Moscow Five return to League of Legends

This article was originally published on GameSpot's sister site onGamers.com, which was dedicated to esports coverage.

In early 2011, Moscow 5 created what one could describe as one of the most successful international teams in the history of League of Legends. Gathering an unknown bunch of Russian players under their banner, they soon saw a meteoric rise in record, scoring win after win in online tournaments. Making their international debut at IEM Challenge Kiev, the M5 roster demolished the opposition to take first and never looked back.

Counter-jungling their way to first places at almost every important LAN event in Europe, the Russians came into the Season 2 World Championship as favourites. Receiving a BYE in the first round, Genja and co met Chinese Invictus Gaming and won over them twice to enter the top 4. Unfortunately, their dream run ended there as Taiwanese TPA, constructed a beautiful return and eliminated Moscow 5 in 3rd/4th place. A decline in results followed after and right before the start of the LCS, team owner Dmitry 'ddd1ms' Smelyi, was arrested, leaving the team without a sponsor and forcing the roster out of the organisation.

The former home of Alex Ich and Gambit now returns to competitive League of Legends by picking up the former Russian Force team. Comprised of well-known players in the CIS region, the team hopes to reutrn to it's former glory once more. The Moscow Five management released a short statement regarding the acquisition on their Vkontakte page which you can find below:

In 2011 we picked up a team that soon became one the best in the world and now we're gonna do it again. Players are very proud to compete under this organization. They have already started practicing with Virtus.pro.

GamesCom saw RF play their last games before the switch to M5. Unfortunately, the team displayed a rather disappointing performance as they were eliminated in the group stage. The most well-known name within the line-up is Flashinthenight, who was previously in the ranks of Mousesports and Titan eSports.

Moscow 5 League of Legends:

Boris 'Dayruin' Sherlackov - Top

Aleksandr 'Sejos' Glazkov - Jungler

Yuri 'Flashinthenight' Shilenkov - Mid

Aleksadr 'lumberjackk' Sinyakov - AD Carry

Veyacheslav 'Archie' Egorov - Support

Image courtesy of eclypsia.com and meleemissle.com