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SK Gaming announced they’re entering the League of Legends European Championship (LEC) 2021 Summer without their mid laner Ersin “Blue” Gören. He is said to miss the first week of play due to health issues.
SK Gaming Won’t Be Able to Count on Blue
After a turbulent off-season, SK Gaming seemed to have settled on the roster for the 2021 Spring split. That, however, wasn’t the case, as announced by the esports organization on Monday, June 7.
As revealed by SK Gaming, their starting mid laner Blue will not be able to help the team throughout the first week of play in the LEC 2021 Summer. Blue was recently admitted to a hospital due to chest pain and respiratory issues.
As stated by the German esports organization, it was confirmed that Blue’s illness was not COVID-19 related. However, it was decided that Blue will take an additional week off to recover.
“A few days ago, Blue was admitted into hospital for chest pain and respiratory issues,” read the announcement.
“After initial scans, doctors confirmed it is not COVID-19 related and concluded that he will make a swift recovery. However, Ersin will additionally be seeing a pneumologist to make sure that there will be no further issues and that after sufficient rest, he can be back for practice and official LEC matches.”
Blue’s absence is presumed to last for only a week, meaning the fans can expect him to return to the starting lineup for Week 2 of LEC 2021 Summer.
SK Gaming’s Roster Changes Aren’t Finished
SK Gaming have had a very rocky off-season, failing to find suitable players to join their ranks ahead of the LEC Summer Split. Last month, SK Gaming also announced that they’re parting ways with their jungler Kristian “TynX” Østergaard Hansen.
TynX has been benched by SK Gaming for undisclosed reasons, with some speculations suggesting he was toxic towards his teammates and hard to work with. Due to SK Gaming’s struggles to find a replacement, the team were left with no other options but to make a drastic role change.
Heading into the LEC 2021 Summer, SK Gaming will field their former support player Erik “Treatz” Wessén in the jungle. Taking over for Treatz in the support position will be their former coach Jesse “Jesiz” Le.
Jesiz is a former professional LoL player who has retired from professional play in 2018 to pursue a career as a coach. He has since enjoyed a short two-month stint with Illuminar Gaming as substitute support but has otherwise stayed away from the Summoner’s Rift.
SK Gaming replaced Blue with their academy mid laner Mihail “twohoyrz” Petkov in the newest wave of roster changes. The latter will make his LEC debut only two weeks after joining SK Gaming’s academy project.
New Season Ahead of SK Gaming
SK Gaming ended LEC 2021 Spring in sixth place with an 8-10 record. The team squeezed their way into the playoffs but crashed out from the opening round, where they lost to Fnatic (1-3).
Although a disappointing finish of the split, SK Gaming managed to tie the organization’s best placement in the European league from 2020 Summer. Despite the team’s resurgence over the last year, it seems highly unlikely SK Gaming will be as successful this split.
With a retired player in the support role and a jungler who has never before played the role, SK Gaming are widely regarded as the weakest team in the league. And the esports bookmakers seem to agree, seeing how they’re pricing SK Gaming as the biggest underdogs to win the LEC 2021 Summer.
LEC 2021 Summer Outright Betting Odds
Odds courtesy of BetOnline Sportsbook:
- G2 Esports +175
- Rogue + 200
- MAD Lions +225
- Fnatic +1000
- Team Vitality +1600
- Schalke 04 + 3300
- Misfits Gaming + 4000
- Excel Esports +5000
- Astralis + 6600
- SK Gaming +10000
It will be interesting to see how SK Gaming fo with a revamped roster. Although we can expect some early struggles while players acclimatize to their new roles, SK Gaming should look better once they get their wheels spinning.