Danish esports organisation Team Singularity have made a number of changes to their League of Legends NLC roster as they attempt to turn things around.
They’ve brought on board John ‘Sips’ Solax to the top-lane (replacing Tatu ‘Tatuy’ Jauhiainen), Erik ‘Scroody’ Palmgren into the jungle (replacing George ‘pawp’ Langford) and Mathias ‘Pehrson’ Pehrson into the support role (replacing Jeppe ‘JeppeHou’ Hougaard).
Singularity currently sit bottom of the Summer 2022 NLC (Northern League of Legends Championship), the European Regional League for the UK, Ireland and Nordics region.
They have yet to pick up a win out of their first eight games, though they have come close, and now Singularity have taken the decision to shake up the roster as they hope to pick up some points.
“We are determined to turn our NLC Summer Split around, and with the addition of [these new players], I am sure this can be done, with the aim of playoffs.”
Curt Bottomley, Team Singularity
The news comes half a year after Team Singularity announced they would field a student-only team in the 2022 NLC after partnering with the University of Roehampton.
This move was criticised by some and marked as positive by others. While it gave younger players experience, it did not result in the results Singularity might have liked.
Curt Bottomley, chief gaming officer for Team Singularity, said on the Singularity website in a couple of news posts: “We are determined to turn our NLC Summer Split around, and with the addition of [these new players], I am sure this can be done, with the aim of playoffs.
“We needed to change things as it’s below our standards to accept results like this. I’m thankful to the guys who gave it their all, however now it’s time to get wins on the board.”
Anton “Softorious” Lüning, head coach for Team Singularity, added: “I think [the changes] add a lot of fuel and motivation to the roster. Scroody is a name that has proven himself throughout the lower leagues in NLC, winning Telia Masters and having solid finishes in other regions, hes a player that will bring pro-activity and play-making together with Pehrson that was signed earlier last week.
“And Sips is someone I’ve been working closely with for several years. I know Sips has got what it takes to compete with anyone as he steps into Tatuy’s shoes.”
Pawp bid farewell on the NLC stream last week, saying he’d played his last game for Singularity after a close match versus MNM Gaming:
“There’s a lot of changes going on – it’s actually my last game for Singularity as well,” he said. “I’m pretty positive and wishing all the best for the future of the team.”
Back in April, Esports News UK interviewed pawp after he won the Insomnia68 League of Legends Open with all-student team Grey Warwick.
He told us he was hoping for a playoffs finish with Singularity after finishing bottom of the table in the NLC Spring 2022 Season.
5 highlights from Tatuy’s tell-all Twitlonger: Outgoing top-laner doesn’t hold back
Tatuy also posted a Twitlonger outlining his thoughts from the last two NLC splits, and really went to town with his opinions. Here are some of the points we’ve highlighted:
‘Casters at fault for NLC viewership’
“The biggest reason in my mind why NLC didnt have a big viewership at the beginning was simply because of the casters and how they were so focused on shitting [on] every team instead of trying to create hype around games. [The] most recent split has been great from the cast.”
‘Scandinavian and Danish players are most toxic, UK players are chill,’ plus Muter criticism
“The most toxic players in EUW are from Scandinavian countries and more precisely Danish players. Most chill players come from the UK or Eastern Europe.
“I don’t know if it’s because of the benching of [former Singularity mid-laner] Muter or what, but it seems like every Danish player hates my guts. I’ve seen all kinds of players but for the first time I had to play with a guy who ignores his team in order to boost his own laning stats and won’t participate in anything the team does. Sorry Muter but it’s the truth. It amazes me people refuse to see this and only look at stats.”
‘Most coaches at ERL level are shameless pay cheque stealers’
“Most coaches at the ERL level are shameless pay cheque stealers and have insanely massive egos. If you are not a redeemed coach, you should stick to being there to help players figure stuff on their own and not plant shit ideas into their heads.
“And some coaches might be good at coaching in-game stuff but are carried by their players that excuse really bad drafting and gets hyped when they do shit “creative” drafts.
“Also, why does every player who quits tries to be a coach? Being a decent player does not automatically make you a person who can teach others lol.”
Singularity claims and criticism
“During the first Singularity split we played almost the entirety of the split with no pay and we were really close to going public that we are getting scammed, but there was some issue with owner transitions and eventually we got our pay.
Later on I have learned it was all because of the actions of the former owner who managed to fuck things up really well.
“Me and most players that got benched/left from Singularity were happy it happened, I’ve never experienced such a bad relationship between owners and the players. Don’t be loyal to organisations, it’s never worth it.”
Two-week ban
“I got banned for 2 weeks during spring split because I called an ARAM Exhaust mandate Ashe player a pedophile a hundred times and I’m not even slightly sad about it.”
More on Team Singularity and the Summer 2022 NLC Season
Team Singularity also have a partnership with Mad Lions and Toronto Ultra parent company OverActive Media, to look after the Toronto Ultra CoD Challengers teams.
Back in December 2021, Team Singularity announced that investment company RightBridge Ventures AB had acquired around 90% of Team Singularity. Like any takeover, there’s usually a period of transition and restructure, and plans can change.
JD XL are currently top of the NLC with eight wins out of eight. The teams closest to Singularity are MNM with two wins, and Vanir and NYYRIKKI with three wins each.
Team Singularity play X7 tonight (June 27th) at 9pm BST in the NLC and Vanir on June 29th also at 9pm BST on the NLC Twitch channel.
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.
