Schalke 04 has been operating a team in the highest European league in League of Legends for several years. Now, a new jungler has been signed who is supposed to replace the LoL player who had performed a small miracle in 2020.
This is the situation:
- Erberk “Gilius” Demir was previously the jungler at Schalke. He had performed a miracle in 2020, leading S04 to the playoffs from a seemingly hopeless situation.
- Also in spring 2021, Schalke reached the playoffs, achieving 4th place.
- They have now announced the signing of Thomas “Kirei” Yuen, a 24-year-old jungler who has mostly impressed in the French and Turkish leagues.
- Many fans, however, do not understand the change. They mock that similarly poor decisions are now being made, just like with S04’s football team, which has just been relegated to the 2nd Bundesliga.
Schalke unexpectedly signs new jungler
What exactly happened? As Schalke 04 has announced, the new jungler Kirei has been signed. The Dutch player has previously been successful in the Turkish and French regions of LoL. He was last under contract with GamersOrigin, a French team, and according to S04, he is an “outstanding SoloQ player.”
Kirei is set to take over the jungle spot in the upcoming season, as the team showed an overall “shaky performance,” as Managing Director Tim Reichert explained.
Gilius will remain under contract and is to take a seat on the bench for now. However, he has also been given the possibility of a transfer.
Fans are stunned: “Your LoL team is doing the same as your football team”
How are the fans reacting to the change? Under the tweet, many fans have gathered who cannot understand the transfer:
- EinWaltz writes: “You beat Fnatic 3-0 and lost to the second-placed team in the playoffs, but apparently, that’s not enough for you. Good luck fighting for 10th place with Excel, lmao.”
- User Bål compares the LoL and football teams: “So you’re replacing a good jungler with a weak jungler? Your LoL team is doing the same as your football team.”
- User Prophet Thanos is harsh on S04: “Whoever runs this organization doesn’t want to win titles, just like Schalke in football.”
- xFrixor finds Gilius’s personality particularly important: “Kirei may be the better player mechanically, but when it counts, you need a Gilius.”
Overall, the majority of comments on Twitter are dissatisfied with the change. Many highlight the successes of the last two splits, in which Schalke achieved 5th place and 4th place in spring 2021.
Schalke unexpectedly replaces their hero from 2020
Who was the previous jungler? Gilius joined Schalke 04 in December 2019. However, he could not convince in the first matches at the beginning of 2020. He was then replaced by Lurox. Moreover, the all-star FORG1VEN left the team after some disputes, but that did not bring the hoped-for turnaround. Schalke ended the spring season with 12 losses in 8th place.
Schalke 04 started the summer season very weakly again. After the first games, they were at the last place with 0 wins and 8 losses. The team had to endure a lot of mockery and derision, even when they won a match against the star-studded Fnatic.
However, Schalke 04 achieved the legendary Miracle Run, and Gilius had a major share in that.
What was the Miracle Run? Schalke 04 managed to make the playoffs with a record of 1-10. They won 7 games in a row, defeating all their competitors. One reason was the good plays by Gilius, like this Baron steal against Origen:
From then on, Gilius was often referred to by the nickname “God Gilius” by the casters.
Although midlaner Felix “Abbedagge” Braun also contributed to the success with his performance, the voice videos on S04’s YouTube channel often show that Gilius made many of the important, risky decisions.
Another change at S04: Schalke 04 has made not only a change in the jungle compared to the last spring season. Their midlaner Abbedagge transferred to 100 Thieves for a transfer fee of 1 million euros.
This player is replaced by the French player Ilias “NUC” Bizriken, who previously played for Schalke’s Academy team. However, many fans currently doubt whether these changes were really beneficial.
