Spanish League of Legends squad Giants Gaming has added former Ever8 Winners mid laner Na "NighT" Gun-woo and former Inspire Esports jungler Nubar "Maxlore" Sarafian to its lineup, sources close to the team and both players tell ESPN.
NighT will replace former mid laner Isaac "xPePii" Flores, who has been looking for an out during the past month, while Maxlore will fill the gap left behind after the departure of former jungler Kim "Wisdom" Tae-wan, who left the team last week. The remainder of the lineup will stay the same, including top laner Lennart "Smittyj" Warkus, AD carry Son "S0NSTAR" Seung-ik, and support Morgan "Hustlin" Granberg.
Prior to joining the European side, NighT was one of the best mid laners to compete in the Challengers Korea league, most recently with Ever8 Winners. That team took third place in the spring playoffs of that series after falling to now-professional side Ever in the second round of the gauntlet-style playoffs.
NighT, for his part, has played in the series for roughly two years. He's known for being extremely strong on mid lane mage Cassiopeia, one of the game's highest burst champions in that lane. That made the Giants reach out and strike a deal with him to make the move to Europe and begin competing in the LCS.
Maxlore, however, is a local talent in Europe who has been a part of the scene since late 2014. He's played on teams such as Ex Nihilo, Gamers2, and most recently Inspire Esports. He has become one of the best League players from the United Kingdom alongside the likes of Vitality support Raymond "kaSing" Tsang.
During his time with Inspire this spring, Maxlore had the second-highest KDA of junglers who played the entire Challenger Series, coming in at 5.4 ratio, just below former Team Huma jungler Lucas "Santorin" Tao Kilmer Larsen. But that wasn't enough to make Inspire beat Huma in the playoffs, leaving the team stuck in the Challenger Series for the summer.
As for former Giants mid laner xPePii, his fate is currently uncertain. At the beginning of April, he was privately outspoken about wanting to leave the team to move to North America. Where he'll end up is not yet known.
Now with its new lineup, the Giants will have to improve. Last split it made multiple mid-split roster changes, but still took 10th in the League Championship Series, forcing the organization to fight for its spot against Team Huma.