As the race for the LEC Playoffs is heating up, Misfits are making changes to their roster as Zanzarah joins.
The 2022 Summer Split for Misfits has been very streaky so far, in the literal sense of the word. They started the split losing their first four games, in which they did not look good at all. It was followed by a five-game winning streak where we saw improvements in their team play and individual performances. However, after an overall 5-4 record, MSF lost the two games they played last week against XL and Vitality.
With only three weeks left before the regular season ends, MSF announced a change to their jungle positions in what looks to be a possible attempt to stabilize their results. According to a tweet the organization put out today, Nikolay ‘Zanzarah’ Akatov will be their starting jungler for Week 6, and Lucjan ‘Shlatan’ Ahmad will move to their ERL team Misfits Premier in his place.
MSF Roster Update:
We have decided to make a lineup change for week 6. @Zanzarahlol will join our LEC squad, and @ShlatanLoL will move to MSF Premier.
Ready for an exciting week #MSFWIN pic.twitter.com/OreJI71s1j
— Misfits Gaming LoL (@MisfitsggLoL) July 25, 2022
Zanzarah previously played three splits of LEC on Astralis, and he was replaced by the veteran Andrei ‘Xerxe’ Dragomir at the start of this Summer Split. During his tenure, the Russian jungler was mostly known for picks like Skarner, Trundle and Poppy, the latter two being two of the more prominent champions in the meta for the jungle currently. This can be one of the reasons why MSF made the choice to start Zanzarah over their current jungler.
On the other hand, Shlatan is still in his rookie year after joining MSF at the start of Spring 2022. He was probably the biggest focus of the criticism the team received when they were losing games, as the fans did not feel like his performance was up to far this split. Although when we look at his numbers they show an improvement between Spring and Summer, with more KP, more DMG% and more XP difference at 10, he was not exactly passing the eye test.
Still, even though Shlatan can be struggling in the LEC, Zanzarah and Misfits Premier is not exactly shining in the LFL either. They are currently in 6th place in the French ERL. They have been having some resurgence lately, winning seven of their last ten games. During this stretch, Zanzarah did not have the biggest stats or big performances, but MSF is not looking for a carry jungler either. Their hope is that this new change will make it easier for Vincent ‘Vetheo’ Berrié and Matúš ‘Neon’ Jakubčík to carry games, as Zanzarah is a better player at playing the facilitator roles.
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