split regular season as Diamondprox teamed with Rafael "Doxy" Adl Zarabi, Chres "Sencux" Laursen, Stanislav "Lodik" Kornelyuk and Edward "Edward" Abgaryan.
DREAMPYLLA, a 21-year-old Russian, had been with RoX since last June. Phlaty, a 22-year-old Russian; Shiganara, a 21-year-old Latvian; and Lekcyc, a 23-year-old Russian; joined RoX three months ago.
New coach PvPStejos said in a statement tweeted by Gambit, "I am ready to prove myself in a new role, and take related responsibility for it. We will work with each player individually, as well as with a team as a whole -- I will gladly put my heart and soul into this process. Many thought that my return as a player was just a matter of time, but things turned out differently. Therefore I am grateful to the organization and team for putting their trust in me."
The team issued also a statement that read, "We would like to thank Lodik, ATRemains, Edward, Doxy and Sencux for working with us. The decision to go separate ways with Stas, Igor and Edward was particularly difficult: Together we won multiple LCL and LCL Open Cup trophies. We will not forget your input into our victories!"
The start date for the LCL Summer Split has yet to be announced.