G2 Mikyx Left Without LEC Team Despite Huge Slash On Buyout Fee
It's a year of rebuilding for G2 Esports after their most disappointing season in near on a decade, failing to qualify for the League of Legends World Championships just two seasons after appearing in the Grand Finals. With an overhauling of their roster now confirmed - keeping just two of last years' talent - one highly rated European star has been left without a team at all for the upcoming LEC season.
Veteran support player Mihael "Mikyx" Mehle may not have been G2 Esports' most flashy weapon during the three years spent at the Spanish organisation, but rather one of their most consistent, until the most recent two splits where G2 failed to find any rhythm as a unit. However, two back-to-back World Championships semi-finals would be enough to land most players on a huge team, especially with the entire LEC undertaking projects of their own.
Not for Mikyx though, as the 23-year-old Slovenian has revealed that he will not be appearing on-stage in the 2022 LEC Spring Split.
Mikyx Reveals Teamless Status After G2 Slash Buyout Price
Taking to Twitter, the Support main announced that he has not found a team for 2022, and will instead focus on streaming during the Spring Split.
Still contracted to G2 Esports, Mikyx's original buyout was at a huge $1.5million, as revealed by Founder Carlos "Ocelote" Rodriguez. The owner opened up about the fees on social media, adding that the seven-figure number was chopped in three by the early days of November, before halving that again in recent days to $250,000 - although a majority of teams have already signed their cheaper alternatives.
Despite the transparency from Ocelote, Mikyx continued to dispute the statement: "Hmm I don't think things communicated to me during the offseason align with this," said the LEC veteran, who is now set to spend the season on the sidelines.
Carlos replied: "that's a straight lie, we have dozens of G2 employees with visibility on all off season dealings, all interest in full was communicated to your agent, who responded that you were not interested in any of those opportunities, you should be honest and stop going for brownie points."
Carlos then received criticism from some of the public, who argued that these kind of issues could be kept behind closed doors.
In response to this, he tweeted: "team owners shy away from responding to player-specific matters because the community tends to side with the player without trying to learn the truth, i despise unfairness and will lay the truth without hesitating, i dont give a f*ck about public pressure, truth above all."
G2 Esports Unveil New LEC Roster
The news from Mikyx comes just a few days after G2 Esports rolled out the red carpet for their brand-new squad for the 2022 LEC season.
Retaining both Marcin "Jankos" Jankowski and Rasmus "Caps" Borregaard Winther from their original side, G2 added the highly rated Sergen "Broken Blade" Çelik alongside rising stars Victor "Flakked" Lirola, and Raphaël "Targamas" Crabbé - the former of whom comes in place of the still-contracted Mikyx.
Mikyx has now revealed a heavy focus on streaming for the Spring Split, leaving him plenty of time to find a team whose Support player may not have fit into the new-look rostermania squads that we're set to see.
