Misfits Gaming Sell LEC Spot To Heretics

After six years of competing in the League of Legends European Championship (LEC), Misfits Gaming will be leaving the league, the European esports organization announced on Wednesday, July 27. As revealed, Misfits will be selling its LEC spot to Spanish esports organization Team Heretics.

Misfits are not only selling its LEC spot, but as stated by the European organization, Misfits Gaming Group is also leaving the French regional league (LFL) by the end of this year. Ultimately, this means Misfits Gaming is leaving the competitive League of Legends scene, ending a very successful journey that will meet its end at the end of 2022.

However, Misfits Gaming Group will still field esports teams in the Overwatch League with Florida Mayhem and Call of Duty team in the Call of Duty League in Florida Mutineers. Moreover, Misfits will maintain a presence in Valorant, where the organization fields a team named Misfits Black, which competes in NA VCT.

“It’s bittersweet to know that our mission to diversify means that we cannot be in all places at once and we’re sad to say so long to the loving camaraderie and competitiveness of the LEC,” said Misfits CEO and co-founder Ben Spoont.

“We did not make this decision lightly and ran an exhaustive process vetting numerous interested offer parties and came to the decision that Team Heretics was the right selection to continue on as responsible stewards of the league.”

By exiting the League of Legends scene, Misfits Gaming will leave behind a gap in the LEC; which will be filled in by Heretics, a Spanish esports organization created by popular content creator Jorge “Goorgo” Orejudo. Interestingly, Heretics wanted to enter the LEC in 2017 but failed to qualify for the event.

Since then, Heretics competed in lesser tournaments before joining LVP in LVP 2022 Spring. In their debut split in the LVP, Heretics struggled to achieve much and placed eighth, failing to qualify for the playoffs.

Still, things improved in the LVP 2022 Summer. Ahead of the final round of the regular season, Heretics are already locked in for the playoffs and sit in tied first place with Giants as one of the strongest teams in the league.

Now, Heretics will be given a chance to compete at the top level, where they’ll take over for Misfits, who joined the LEC in 2017. That year was also the most successful in Misfits Gaming’s history, as the team reached the finals of the 2017 Summer Split and qualified for the LoL World Championship.

Notably, Misfits placed top-eight at the world championship after they lost a closely fought series (2-3) against the eventual finalists and the defending champions SK Telecom T1.

Since then, Misfits struggled to achieve much in the LoL scene. They would never again reach the LoL World Championship, nor have Misfits reached the finals of the regional league.

They did come close to re-qualifying for Worlds the next year but lost against Splyce in EU Regional Finals 2018 after placing fourth in the EU LCS 2018 Summer Playoffs. Their best placement since was another fourth-place finish in LEC 2022 Spring Playoffs.

Interestingly, despite achieving their best LEC placement in four years’ last split, Misfits will no longer compete in the league and will completely shut down its LoL operations. The news came as a shock to many, particularly LEC fans who saw Misfits as a rising team that could compete for the top placements.

The high ambitions followed Misfits’ strong showing in LEC 2022 Spring, albeit Misfits struggled to impress during the LEC 2022 Summer.

Currently tied for sixth with Fnatic and Astralis, Misfits still have a chance to reach the playoffs, but unfortunately, despite this being the team’s last split in the LEC; it’s unlikely for Misfits to reach the top.