TSM Promotes Grig to LCS Roster, Will Share Time With Akaadian
By Wyatt Fossett ·
The veteran and the rookie will split starting responsibilities for the 2019 Summer Split according to TSM.
Today, Team SoloMid posted a roster update on their blog stating that they would be calling their star jungler Jonathan “Grig” Armao up to the LCS squad to start off the 2019 Summer Split.
Most will understandably be slightly confused with the roster choice, given how astonishing rookie jungler Matthew “Akaadian” Higginbotham was over the course of the 2019 Spring Split, helping lead TSM all the way to the Grand Finals. Luckily for Akaadian, TSM has decided to keep him on the main team roster.
For those who don’t follow TSM religiously, Grig was always supposed to be the team’s LCS starting jungler. However, the Esports superstar began feeling pain in his wrist during the offseason which only got worse the closer the 2019 Spring Split got. This left TSM no choice but to promote Akaadian to the LCS roster ahead of the Spring season, and Grig would eventually make his way onto the TSM Academy team in order to work himself back into pro league shape.
It’s here and now that TSM and Grig feel like his wrist is healthy enough to play on the main-stage.
“For the summer, both Akaadian and Grig will be our starting junglers for LCS. We will be using the time before LCS starts as well as some of the earlier season to determine how to leverage two players for the position to strengthen the team. We will keep everyone updated as we go through this process, but please cheer on both of our junglers in the meantime,” reads the blog post by TSM.
Both Akaadian and Grig will have a difficult time ahead of them in the Summer Split. It’s hard enough for a jungler that’s getting full-time hours to learn and grow enough. Let alone for someone as young as Akaadian who needs as much time as possible, and and injured athlete that needs just as much time in order to recover in a healthy way.
It’s hard to tell from here whether or not both players will end the Summer Split still on the LCS roster. Most likely, one of the two players will peek above the other in terms of reliability, and TSM will have to make the difficult choice of sending one down to Academy. The 2019 LCS Summer Split begins in just a few days on June 1st.