The rumours and leaks were of course true – UK League of Legends top-laner Barney ‘Alphari’ Morris and Croatian mid-laner Luka ‘Perkz’ Perković have moved from the NA LCS back to the EU LEC.
They were previously with Team Liquid and Cloud9 respectively.
Vitality have also signed ADC Matyáš ‘Carzzy’ Orság from Mad Lions, who won back-to-back LEC championships in 2021.
These new additions and join support player Labros ‘Labrov’ Papoutsakis and jungler Oskar ‘Selfmade’ Boderek to create what Vitality is saying ‘a European powerhouse with the ambition to ambition to get to the final of the World Championship’.
Alphari said: “Selfmade was the reason I left NA.”
With the ambition to get to the final of the World Championship, Team Vitality say they’re creating a ‘top-performance model, bringing together a mix of established athletes, promising rookies and experienced coaching staff alongside top-of-the-range infrastructure and performance centres’.
Team Vitality have also made major moves with their French Ligue Française de League of Legends (LFL) roster. Dimitri “Diplex” Ponomarev and Duncan “Skeanz” Marquet remain on the starting line-up where they are joined by Jesper “Jeskla” Strömberg, Mathias “Szygenda,” Jensen, and Jakub “Jactroll” Skurzyński who makes his return to Team Vitality.
The team looks to be a ‘serious contender’ for the LFL title and European Masters, of which fellow French LFL side Karmine Corp (who recently signed Rekkles) won two back-to-back EU Masters in 2021.
Perkz is an eight-time LEC winner, formerly of G2, and 2019 World Championship finalist. He has claimed victories at the League of Legends Championship Series 2021 Mid-Season Showdown, Mid-Season Invitational 2019, and made appearances at four World Championship including a final spot in 2019. He’s also one of only two players to have won major titles in both EU and NA.
Team Vitality has an international roster with players from 10 nationalities across both LEC and LFL rosters.
“I am so excited to be returning to Europe with a new home at Team Vitality. When I was approached to join the team I knew straight away that they had a real passion and hunger to make 2022 their year. I’m ready to take my career to new heights and I know Team Vitality is somewhere I can continue to build a legacy,” said Perkz.
The original Perkz – school teacher Emily Perkins – has now swapped Twitter handles with the other Perkz:
Team Vitality 2022 LEC roster
- Barney “Alphari” Morris, Wales, 22 years old, Top Laner
- Worlds ¼ finalist at 18 years old and considered as one of the best European top laners.
- Oskar “Selfmade” Boderek, Poland, 21 years old, Jungler
- European Masters winner and Worlds ¼ finalist.
- Luka “Perkz” Perković, Croatia, 23 years old, Mid Laner
- 8 times LEC winner and Worlds finalist
- Matyáš “Carzzy” Orság, Czech Republic, 19 years old, AD Carry
- 2021 Spring and Summer LEC winner
- Labros “Labrov” Papoutsakis, Greece, 19 years old, Support
- LEC 2020 Summer “Rookie of the split”
The team will be coached by Louis-Victor “Mephisto” Legendre (head coach) and Simão “Simon” Oliveira (assistant coach), assisted by Dimitri “Noodlez” Zografos (head analyst).
Team Vitality 2022 LFL roster
- Mathias “Szygenda” Jensen, Denmark, 20 y.o, Top Laner
- Winner of European Masters Summer 2020 and Ultraliga Season 4
- Duncan “Skeanz” Marquet, France, 21 yo, Jungler
- Trailblazing rookie talent
- Dimitri “Diplex” Ponomarev, Germany, 18 yo, Mid Laner
- 2nd place LFL 2021 Summer
- Jesper “Jeskla” Strömberg, Sweden, 21 y.o, AD Carry
- Winner of PRM Pro Division 2020
- Jakub “Jactroll” Skurzyński, Poland, 23 yo, Support
- Winner of LFL 2021
The team will be coached by Andrei “Realistik” Ruse (head coach).
“We have a clear vision of what we are looking to achieve and we have chosen the best players in Europe to help us accomplish our goals. This is Team Vitality’s time. Watch out for us.”
Neo, Team Vitality
“Our results for the past two years in League of Legends have not been in line with our expectations and I am not satisfied with this,” said Fabien ‘Neo’ Devide, co-founder and esports director at Team Vitality.
“It’s time for us to accelerate our ambitions and finally put into play the performance strategy we first started when Selfmade joined Team Vitality last year. I am hungry for more and this team has the potential to bring us back to the World Championship and to be the best team in our history.
“We have a clear vision of what we are looking to achieve and we have chosen the best players in Europe to help us accomplish our goals. This is Team Vitality’s time. Watch out for us.”
Team Vitality will also reveal their CSGO roster on December 15th, together signifying what Vitality says is ‘the largest esports talent investment in the history of esports’.
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.
