After a solid run in the European Challenger Series open qualifier, Team Huma has picked up a veteran coach to lead the squad to the Challenger Series.
Former compLexity Gaming and Copenhagen Wolves Academy coach Kublai “Kubz” Barlas has joined the European Challenger team. Barlas has already coached one series with the team, leading them in their win against Hungarian Challenger team Wonder Stag e-Sports in the Challenger Series qualifier yesterday.
“I’m super excited to be joining Team Huma and working with this group of players,” Barlas tells the Daily Dot. Barlas called the roster “extremely talented” roster.
“Since leaving compLexity, not a single day has gone by where I haven’t thought about making it back to the LCS. I’m determined to make the most of my opportunity and hope that we will be able to achieve our goals as a team.”
The team was assembled in November around some of the best free agents available in Europe, headlined by former Team SoloMid jungler Lucas “Santorin” Tao Kilmer Larsen and former Dark Passage AD carry, Turkish great Anıl “Holyphoenix” Işık. Huma also picked up former GIANTS! Gaming top laner Jorge “Werlyb” Casanovas, former Ex Nihilo mid laner Dan “Godbro” Van Vo, and Copenhagen Wolves support Christophe “je suis kaas” van Oudheusden.
Larsen told the Daily Dot that he was excited to work with Barlas. “He has a positive influence on the team, he is really good at dealing with negativity in between players and he knows how to always keep a calm head to make the conversations and discussions as productive as possible,” Larsen said.
Barlas “knows a lot about the game,” according to Larsen. “[He] was able to fix a couple of problems right away when he got introduced,” he said. “He makes sure that everyone keeps improving and is an important part of keeping the team together as a whole.”
The team has been competing in the European Challenger Series Open Qualifier over the last month, taking down all of its opponents decisively until losing to French squad Millennium in the final. Thanks to the qualifier structure, Huma still qualified for the next stage, where it beat Wonder Stag e-Sports and will now face 3sUP.
Huma already took down 3sUP once in the open qualifier. If they can do it again, they’ll only need to beat the winner of Illuminar Gaming and Mysterious Monkeys to qualify for the Challenger Series.
With its full lineup of former professionals, the team may be a favorite to make it to the League Championship Series (LCS) in the summer. Still, it will have stiff competition if it does make through to the Challenger series, where teams like the Copenhagen Wolves and SK Gaming will both be looking to regain their spots in the LCS.
Image via Riot Games/Flickr | Remix by Jacob Wolf
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