One of the most popular teams in the League Challenger Series is rebranding, bringing in a new, big-name co-owner and expanding into a new game.
North American Challenger side Misfits is rebranding to reflect a new name—Renegades. This change as the team welcomes former Counter Logic Gaming coach and OnGameNet commentator Christopher “MonteCristo” Mykles as its new co-owner. In addition, the team has acquired the Australian Counter-Strike: Global Offensive squad formerly known as Vox Eminor.
Mykles and fellow owner Chris “Doombang” Badawi tell the Daily Dot that the rebrand is a “new identity.”Mykles, one of the best-known personalities in League of Legends, brings a wealth of industry experience to the team. Originally a journalist and co-owner at esports news site ggChronicle, he was hired to be a Global Broadcaster on the English broadcast of OnGameNet’s Champions in the winter of 2012 . Since then, he’s worked as an analyst and caster for the Riot Games World Championships in 2013 and 2014, as well as multiple tournaments run by ESL. With Renegades, Mykles role will be to manage the organization and acquire sponsorships, among other duties. The team will also work with management group WME | IMG, which recently signed Cloud9, Dignitas, and SK Gaming to its client list.
The organization’s new Counter-Strike team are no strangers to high-level competition. Vox Eminor looked impressive at the Gfinity: Spring Masters II on May 17, achieving draws with Fnatic and Ninjas In Pyjamas and finishing 7th-8th overall, level with the American squad Cloud9. They also participated in ESL One: Katowice 2015, where they failed to qualify for the playoff bracket after a loss to Natus Vincere.
“Vox won the hearts of fans with their personalities and strong results against top teams at recent events, even though none of the players currently practice full-time,” Mykles and Badawi said in a statement. “We hope that by bringing the team on salary, with the help of our sponsor AlphaDraft, they will continue to refine and improve their play in the coming months.”
The League team was founded on March 9 by Alexey “Alex Ich” Ichetovkin, Alberto “Crumbzz” Rengifo, and Badawi, a former lawyer. These three were joined by top laner Oleksii “RF Legendary” Kuziuta, marksman Ritchie “Intense” Ngo, and support Maria “Remilia” Creveling.
Since its inception, the team has only made one change—the addition of Mohamed “Jebus” Tohki, who left Spanish organization Gamers2 on May 7 and filed his visa papers to move to the United States. Things have not gone according to plan, however. After being denied a visitor’s visa, he joined Team Dragon Knights as a substitute to obtain an athlete’s visa. In his absence, the team has used multiple AD carries in the form of Ainslie “Maplestreet” Wyllie and Zachary “Nien” Malhas.
Find more on the team via its Facebook and Twitter.
Photos via HLTV and ESL/Flickr | Remix by Jacob Wolf
