On this day in LoL Esports history: Team Coast's Swan Song [2014]

On April 27th, 2014, Team Coast faced off against compLexity.Black in the NA LCS 2014 Summer Promotion Tournament in an attempt to keep its LCS spot after being relegated in the NA LCS 2014 Spring Playoffs. Team Coast lost 3-1 to compLexity.Black, and subsequently, its place in the NA LCS. 

Image Source: Leaguepedia


Team Coast, originally Good Game University, qualified for the debut LCS split in the spring of 2013. Despite visa issues and roster shuffles, GGU turned around its split last minute to make the playoffs by the skin of its teeth. GGU had a miracle run all the way to the finals, settling for 2nd after a narrow 3-2 defeat at the hands of Team SoloMid. 

GGU rebranded to Team Coast, but the magic of the previous spit seemed gone with the old name. Team Coast finished in 7th place in the 2013 NA LCS Summer Split. Due to missing playoffs, Coast had to fight to retain its LCS spot in relegations. Armed with a new AD Carry in Apollo "Apollo" Price, who was at the time known as "WizFujiiN", Team Coast defeated challenger team The Walking Zed 3-2 to re-qualify for LCS in the spring of 2014. 

Team Coast was not looking ready to make another final, but Jungler Joshua "NintendudeX" Atkins and Support Miles "Daydreamin" Hoard were battle-tested, and solo laners Darshan "Darshan" Upadhyaha - known by "Zionspartan" at the time - and Danny "ShiphturLe were young, rising talent that could lane with the best of North America. Team Coast qualified for the 2014 NA LCS Spring Playoffs as the 6th seed.

Despite impressive performances by Zionspartan and Shiphtur, Coast found itself outmatched against Counter Logic Gaming in the Quarterfinals, and was sent to relegation once again by Team Dignitas. This time around, Team Coast was not so lucky and found itself out of the LCS after being relegated by Neil "PR0LLY" Hammad's compLexity.Black. It would be the last time Team Coast was part of the NA LCS.

Legacy of Team Coast


Team Coast may have exited LCS for good, but its legacy continues through several players, some of who are still active in LCS. Darshan and Shiphtur joined Team Dignitas after coast was relegated, and Nintendude stepped down from the starting roster and was replaced by Lucas "Santorin" Larsen for the 2015 NA Challenger Series Summer Split.

▲ Image Source: Riot Games


Team Coast made attempts and went through multiple rosters to re-qualify for LCS, finally doing so in the 2015 NA LCS Summer Promotion Tournament. Its 2016 NA LCS Spring Split spot was promptly sold to NRG Esports.

Still, the Team Coast alumni group is looking pretty good right now. Santorin went on to join Team SoloMid, and years later is considered one of his region's best junglers on FlyQuest. After impressing on Dignitas, Darshan joined Counter Logic Gaming, where he has been the starting Top Laner for nearly five years. Shiphur stayed on Dignitas throughout the 2015 before retiring to prioritize a successful streaming career. Apollo made the LCS playoffs this past split as part of Echo Fox.

While there are too many Team Coast alumni to count, notable members in the LoL Esports scene are Cloud9 Mid Laner Greyson "Goldenglue" Gilmer, Misfits Gaming Coach Jesse "Jesiz" Le, OpTic Gaming Academy Support Austin "Gate" Yu, University of California Irvine Support Lyubomir "BloodWater" Spasov, and Flamengo eSports Jungler Lee "Shrimp" Byeon-hoon.

 

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