Team Coast’s dissolution is imminent, sources close to the team tell the Daily Dot.
Top laner Cristian “Cris” Rosales, jungler Dillon “WelcometoHeaven” Stayner, and mid laner Zachary “Mancloud” Hoschar will leave the organization within weeks. Support player Kevin “Konkwon” Kwon is extremely unhappy with the organization and has expressed his interest in leaving as well. Due to an outstanding contract, however, his future is in the hands of the team. AD Carry, Brandon “DontMashMe” Phan’s situation with the team is currently uncertain.
The team had quite the interesting Spring Split. Since its return to the LCS in January, Coast’s roster has changed frequently, something it’s made a habit of doing in previous seasons—moves that have often failed to bear fruit. And indeed, much like their past endeavors, this season has not ended well. Coast finished with a 1-17 record, the lowest all-time competitive record in League of Legends Championship Series history. That placed the team at the bottom of the standings, meaning they were auto-relegated and will play in the 2015 Summer Challenger Series.
Coast was first relegated from the LCS in the spring of 2014. At the time, its lineup completely disbanded and moved to other teams. Coast management, however, were able to regroup and build yet another team to compete in the 2014 Summer North American Challenger Series. This team also suffered some unfortunate roster changes, most notably the exchange of two Korean solo queue players in place of top laner Keenan “Rhux” Santos and Greyson “Goldenglue” Gilmer, as well as jungler Lucas “Santorin” Tao Kilmer Larsen, who left the team to join North American great Team SoloMid after Coast failed to qualify for the LCS in the 2015 Promotion Tournament.
Shortly after this failed qualification, the team once again rebuilt, acquiring a pair of European players: former SK Gaming mid laner Jesse “Jesiz” Le and former Supa Hot Crew jungler Matt “Impaler” Taylor, who combined with the core of its main roster, Cristian “Cris” Rosales, Brandon “DontMashMe” Phan, and Jamie “Sheep” Gallagher. This team geared up for the 2015 North American Expansion Tournament, where they finalized and qualified for the 2015 North American Spring Split.
Facing imminent relegation, Coast decided in mid-March to merge with Challenger team Final Five. It immediately went about making roster changes that appeared extremely suspicious. It gutted the main LCS roster in an apparent bid to stack Final Five, making it one of the best rosters in the NACS and a shoe-in for promotion. Star Coast players Impaler and Sheep moved to the Challenger side in return for the addition of that team’s support KonKwon and Coast sub-jungler WelcometoHeaven to the starting LCS roster. As a result, this main roster saw a horrific downfall in the LCS. Last night, however, Final Five failed to qualify for the 2015 Summer Promotion Tournament, losing 0-2 to Team Fusion.
The organization’s fate is uncertain. With the disbanding of its main roster, however, it’s likely it will stick with its Final Five team, as only one roster per organization is allowed in the Challenger Series. Team Coast did not respond to a request to comment by publication time.
Photos via Riot Games/Flickr, Coast logo via sacredxninjaa/Twitter (Remix by Jacob Wolf)
