LPL level up investment in ANZ eSports

LPL invest in ANZ eSports Club
Tainted Minds

Letsplay.live has joined forces with Tainted Minds to create a partnership that ensures they’re on their way to becoming a dominant League of Legends team in the Oceanic Pro League.

LPL has shaken up the burgeoning eSports market in New Zealand and Australia during the past 12 months and have taken eSports to new heights with extensive television coverage and exposure.

This new club will be run operationally by Tainted Minds with LPL providing commercial, content and partner support to maximise the potential of the team and take eSports in the region to the next level. They will be based in Sydney.

LPL has proven commercial drawing power after recently partnering with the NRL’s Vodafone Warriors, which continues a worldwide trend of major sports clubs aligning with eSports.

LPL Managing Director John McRae says it is a natural fit to align with Tainted Minds.

"Out of all the clubs we approached we were most impressed by Tainted Minds, which is led by Nick Bobir and Michael Stewart and their amazing team,” McRae says.

“They have a reputation for looking after their players, professionally managing their teams and we hold a shared vision for the future. For companies looking to get involved with eSports the best option is to sponsor a tournament or a team who are involved in regular tournaments. By investing in a League of Legends Oceanic Pro League side we have another option for companies looking to engage millennials and if you are looking to engage millennials eSports is where it’s at."

With more than 100 million people playing League of Legends worldwide every month, the eSports sector continues to represent a huge growth market.

Tainted Minds produced an impressive Second Split in the 2016 League of Legends season in the OPL. The team went from being promoted from the OCS into the OPL, to narrowly falling short of finals after a nail-biting 3-way finals playoff, the organisation are taking the 2017 season to a whole new level.

LPL’s investment in Tainted Minds has allowed the team to secure top international players for the 2017 season which is to be complemented by the region’s best players who are now taking part in trials.

Tainted Minds will be coached by Nicholas ‘Inero’ Smith, an American with a host of international eSports experience.

Australian Andrew ‘Rosey’ Rose will captain the side from his Support position, while Ryan 'ShorterACE' Nget is on board as the Jungle and Tristan 'Cake' Cote-Lalumiere slots in as the ADC.

Tainted Minds are recruiting for their Top and Mid positions.

The OPL is currently the only annual professional eSports competition in Australia and New Zealand. It runs from January to November and involves 28 weeks of competition.

Tainted Minds Operations Manager Michael Stewart says their alliance with LPL means they can take their team to a new level next year.

"After several months of searching for partners to fill the holes in the areas of our business that we were lacking, we were absolutely blown away by John and his team at LPL,” Stewart says.

“They are already heavily involved with eSports in the region and have the drive, resources and passion to continue to dive in deeper. The combination of our resources puts us in a strong position across Oceanic League of Legends that Tainted Minds thought we were years away from. We can't wait for the 2017 season to kick off.”

LPL will also provide a pathway for players to push their way to the OPL through their team that will play in the second-tier Oceanic Challenger Series.

Formerly known as Hellions eSports Club, they were relegated following the Second Split in the 2016 OPL but will look to re-establish themselves in 2017 with LPL and Tainted Minds’ guidance when they launch as Tainted Minds Blue.

2017 OPL Roster:

• Top – TBA- Jungle - Ryan 'ShorterACE' Nget

• Mid – TBA

• ADC - Tristan 'Cake' Côté-Lalumière

• Support - Andrew 'Rosey' Rose [C]

• Coach - Nicholas 'Inero' Smith

• Manager - 'Fassfy'

The Tainted Minds team will be based in a full-time gaming house in Sydney, with coaching staff and managers where they will train, live, and constantly generate content for partners. In addition to a top-level international coach the team has engaged Australia’s top Sport Psychologist Dr. Michelle Pain to ensure the team has a winning mindset and can deal with the pressure of living and breathing eSports.

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