One of League of Legends’ oldest veterans will be making his debut in the League Championship Series this week, but not in the way many fans would expect.
Former Millenium jungler Kévin “Shaunz” Ghanbarzadeh will trial for the Gambit Gaming coaching position during this week’s LCS matches, the organization has confirmed to the Daily Dot. The French jungler will be the team’s on-stage coach for picks and bans. If those matches go smoothly, the organization intends to sign him to a full contract for the remainder of the season.
The squad has been looking for a new coach since releasing Jordan “Leviathan” Thwaites on April 21. The team has since trialled many other coaches to see who best fits their criteria. Notable names include former Origen analyst Michael “Veteran” Archer and Gambit head analyst William “iVillain” Hoag. The team ultimately narrowed down to Ghanbarzadeh but isn’t ready to commit until seeing him in action, and these other coaches may find themselves back in the picture if he disappoints.
In addition to their coaching change, Gambit made one roster switch in the offseason. But what seemed like a notable upgrade from Kristoffer “P1noy” Pedersen to Konstantinos “FORG1VEN” Tzortziou has yet to produce results. The team currently sits at 0-2 after falling flat against Elements and ROCCAT last week. In a post on ask.fm, however, Tzortziou, blamed the team’s problems on a lack of practice related to problems moving back into the team apartment.
Ghanbarzadeh is best known for his time with Millenium, recently playing with the team at DreamHack Tours 2015 and Gamers Assembly 2015. Prior to rejoining the Millenium squad, he was a member of ThunderBot Sparta until the team fell short to SK Gaming Prime (now known as Dignitas EU) in a 1-2 loss. Ghanbarzadeh was also a caster for the French broadcast of Riot Games’s All-Stars Paris in May, 2014.
Gambit Gaming has a tough road ahead this week. They’ll face off versus H2K Gaming on Thursday and Fnatic on Friday, both teams which placed top three during the Spring Split.
Photo via Millenium/Flickr | Remix by Jacob Wolf
