Isle of Man esports organisation X7 Esports have officially announced their 2022 NLC Division 1 roster – and they have enlisted the services of a world champion.
South Korean jungler Haru – who won Worlds 2017 with Samsung Galaxy – will be playing in the Northern League of Legends Championship (NLC) next year. Haru was a substitute player for Samsung and played in one game as Ezreal at that Worlds tournament – a win over Fenerbahce.
Regardless, this is arguably the biggest signing – and roster – in UK and Nordics League of Legends history. ENUK understands it’s also the first time in this specific European Regional League (ERL) a team has signed two Korean imports.
X7’s official player roster and coaching staff list is as follows:
- Top: Jaeger (formerly known as Smittyj, Germany)
- Jungle: Haru (South Korea)
- Mid: Tempt (South Korea)
- ADC: Nata (Denmark)
- Support: Kasing (UK)
- Sub jungle: Mag1cian (Sweden)
- Sub mid/support: Twiizt (Sweden)
- Sub ADC: KT (aka named after Arsenal footballer Kieran Tierney, Sweden)
- Head coach: Nias (Belgium)
- Strategic coach: Stefan (Serbia)
- Analyst: Devilpiotr (Poland)
- Head of Leage: Robinho (UK)
Esportmaniacos first reported most of this rumoured roster last month.
X7 have been making waves in UK League of Legends after acquiring other orgs Bulldog and Absolved, and receiving esports sponsorship from the Isle of Man government. While the Isle of Man government provided a one-off financial commitment to aid X7’s UKEL costs in June, and there is no ongoing funding from the Isle of Man government, X7 does have other investors.
Making signings like this – experienced, proven talent in LoL – is another signal of intent and adds to the reputation they’re building.
With multiple non-UK/Nordics talent in the team, you may be wondering what the rules are around local players in the NLC.
The NLC website states that: “A team is eligible to play if at least three of five players playing in a game are Locally Trained Representatives (LTR).”
Players meet this criteria if they’ve lived in the league’s region for three of the past five years, or have played in two of the last three ERL seasons, or have had their primary residence in the Northern region for at least three years since their 13th birthday.
However, this is for Divisions 3 to 5, and Esports News UK understands the Division 1 rules have been changed so that the requirement is no longer 3/5 players needing to be from the UK/Nordics, but 2/5. This means X7 reach the requirements.
Other teams in NLC Division 1 for 2022 include BT Excel, Astralis Talent, Dusty, Riddle, Singularity, Bifrost (who have also just signed their roster including UK top-laner Shikari), MNM Gaming, NYYRIKKI and Vanir.
The news comes after several organisations have withdrawn from NLC’s Division 2, including London Esports and Resolve, after Freaks 4U took over organising duties of the NLC from DreamHack earlier this summer.
Changes have been made to the ERL format, including the introduction of a multi-division format like the DACH Prime League.
Fnatic Rising left for the Spanish Superliga, Absolved left after X7 acquired their spot, Tricked departed once Astralis Talent took their slot, and 00Nation (formerly Nordavind) dropped out, with Dusty taking their spot. Enclave have also left the NLC, as have Nvision. And Singularity is fielding a student-only team in Division 1.
Yesterday, LDN UTD’s future in UK League of Legends NLC Division 2 looked up in the air after the roster began looking for other teams.
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.
