It seems like job swapping will be the order of the day throughout this LEC offseason. SK Gaming stated today that it will be making adjustments to its lineup in preparation for the Summer Split of the League of Legends in 2021. Troll Hunter Kristian "TynX" Ostergaard Hansen has been demoted to the bench. SK has said that it would "help TynX in finding a new home," but the organization has not confirmed if he will continue to play for the club as a replacement.
Treatz, a former supporter, will take over the jungle position, and he shared his thoughts on the role switch in a tweet on his own Twitter account. He said that he does not plan to commit to the switch in the long run and that the swap was necessitated by a lack of time to locate a suitable jungle replacement once the decision to bench TynX was made. After a lengthy search, SK stated that it was unable to reach an agreement with a new jungle during the offseason window and that the club was not interested in signing a player from one of Europe's regional leagues as a result.
In what may be the team's most unexpected decision to date, head coach Jesiz will be promoted to the active squad as a support player to take over for Treatz. Since retiring from professional gaming, Jesiz has taken on a variety of jobs throughout his career, and he most recently competed at Worlds in 2017 with Fnatic as a starting support. He initially started on his personal Twitter that he had "zero intentions" of returning to professional basketball, but the decision was reversed "at the request of the players," and he expressed "confidence" in his ability to perform at the level required for a LEC starting position after the change.
In order to accommodate Jesiz's playing time as a starter, the jungle, top lane, and AD carry roles will stay unchanged for the squad, while assistant coach Tom will transition to the position of the head coach to help Jesiz. All of this comes after SK was ousted from the first round of the Spring Season Playoffs by Fnatic, a result with which the squad was "unhappy," according to a statement. The team's message makes it clear that it wants to qualify for the 2021 World Championships and that these changes have been made specifically for the aim of being able to achieve that objective in the best possible way.
