LEC to LCS: MAD Lions top laner Armut set to join Dignitas

Turkish top laner İrfan Berk ‘Armut’ Tükek plans to join Dignitas for LCS 2023.

The LCS team Dignitas and the Turkish top laner İrfan “Armut” Tükek have verbally agreed upon terms, according to reports from Jaxon. The 23-year-old top laner is currently a part of the European team MAD Lions. The news follows MAD Lions’ dismal showing at the League of Legends World Championship, where the team fell to Evil Geniuses 0-3 in the second round of the Play-In. 

In the course of his four-year career, Armut has made five international appearances, solidifying himself as one of the top laners on the professional League of Legends circuit. The top laner debuted on the international stage in the Worlds 2019, when he was a part of HWA Gaming Royal Youth. He returned to Worlds for the second time in 2020 with another TCL team, SuperMassive Esports, and placed 17th to 18th overall. After accomplishing many feats in TCL, Armut made a move to LEC and joined the MAD Lions in 2021.

With the Turkish top laner, MAD Lions won back-to-back LEC Championships, nearly made it to the MSI finals, and qualified for Worlds 2021. The squad, however, was unable to maintain its momentum in 2022 and placed seventh in the Spring 2022 split. After placing fourth in the LEC Summer 2022 and qualifying for the Worlds 2022, the team showed promising signs of a recovery, but they once again struggled on the international stage and were shockingly eliminated with a 15th-16th place finish.

Will Armut be able to give Dignitas a head start at LCS?

The Turkish top laner, who hasn’t missed a world championship event since 2019, is now joining a team that hasn’t competed internationally yet. The North American team recently parted ways with Ersin “Blue” Gören, who served as the mid laner for the team throughout the 2022 season. In an effort to revive a team that had been failing for many years, Dignitas brought Blue onto the team from the LEC in December 2021. Prior to the 2022 LCS season, the organization made a few more significant roster changes, adding Korean jungler Kim “River” Dong-woo, support player Vincent “Biofrost” Wang, and coach Ilias “Enatron” Theodorou.

Even with the additional firepower, the team failed to make a significant impact during the Spring Split and finished seventh, missing the Playoffs by a close margin. The organization added three new faces to the team ahead of the Summer Split in order to achieve better results in the event. Dignitas finished the Summer Split in last place with a dismal 3-15 record, proving that roster changes alone were insufficient to get them back in the game. However, the signing of the Turkish  Armut will undoubtedly strengthen the North American team and may provide them with the firepower and experience they require to recover in the upcoming season.

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