DMG Esports, the Norwegian esports organisation formerly known as Domino Esports – who compete in the Northern League of Legends Championship (NLC) Division 1 – have made a string of announcements.
Firstly, the organisation have rebranded from Domino to DMG Esports.
They said on X (aka Twitter) in an announcement video that the rebranding ‘marks an important milestone in our organization’s journey’. DMG will compete in Overwatch, Rocket League, Valorant and League of Legends, and have promised community initiatives and LAN events.
Head coach and CCO at DMG Esports
Secondly, DMG Esports have announced a roster for the upcoming Norwegian national league, which was recently announced as part of the LoL National Leagues changes in Northern Europe.
This features a mainly Norwegian roster, plus a Swede, and a UK veteran support player: Kasing.
French esports team Akroma clarified: “By a multi-party agreement, Kasing will represent DMG Esports in the context of the qualification for the new Norwegian national league. He will also participate in the Up&Down and the Coupe de France with us.”
On the topic of teams, DMG Esports have also announced a bunch of national teams in other regions outside of Norway, including Sweden, Denmark, Finland and the UK.
The UK roster in particular is:
- Toplane: Pigheadd
- Jungle: ShroudyRowdy
- Midlane: Shhw
- ADC: Yang
- Support: Steven Ren
And lastly, DMG Esports have also created an in-house system for their Discord server. They announced this via a stream led by former NLC host Archarom.
A DMG contact told Esports News UK this is open all the time but may be restricted later on, so that there are set times for open queues.
Anybody that is Master +, or an NLC Division 1 or 2 player, or player from the first division in any regional league, can play.
Overall, then, a bunch of exciting new announcements from the Norwegian organisation, as League of Legends esports across Northern Europe starts to build some hype again.
DMG Esports CEO Stian Andersen on the rebrand
Stian Andersen told Esports News UK: “Why the name Domino in the first place? When the name of the club was being developed back in 2018, I was inspired by how players use digital layers to distance themselves from what’s actually happening on the other side of the game, much like the mystique associated with a mask, like a Domino mask.
“Similarly, players are represented through avatars in games, and it’s what’s behind the avatar that determines and controls. Additionally, we wanted to pay a sort of tribute to the original analog game of Dominoes.
“The fact that many would associate us with Domino’s Pizza came as a surprise – perhaps we were a bit naive.
“We’ve continuously had more people involved in the Domino esports journey. First, we teamed up with Urban esports led by Anders Nordermoen (The Doctor), and most recently, Tackle Esports led by Thomas Monsen (Tom Kick). Therefore, it became important for us to come together as a team to create a brand that everyone had an equal sense of ownership and belonging to, while still retaining elements of the original brand.
“We redesigned the logo with a new mask, and we also integrated DMG into the logo itself. Regarding the colour palette, we chose to adopt a neutral base profile (white and dark blue) and preferred to use various vibrant colours to distinguish the different games – a choice we find to be very effective.
“So, what does DMG esports actually stand for? We thought it would be good to maintain a continued connection to the original name, which is why DMG Esports stands for Domino Gaming & Esports. This is a slightly longer and weightier name, something we intentionally did, so we hope that most will use DMG and that’s how we’ll be recognized going forward.
“Additionally, the name holds a clever double meaning, as DMG is often used as an abbreviation for “damage” in games in general. This is appropriate given that it’s mostly what we engage in across different games – inflicting damage on opponents.
“As the creator and founder of Domino Esports back in 2018, I have a somewhat uniquely special relationship with the original brand. It was a bit sentimental for me to part ways with the original creation, but through a lengthy process where I’ve had a significant hand in directing the development of the new profile, I now wholeheartedly embrace this new change.
“I believe the change has granted us a more resilient and contemporary brand that we look forward to evolving and building upon in the times and years to come.”
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.
