Misfits Gaming Plucks Fenerbahce's Jungler Kirei After MSI Exit
By Wyatt Fossett ·
The Turkish elite squad 1907 Fenerbahce have only just returned home after an early MSI exit, and it seems that their jungler Kirei is leaving to return to the EU.
It seems that the struggling Misfits Gaming team from the League of Legends European Championship have plucked the EU-born Thomas “Kirei” Yuen from the 1907 Fenerbahce squad that was just sent home from the 2019 Mid-Season Invitational.
It has been a long, and probably frustrating career for Kirei in professional League of Legends competition. In the five years he’s been a part of the scene, he has played for more than 10 professional teams. These include Gamers2 (now G2 Esports), Denial Esports, Team Dignitas, and Paris Saint-Germain.
His most recent success, as a leader on the absolutely deadly 1907 Fenerbahce squad from the Turkish League of Legends region. This Fenerbahce were heavy favorites to win through the MSI 2019 play-in stage, but were unfortunately drafted into the same group as the hometown heroes Phong Vu Buffalo.
It all came down to a tie-breaker in the end, but Fenerbahce failed to qualify for the main event after losing to the Buffalo in their final win-or-go-home decider.
Officially listed on the League of Legends Contract Database this morning, it seems the star jungler Kirei has found a new home after being knocked out of MSI early. According to Leaguepedia, Kirei is listed as leaving the team today, May 6th, 2019.
Misfits Gaming will be Kirei’s fourth team since this time last year, and with a rather great display on the international stage (regardless of the outcome) against their play-in stage group, hopefully Kirei can stick around for a while this time.
It’s unclear as to whether or not the equally experienced Nubar “Maxlore” Sarafian, who is the teams currently listed jungler, will move on from the Misfits organization, or if Kirei comes on board as a sub/alternate. Maxlore has been with the club since the spring of 2017, and since that time the highest they have placed is 2nd in the 2017 LEC Summer Playoffs.
There’s an obvious need for a bit of a shake-up in the Misfits camp. They failed to make the playoffs in the 2019 Spring Split, ending the split in 8th place with an 8W - 10L record.
Twin Galaxies has reached out to Misfits Gaming regarding the addition of Kirei to their contract pool, and we have not received a response at the time of publishing.
The 2019 LEC Summer Split is set to begin in the next few months, after MSI 2019 has concluded.
We will continue to update this story as more becomes available.