Giants Gaming have signed UK League of Legends pro and elite pianist Nubar “Maxlore” Sarafian as their new jungler, who will be playing for them in the upcoming EU LCS Summer Split 2016.
Maxlore replaces South Korean jungler Kim “Wisdom” Tae-wan, who left Giants after helping them to reclaim their LCS spot.
Giants have also signed South Korean mid-laner Gun-Woo “NighT” Na to replace Isaac “xPePii” Flores on their main roster.
Meanwhile, fellow ESL UK Premiership player Joran “Special” Scheffer has left Exertus Esports to joing Giants’ second team – Giants Underdoges.
Maxlore has played for several teams in the past, including Inspire Esports and the UK’s Team Infused, who went unbeaten with Maxlore during Season 2 of the ESL UK Premiership.
He is now with Giants in the team’s house in Berlin.
Giants said on its website: “Maxlore arrives as a free agent to fill the jungle position. He has great teamwork capabilities and is a disciplined and hard-working player that we already knew after he participated in our tryouts in October 2015.
“His progression through this Challenger Series Split playing with Inspire has been impressive, and nowadays he is one of the emerging junglers in Europe.”
Giants also produced this reveal video:
The news confirms rumours from April suggesting Maxlore would be joining Giants.
Maxlore previously formed an impressive partnership with Banditos’ British top-laner Alphari in Infused and To Infinity and Beyond, who won the PGL Legends of the Rift tournament.
Elsewhere, fellow ESL UK Premiership player Joran “Special” Scheffer has left Exertus Esports to joing Giants’ second team – Giants Underdoges.
Giants will face Elements, Fnatic, G2, H2K, Origen, Roccat, Splyce, Unicorns of Love and Team Vitality in the EU LCS Summer Split.
The only other Brit in the LCS – Raymond “KaSing” Tsang – currently plays for Team Vitality.
Here’s how Twitter reacted to Maxlore joining Giants:
MAXHYPE
MAXGANK
MAXIMILIAN MEYER
MAXLORE
YES— Giants (@GiantsGaming) May 10, 2016
I want to present you guys my new jungler @Maxlorelol . He plays the piano really well actually pic.twitter.com/4p6S26UWL9
— David Alonso Vicente (@Lozarklol) May 10, 2016
THE BOY MAXLORE GONE DONE IT https://t.co/mIt6hSLmDx
— Ben Forbes (@bedraggles) May 10, 2016
maxlore in lcs finally https://t.co/UYRSPPTo3Y
— Jordan (@JordanWalshm8) May 10, 2016
@GiantsGaming @Coodywoo @GIANight @Maxlorelol oOoOOOooOoooo MAXLORE CONGRATULATIONS
— Sophie Mae (@SophieMae_lol) May 10, 2016
Glad to see UK a talent like Maxlore playing in the LCS. Hopefully people will start to respect the UK scene a little more. #WishfulThinking
— Louis Corps (@Louis_Corps) May 3, 2016
Goodluck In esports mAxlore 😀 @Maxlorelol
— dolok fan account (@Coodywoo) May 10, 2016
Whoever said UK League of Legends players can’t be Giants?
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
