North American Challenger side Ember plans to release all of its players except one in the coming weeks, sources close to the team tell the Daily Dot.
Ember is one of many teams in North America to benefit from a recent influx of investment money into League of Legends and esports in general. But following a series of investor disagreements after its playoff loss versus Team Dragon Knights, the team will release all of its players except Juan “Contractz” Arturo Garcia in the coming weeks, sources say.
That means Colin “Solo” Earnest, Lucas “Santorin” Larsen, Greyson “Goldenglue” Gilmer, Benjamin “LOD” deMunck, and William “Stunt” Chen, will all soon enter the free agent market.
Ember’s investors have no interest in continuing to financially support the organization, sources say, putting a hold on the team’s finances, which in turn prevents the team from fulfilling its contracts with its players. That decision was reportedly made after conversations with League Championship Series team owners, sources say, though it’s not clear what exactly those conversations were about.
Ember flexed its financial muscles before the Challenger Series playoffs, buying out Santorin from Team Huma in Europe for $35,000 and signing him to a $105,000 per year contract. Despite the addition of its new star, the team suffered an upset loss to Team Dragon Knights several weeks ago in the Challenger Series playoffs.
Ember entered the Challenger Series on Dec. 7 after purchasing a spot from Cloud9 Tempest, signing that team’s top laner, Solo, and AD carry, LOD, before adding Goldenglue, Contractz, and Nicolas “Gleeb” Haddad shortly after. Gleeb eventually parted ways with the team, with Stunt joining in his place.
The team’s parent organization, Team Elemental, Inc., became the first League organization to release its player salaries last December. The numbers ranged from $70,000 to $86,000.
