Supa Hot Crew looking for someone Super, Hot
Riot·11/8/2014, 1:24:49 AM·1 votes·12,316 views
Europe’s Supa Hot Crew is coming off of a successful 2014 season. They went from seventh in the Spring split to third in the Summer regular season. Following a 0-3 loss to ROCCAT in the summer playoffs which exposed some shot calling and leadership issues within SHC, the team released jungler Matthew “Impaler” Taylor and support Raymond “kaSing” Tsang.
The two departing players were announced on the Supa Hot Crew Facebook page on October 2, 2014. There has been no official announcement regarding a replacement over the past month.
There are also rumors of a major sponsorship change on the horizon for the organization. The announcement concerning Impaler and kaSing's departure followed a report by the Daily Dot that SHC was considering a move to Meet Your Makers. Since that story was published, there has been nothing further from either Supa Hot Crew or Meet Your Makers.
On top of SHC’s adaptability, there is plenty of talent currently practicing for the EU Expansion Tournament that will commence in late November. It isn’t likely that they would be able to get a jungler from a winning team, but with 13 teams competing for two LCS spots, there will be a large number of skilled players from the 10 teams that fail to qualify that the Crew could sign to one of their vacant positions. The only downside to that approach is that any player chosen from an Expansion Tournament team would be hard-pressed to join the team until at least early December when any sort of tryouts and contract negotiations are factored in.
In order to maintain the upward trajectory that SHC built in 2014, they will have to find solid talent to replace their two former players. Given that SHC has been through multiple roster changes before, there is precedent for the team to be able to do exactly what they need to in order to succeed. Even if they have to wait for the Expansion Tournament to conclude, SHC will remain a force moving forward in the 2015 European LCS.
The roster
Top: Mimer Jng: Impaler -> left. Replaced by ???? Mid: SELFIE ADC: MrRallez Sup: kaSing -> left. Replaced by ????
The two departing players were announced on the Supa Hot Crew Facebook page on October 2, 2014. There has been no official announcement regarding a replacement over the past month.
There are also rumors of a major sponsorship change on the horizon for the organization. The announcement concerning Impaler and kaSing's departure followed a report by the Daily Dot that SHC was considering a move to Meet Your Makers. Since that story was published, there has been nothing further from either Supa Hot Crew or Meet Your Makers.
Where does Supa Hot Crew turn?
The team apparently began looking at players before Impaler and kaSing were officially removed. On September 30th, Impaler posted that he was looking for a team, and it was reported shortly thereafter that Amin “Amin” Mezher and Alfonso “mithy” Aguirre Rodriguez were trying out for the squad. Unfortunately, much like the rumored deal with Meet Your Makers, there has been little beyond this initial report.Looking Forward
There is cause for concern with SHC and it stems from two unknowns surrounding the team -- new players and a potential sponsorship change. On their own, either of these problems are enough to stress a professional gaming organization. Together, they can cause a big enough distraction to ruin the team’s performance. While SHC has some history dealing with roster turmoil, the potential sponsorship move is a completely new phenomenon to the team. These question marks must be answered before the 2015 Spring Split commences. A major comfort for the team, and their fans, is that the Supa Hot Crew is used to having fresh faces on the team. Integrating new players did not negatively impact their results. If anything, it helped the team build into a more cohesive unit. Supa Hot Crew changed three players during the 2014 season, and had to adapt on the fly to different personalities and playstyles. It bodes well for the team being able to maintain the synergy that made SHC a force to be reckoned with toward the end of the Summer Split.
On top of SHC’s adaptability, there is plenty of talent currently practicing for the EU Expansion Tournament that will commence in late November. It isn’t likely that they would be able to get a jungler from a winning team, but with 13 teams competing for two LCS spots, there will be a large number of skilled players from the 10 teams that fail to qualify that the Crew could sign to one of their vacant positions. The only downside to that approach is that any player chosen from an Expansion Tournament team would be hard-pressed to join the team until at least early December when any sort of tryouts and contract negotiations are factored in.
In order to maintain the upward trajectory that SHC built in 2014, they will have to find solid talent to replace their two former players. Given that SHC has been through multiple roster changes before, there is precedent for the team to be able to do exactly what they need to in order to succeed. Even if they have to wait for the Expansion Tournament to conclude, SHC will remain a force moving forward in the 2015 European LCS.
COUGH Banana. COUGH
