Golden Guardians

The Golden Guardians (GG)[1] are an American esports organization owned by the Golden State Warriors.[2][3][4] The organization was one of four that joined the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) in 2018 after the league began franchising, the others being 100 Thieves, Clutch Gaming and OpTic Gaming.[5][6] On December 18, 2019, the Golden Guardians announced their expansion into the professional scenes of Apex Legends, Teamfight Tactics and World of Warcraft.[7]

Golden Guardians
Short nameGG (formerly GGS)[1]
DivisionsApex Legends
League of Legends
Teamfight Tactics
World of Warcraft
FoundedNovember 20, 2017 (2017-11-20)
LeagueLCS
Based inOakland, California
LocationUnited States
Parent groupGolden State Warriors
Websitewww.goldenguardians.com

Super Smash Bros. Melee player Zain "Zain" Naghmi and Teamfight Tactics player David "DogDog" Caero were signed by the Golden Guardians on February 6, 2020.[8]

LCS team

History

The Golden Guardians finalized their roster for the 2018 NA LCS Spring Split on December 13, 2017,[3] signing top laner Samson "Lourlo" Jackson, jungler Juan "Contractz" Arturo Garcia, mid laner Hai "Hai" Du Lam, bot laner Matthew "Deftly" Chen and support Matthew "Matt" Elento, with Choi "Locodoco" Yoon-seop as head coach for the team. On February 4, 2018, Locodoco was fired after making inappropriate remarks towards a female member of Riot Games' esports staff. The final decision was made by the Golden State Warriors, the parent company of the Golden Guardians, who cited their strict zero tolerance policy.[9] Assistant coach Tyler Perron was subsequently promoted to interim head coach to fill the vacant position. The team finished the regular season of the 2018 NA LCS Spring Split in tenth place with a 4–14 record.[10]

On April 23, 2018, the Golden Guardians acquired mid laner Young-min "Mickey" Son from Team Liquid, in preparation for the 2018 NA LCS Summer Split.[11][12] Shortly afterwards, Hai announced his retirement from competitive play for the second time and left the team.[13][14]

The Golden Guardians ended the 2018 NA LCS Summer Split in tenth place, with a 5–13 record, becoming the first team in the league's history to finish last two splits in a row.[15]

In preparation for the 2019 LCS Spring Split (which had recently renamed to exclude "NA" from its title), the Golden Guardians acquired Kevin "Hauntzer" Yarnell and Kim "Olleh" Joo-sung from Team SoloMid and Team Liquid respectively.[16][17] Veteran player Henrik "Froggen" Hansen later joined the team to complete the roster.[18][19] The Golden Guardians also hired Nick "Inero" Smith as the Golden Guardians' new head coach and Danan Flander, former Cloud9 senior general manager, as the team's first general manager.[20]

Despite a disappointing start to the 2019 LCS Spring Split, the Golden Guardians managed to end the regular season in fifth place after losing a tiebreaker match to FlyQuest, with a 9–9 record. This secured the team their first appearance in playoffs,[21] where they narrowly lost 2–3 to FlyQuest in the quarterfinals.[22] During the first half of the summer split the Golden Guardians kept the same starting lineup from the spring split, but later opted to promote bot laner Victor "FBI" Huang and support Choi "Huhi" Jae-hyun from the academy team.[23] Deftly was later traded to Cloud9 Academy for Yuri "Keith" Jew.[24] The Golden Guardians ended the summer split tied for sixth with 100 Thieves and OpTic Gaming. After losing their tiebreaker match to OpTic Gaming, the Golden Guardians were locked out of playoffs.[25]

Current roster
Nat. ID Name Role Joined
Hauntzer Kevin Yarnell Top Laner November 29, 2018
Closer Can Çelik Jungler November 20, 2019
Damonte Tanner Damonte Mid Laner June 5, 2020
FBI Victor Huang Bot Laner July 5, 2019
Huhi Choi Jae-hyun Support July 5, 2019

Former players
Nat. ID Name Role Next team Joined Left
Keith Yuri Jew Support Golden Guardians Academy November 22, 2019 May 28, 2020
Olleh Kim Joo-sung Support Dignitas Academy November 30, 2018 January 7, 2020[26]
Froggen Henrik Hansen Mid Laner Dignitas December 6, 2018 December 9, 2019[27]
Contractz Juan Garcia Jungler 100 Thieves Academy December 13, 2017 December 2, 2019
Deftly Matthew Chen Bot Laner Cloud9 Academy December 13, 2017 July 17, 2019
Lourlo Samson Jackson Top Laner Echo Fox December 13, 2017 December 6, 2018
Matt Matthew Elento Support Team Liquid Academy December 13, 2017 December 6, 2018
Mickey Son Young-min Mid Laner APK Prince April 23, 2018 October 27, 2018
Xpecial Alex Chu Support (sub.) Harrisburg University April 23, 2018 August 21, 2018
Hai Hai Du Lam Mid Laner Radiance December 13, 2017 April 23, 2018

Tournament results
Placement Event Final result (W–L)
10th 2018 NA LCS Spring Split 4–14
10th 2018 NA LCS Summer Split 5–13
5th 2019 LCS Spring Split 9–9
5th–6th 2019 LCS Spring Playoffs 2–3 (against FlyQuest)
7th 2019 LCS Summer Split 8–10
6th 2020 LCS Spring Split 8–10
5th–6th 2020 LCS Spring Playoffs 0–3 (against FlyQuest)

