Dignitas announced the removal of Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett from the League of Legends Championship Series and Academy rosters on June 25. This is the eighth organization the North American player has competed with in the LCS and Academy.
Dignitas replaced Dardoch in Week 3 of the LCS, starting journeyman jungler Matthew “Akaadian” Higginbotham. Akaadian will continue to play on the LCS and newcomer William “Will” Cummins will take his spot on Dignitas Academy.
Our statement regarding the #LCS roster. pic.twitter.com/qyRidgrRbg
— Dignitas (@dignitas) June 25, 2021
“To put it simply, Dardoch’s actions on Friday were not inline with what we consider acceptable for a player at Dignitas,” the organizations Director of Esports James Baker said in the announcement. “We know that players get frustrated, I’ve been there, everyone gets frustrated. But, there were things that we saw which is not something that we can work with moving forward.”
Dignitas and Dardoch moving forward
Baker declined to comment on Dardoch’s release when approached by Upcomer, but he said that the move was not planned by the organization. The roster’s only other change in the summer split has been in the mid lane; with Max “Soligo” Soong swapping out and David “Yusui” Bloomquist joining the starting team. Baker clarified that this move was not a “benching” of Soligo; rather the team is searching for more growth opportunity.
“This is very different from the method we were using last year,” Baker said, referencing Dignitas’ 2020 season where they experimented with a 10-man roster. “We were swapping a lot with the intention of finding the final roster that was the one with the highest ceiling. And I do think we achieved that last year but it was a difficult path to get there.”
“This year, it’s very much [the mid lane change]. We see a lot of benefits for both players in playing on the teams that they are right now. And by the end of the split, we feel confident that this will give us the best possible player in the mid lane.”
The team returns to the LCS Friday, June 25, with a match against 100 Thieves with Akaadian and Yusui as starters.
Parkes Ousley contributed to this report.
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