American League of Legends Franchise Immortals Considered Building a Challenger Team
A conversation between Immortals CEO Noah Whinston and LCS veteran Diego “Quas” Ruiz was leaked today, revealing that Immortals had considered building a Challenger team for the Summer season.
In the conversation, Whinston discusses the possibility of signing Ruiz and creating a “sister team” to the main Immortals team, which recently placed third in the LCS. The goal was to build a talented squad that could provide valuable practice and compete against the main team.
Whinston had received “soft commitments” from Unicorns of Love players Pierre “Steeelback” Medjaldi, Hampus “Fox” Myhre, and jungler Lucas “Santorin” Larsen. He targeted Ruiz, who had recently left Team Liquid, after learning of his availability.
However, Immortals ultimately decided against pursuing the idea. According to an Immortals spokesperson, they felt they didn’t have enough time to properly focus on creating a Challenger squad for the next split.
Increasing Organizational Depth
Immortals are not the only team considering expanding their roster ahead of the Summer Split. Other teams like Cloud9 are also looking to add talent to their rosters in order to provide more depth and allow players time to rest during the season. Cloud9 recently announced the creation of their own Challenger team.
The Offer to Ruiz
In the conversation, Whinston discussed contract terms with Ruiz, offering an estimated salary of $4,000 per month. He also proposed covering expenses such as housing, food, and gym membership. While this offer was likely less than what Ruiz could receive in the LCS, Whinston added a unique incentive: a cut of the sale price if the Challenger team reached the LCS.
Whinston mentioned that he could likely offer 2 to 3 percent of the sale price, which could potentially result in a windfall of $20,000 to $40,000 after the sale. This indicates that the value of a newly qualified LCS team is around $1 million to $1.5 million. However, qualifying for the LCS is no easy feat, and there are no guarantees of reaching that level.
Despite Immortals’ decision to not move forward with the Challenger team, the conversation suggests that Ruiz is considering making a comeback to competitive League of Legends. This is exciting news for fans of one of America’s best top laners.
Image credit: Riot Games/Flickr
League of Legends, esports, Immortals, Challenger team, LCS, Noah Whinston, Diego “Quas” Ruiz, Unicorns of Love, Cloud9