KOI and Team BDS have reached an agreement in order to buyout mid laner Francisco José “Xico” Cruz Antunes for 15,000 euros, sources told Upcomer on Tuesday. This follows the news of mid laner Adam “LIDER” Ilyasov’s deal to join KOI falling through, according Spanish media personality Yuste.
Tema Xico y Lider.
El reporte de @anonimotum de su fichaje era correcto, pero algunas fuentes dicen que ha pasado algo por lo que LIDERA se habrÃa descartado y ahora mismo serÃa Xico el midlaner.
La información es muy volátil y delicada por lo que estaremos atentos.
— Yuste (@el_yuste_) April 30, 2022
KOI started the offseason negotiation with MAD Lions in order to acquire mid laner Steven “Reeker” Chen after deciding to replace their former mid laner, Jørgen “Hatrixx” ElgÃ¥en. However, Reeker ended up going to Team BDS Academy instead.
After failing to acquire Reeker, KOI negotiated with Team Vitality in order to buyout mid laner LIDER. Vitality and KOI managed to reach an agreement, which League of Legends insider Alejandro Gomis broke on April 28. At that point, LIDER reportedly reached an agreement over contract details with KOI and the organization stopped looking at mid lane options in preparation to finalize the deal. However, before the signature, the deal fell through.
In the end, KOI reached out to Xico again, who was their next option after LIDER. Today, KOI managed to reach an agreement with Team BDS for a buyout.
Xico has been around Europe since 2015, having earned MVP awards in both Turkey in Spain. In 2022, Xico managed to reach the Ligue Française de League of Legends final with his team, where they lost 3-2. Xico joining KOI will bring him back to Spain once again, where he played most recently for Movistar Riders in 2020.
KOI are a team competing in the Superliga. Despite a third place finish during the spring regular season, KOI didn’t manage to qualify for the European Masters. They finished fourth place in playoffs losing with a score of 0-3 against BISONS ECLUB.
The full KOI roster is expected to be:
- Top: Matti “WhiteKnight” Sormunen
- Jungle: Luis “Koldo” Pérez
- Mid: Francisco José “Xico” Cruz Antunes
- Bot: Rafa “Rafitta” Ayllón Zapata
- Support: Daniel “seaz” Binderhofer
- Head coach: Danusch “Arvindir” Fischer