Academy team

Current roster
Nat. ID Name Role Joined
ZionSpartan Darshan Upadhyaya Top Laner May 28, 2019
Hard Anthony Barkhovtsev Jungler December 18, 2018
Ablazeolive Nicholas Abbott Mid Laner December 4, 2019
Goldenglue Greyson Gilmer Mid Laner June 5, 2020
Gorica Alex Gorica Bot Laner December 4, 2019
Keith Yuri Jew Bot Laner March 6, 2020
Chime Johnathan Pomponio Support May 28, 2020

Former players
Nat. ID Name Role Next team Joined Left
Huhi Choi Jae-hyun Support Golden Guardians May 28, 2019 June 5, 2020
Olleh Kim Joo-sung Support Dignitas Academy July 5, 2019 January 7, 2020[26]
Keith Yuri Jew Bot Laner Golden Guardians July 17, 2019 November 22, 2019
Palafox Cristian Palafox Mid Laner Cloud9 Academy December 18, 2018 November 20, 2019
zig Derek Shao Top Laner ANEW Esports April 23, 2018 May 28, 2019
Sheep Jamie Gallagher Support ANEW Esports April 23, 2018 May 18, 2019
Benji Benjamin deMunck Bot Laner ANEW Esports April 23, 2018 April 24, 2019
Potluck Nicholas Pollock Jungler Bloody Gaming January 3, 2018 December 18, 2018
bobqin Boyuan Qin Mid Laner none January 3, 2018 December 18, 2018
Xpecial Alex Chu Support Golden Guardians January 3, 2018 April 23, 2018
Jenkins Thomas Tran Top Laner Super Nova January 3, 2018 April 7, 2018
Jurrasiq Clarence Mabansag Bot Laner Polar Ace January 3, 2018 April 7, 2018

Tournament results
Placement Event Final result (W–L)
10th 2018 NA Academy Spring Split 2–16
9th 2018 NA Academy Summer Split 4–14
8th 2019 NA Academy Spring Split 7–11
2nd 2019 NA Academy Summer Split 14–4
2nd 2019 NA Academy Summer Playoffs 1–3 (against 100T Academy)

References
  1. @GoldenGuardians (December 18, 2019). "With our new branding, we will also be changing our tricode. Goodbye GGS, welcome GG. #GGWIN" (Tweet). Retrieved January 4, 2020 – via Twitter.
  2. "Golden Guardians". www.lolesports.com. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
  3. "Golden Guardians". Leaguepedia. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
  4. "Sources: Warriors-owned League of Legends team to be called Golden Guardians". ESPN.com. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
  5. "Golden Guardians Announce North American League of Legends Championship Series Roster". Golden State Warriors. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
  6. "Sources: NA LCS team roster finalized with Rockets". ESPN.com. Retrieved February 5, 2018.
  7. Esguerra, Tyler (December 18, 2019). "Golden Guardians expands to compete in Apex Legends, Teamfight Tactics, and World of Warcraft". Dot Esports. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
  8. "Golden Guardians add DogDog and Zain to their esports roster". ESPN. February 6, 2020. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  9. Wolf, Jacob (February 4, 2018). "Sources: Golden Guardians fired Locodoco after inappropriate remark". ESPN. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  10. "NA LCS 2018 Spring Split | Teams and Standings". www.lolesports.com. LoL Esports. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
  11. "Farewell Mickey". Team Liquid. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
  12. Goslin, Austen. "Golden Guardians announce changes for Summer Split roster". The Rift Herald. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
  13. Li, Xing (April 23, 2018). "Hai retires from competitive League". Dot Esports. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
  14. Goslin, Austen (April 24, 2018). "Hai Lam retires after 6 years of professional play". The Rift Herald. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
  15. "NA LCS 2018 Summer Split | Teams and Standings". www.lolesports.com. LoL Esports. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
  16. Wolf, Jacob (November 26, 2018). "Sources: Haunzter, Olleh to join Golden Guardians". ESPN. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
  17. Abbas, Malcolm (November 26, 2018). "Report: Golden Guardians to sign Hauntzer and Olleh". Dot Esports. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
  18. Wolf, Jacob (November 24, 2018). "Sources: Golden Guardians expected to sign Froggen". ESPN. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
  19. Li, Xing (November 24, 2018). "Report: Froggen is back, to sign with Golden Guardians". Dot Esports. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
  20. Abbas, Malcolm (October 18, 2018). "Inero named Golden Guardians' new head coach". Dot Esports. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  21. Esguerra, Tyler (March 23, 2019). "Froggen, Golden Guardians qualify for the 2019 LCS Spring Split playoffs with a win over OpTic Gaming". Dot Esports. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  22. Esguerra, Tyler (March 31, 2019). "FlyQuest beat Golden Guardians to advance to the 2019 LCS Spring Split semifinals". Dot Esports. Retrieved April 7, 2019.
  23. Li, Xing (July 6, 2019). "Huhi and FBI to start for Golden Guardians in the bot lane for week 5 of the 2019 LCS Summer Split". Dot Esports. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
  24. Esguerra, Tyler (July 17, 2019). "Golden Guardians trade Deftly to Cloud9 for KEITH". Dot Esports. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
  25. Geracie, Nick (August 4, 2019). "League of Legends: OpTic Gaming triumphs over Golden Guardians in tiebreaker to qualify for LCS Summer Playoffs". Inven Global. Retrieved August 12, 2019.
  26. Heath, Jerome (January 8, 2020). "Olleh joins Dignitas Academy for the 2020 League of Legends season". Dot Esports. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
  27. Esguerra, Tyler (December 9, 2019). "Froggen joins Dignitas to finalize the team's starting roster for 2020". Dot Esports. Retrieved December 9, 2019.
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