by Jeremy Waxman on Nov 16, 2015
Team Coast qualifed for the 2016 North American LCS Spring Split by defeating Enemy eSports, but the team actually playing will look radically different. The spot was purchased by NRG eSports, owned by Mark Mastrov and Andy Miller, two co-owners of the NBA franchise Sacramento Kings. With the change in name has also come drastic changes to the roster.
The top laner will be former world champion and ex-Team Impulse player, Jung "Impact" Eon-yeong. In the jungle will be LCS newcomer Galen "Moon" Holgate, and their mid laner will be another Korean player, former Jin Air Green Wings Lee "GBM" Chang-suk. The team waited to reveal their AD Carry, but we now know it will be Johnny "Altec" Ru, most recently of Gravity. At Support will be the only holdover from the Team Coast roster, Kevin "KonKwon" Kwon.
The team is employing former Team 8 coach Chad "History Teacher" Smeltz as their general manager, and former Cloud9 head coach Charlie "Charlie" Lipsie will be reprising that role for NRG. One of the most interesting additions to the support staff will be strategic coach Tadayoshi "Hermit" Littleton. Hermit became the head coach for Origen right before the Season 5 World Championships, and helped the team to an impressive semi final finish.
It will certainly be interesting to see how NRG fares in the LCS, and you can check out their official site here. Not everyone is happy with the roster changes, as some Team Coast fans have publicly wondered where the team they were supporting went. Team Coast themselves released this statement:
Just wanted to say that when we agreed to sell the team to Gerard and Andy they did not insinuate they would replace any of our players, and specifically told us that "ALL" of our players would receive fair try-outs. Sadly, it has been realized by us that this did not occur. We find this disturbing and an abuse of trust.
There is no doubt that NRG would see things differently, but it's clear that Coast was not happy with the way things played out. Either way, NRG has continued the recent trend of high-profile acquisitions of LCS spots, and it's something that very well may continue as eSports, and League of Legends as a whole, continue to grow.
Image credit: NRG eSports