Menacing duo released from NiP
This morning Riot came out with the decision to suspend Erlend 'NukeDuck' Holm and Alfonso 'mithy' Rodriguez from participating in the EU Challenger Series and the EU LCS until the end of 2014. Riot Games cited the pair's inability to correct their behavior despite multiple warning signs which included chat suspensions and monetary sanctions for them and NiP.
After the news was made public, the NiP management announced that both were released from the organisation and are now free agents. The positions of mid laner and support are vacant and tryouts will begin as soon as possible. Gustavo M. Karto, Managing Director of NiP made the following statement:
This is a highly regrettable situation that the players can only blame themselves for. Ninjas in Pyjamas do not condone this kind of behaviour and we hope that the players take the time to learn from this incident and come back to competitive play in the future with a refreshed attitude. But for now, we will unfortunately have to say goodbye to Alfonso and Erlend, who have been exceptional and loyal players of NiP for the last 9 months.
This leaves the team in a tough spot given that the Coke League is just around the corner. Two possible scenarios are now facing NiP. As there is shortage of skilled agents who could fill both vacant spots in a moment's notice, scenario number one is Alex Ich returning to mid lane as rumours are potentially linking a ZoroZero return to top lane given the situation that has arisen. In addition, Support talent such as Kazmitch or Voidle (who chose not to sign with h2k) could be potential Ninjas should tryouts go well. The second option is to look for a mid lane replacement with no clear speculations as of yet.
This leaves NiP with the following roster:
Alex Ich - Top
k0u - Jungle
Freeze - AD Carry
As for the future of the problematic duo, Mithy has stated that he wishes to turn to coaching until the competitive ban has been lifted. Sources link him to Alliance with no confirmation whether talks are happening or not. The player himself excluded coaching online as a possibility during his stream right after the decision was announced. NukeDuck only stated that he will distance himself from social media for a brief amount of time and has not revealed his plans for the future.
