LoL: FlyQuest To Field Academy Roster, Golden Guardians Acquire Licorice
| Tags: League of Legends
| Author Brandon Sturak
The NA roster moves just keep on coming.
Today, FlyQuest announced that top laner Eric “Licorice” Ritchie will be leaving the team and joining the Golden Guardians LCS roster. Filling the spot will be Colin “Kumo” Zhao, who is moving up from the Academy squad. In addition, FlyQuest is fielding their entire Academy roster on the LCS stage for Week Six.
— FlyQuest (@FlyQuest) July 6, 2021
In a split where it seems like almost every team is making roster changes, this one isn't all that surprising at this point. Despite Licorice being a phenomenal player during his time on Cloud9, he hasn't found success with FlyQuest. In fact, FlyQuest in 2021 has looked rough, to put it nicely. The team has lacked cohesion and has struggled to find very many wins at all. Currently, they sit near the bottom of the standings, tied with CLG for ninth.
On the brighter side of things, the FlyQuest Academy players will be getting a shot in the LCS. In particular is Kumo, who has been on the main stage before but never quite broke through to stay in the major leagues. The squad has been on a hot streak in Academy lately and might be able to cause some upsets. If this squad or any of the individual players can step up and show their worth, it could mean great things for their careers.
Licorice to GG
Join us in welcoming the newest addition to Golden Guardians, @Licorice.
We’ve not only acquired Licorice, we’ve extended his contract through 2023, as we believe he will be a player worth building around in the coming years. pic.twitter.com/v498an4QWx
— Golden Guardians (@GoldenGuardians) July 6, 2021
Unfortunately for Licorice, the struggles aren't over even though he's leaving FlyQuest. He'll be joining Golden Guardians, who occupy the tenth place spot in the LCS. He's shown greatness before but with GG's abysmal year so far, it's unlikely he'll be able to do much to turn things around for now. But the team announced that they've extended his contract with them through 2023, so the plans are laid to build off of him and his experience in the future.
Overall, these changes probably won't make any huge differences in how either team finishes the split. A turnaround would be huge for both of these teams though and would be more than exciting to see.
Brandon is a writer and editor for ESTNN with a passion for esports. He writes about League of Legends and esports generally, providing analysis and commentary on both. He is a founding member of Niagara University Esports, while being the previous mid laner and Head Coach for the NU Esports LoL team as well. Twitter @GhandiLoL