The 2018 NA LCS: Golden Guardians Announce Full Starting Roster
The 2018 NA LCS is right around the corner, and the Golden Guardians, one of the four new teams joining the newly franchised league, have announced their full starting roster, as per the team’s announcement on the official NBA Warriors website.
The team’s players include former Cloud9 and FlyQuest captain Hai Lam, Cloud9’s former jungler Juan “Contractz” Garcia, and Team Liquid’s 2017 top laner Samson “Lourlo” Jackson. These three players have shown impressive performances in the NA LCS. Hai is known as one of the region’s top shotcallers and team leaders, Contractz performed exceptionally well on C9 last year, especially at Worlds, and Lourlo is a young and reliable top laner with immense potential for growth and improvement.
Additionally, Matthew “Matt” Elento, who has been selected as the team’s support, also previously played for Team Liquid. Throughout his nearly three-year career, Matt exclusively played for Team Liquid, with a brief stint on Gravity.
As for the last member, Matthew “Deftly” Chen has been competing in the Challenger Series for quite some time, recently playing for eUnited, one of the top teams in the NA CS league. The team’s new coach, Choi “Locodoco” Yoon-seop, was also a competitor in the NA CS for Gold Coin United, eUnited’s biggest rival at the top. Locodoco was also TSM’s coach from 2014 to 2015, helping them secure two split titles and a victory at IEM San Jose.
Overall, the Golden Guardians roster is relatively young and lacks experience, with the exception of Hai. However, this could be exactly what the team needs. With Hai’s leadership and veteran expertise, he has the potential to guide and elevate this young team over multiple splits.
If they can successfully come together, the Golden Guardians could establish themselves as a highly respected and formidable team, gaining a dedicated fanbase, as long as the players remain committed in the long run.
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