Just three weeks after bringing in a new player, Luminosity has dropped its Counter-Strike team in favor of the former Keyd Stars Brazilian lineup.
The move comes after former Fnatic player and coach Jonatan “Devilwalk” Lundberg and his team posted poor performances at the ESWC event in Montreal and the CEVO offline finals in Columbus.
The split isn’t quite as clear cut as anticipated, however. Luminosity gaming owner Steve “Buyaka” Maida posting a statement to Reddit claiming that he wanted to sign both teams to the organization, but was told that owning two teams was against the rules.
“This is not what we wanted to do or had planned. We signed Keyd because we wanted to help support them and grow, and offer things that they weren’t receiving previously. We signed keyd with the intention of having two teams, and were told by the powers that be, that owning two teams is against the rules- similar to league of legends.”
It isn’t exactly clear who “the powers that be” are, though the signs certainly point to ESL and ESEA, as both lineups Maida wished to sign are competing in the ESL ESEA Pro League. Similar to Riot Games and its League Championship Series, it appears the Pro League is preventing organizations from owning two teams in its league.
Forced to decide between the two, Maida kept the former Keyd Stars. This means Luminosity will now have a lineup competing at ESL One Cologne next month—an organization owner’s dream thanks to the publicity and income gained from sticker sales. The Brazilian team was able to claim a top eight finish the ESL One Katowice event earlier this year, securing their spot at Cologne as one of the eight ‘Legends’ in attendance.
The lineup consists of Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo, Fernando “fer” Alvarenga, Lucas “steel” Lopes, Ricardo “boltz” Prass, and marcelo “cold” David. Also joining the team as head coach is former professional player and ESWC 2006 champion Renato “nak” nakano.
Lundberg, who was the latest addition to the team, said in the same Reddit thread that there was no bad blood between the lineup and the Luminosity organization. Maida, the owner, has even helped the team find a new home.
“Despite what everyone might think , Buyaka has been nothing but generous and supportive ever since i’ve gotten here. He’s really helping us out finding a new team and is doing everything in his power to do that, i’ve seen him be in meeting working his ass off to make something good happen for us!”
For the time being, the former Luminosity Gaming lineup will compete under their former moniker: Mythic. Their first event being the North American offline qualifier, where they will face off against Counter Logic gaming, eLevate, and Maximum Effort (formerly Nihilum) in Group B. The tournament takes place at the ESL studios in California and begins on Saturday, Aug 1.
Photo via AK Rockefeller/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
