100 Thieves has announced the signing of Kevin “FallenBandit” Wu. He will join as Head Coach for 100 Thieves Next – the North American esports organization and lifestyle brand’s amateur program, which competes in the tier 3 League of Legends scene.
FallenBandit to 100 Thieves Next
“Excited to be working with 100 Thieves as the Head Coach for the Next program,” wrote FallenBandit in a Twitter post. “Thanks for all the support from friends and family!”
FallenBandit entered the competitive scene in 2011, where he competed for a series of amateur teams like Absolute Legends, Ordinance Gaming, Meat Playground, and Velocity Esports. Counter Logic Gaming Black then recruited him for the North American Championship Series, which served as the qualifier circuit into the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS). Between 2017 and 2019, he switched between the Academy and LCS rosters.
FallenBandit most recently competed for Counter Logic Gaming, where he held the role of top laner for the team’s Academy program during the 2019 Summer Split. The 23-year-old also shared that same role with Darshan “ZionSpartan” Upadhyaya while on the main roster during the 2019 Spring Split.
Unfortunately, the organization finished with bottom-half bracket placements during both splits in 2019. When his contract ended and went unrenewed, he left alongside Galen “Moon” Holgate and Osama “Auto” Alkhalaileh. However, he wasn’t able to find a new team to represent for the 2020 season until now.
Developing amateur talent
Welcome @FallenBandit as Head Coach for our 100 Thieves Next League of Legends program! FallenBandit will work closely with our entire LoL coaching staff to develop our current 100X players and scout new & rising talent. We’re excited to have him part of 100 Thieves! #100T pic.twitter.com/A2MRYHKeUo
— 100 Thieves (@100Thieves) March 6, 2020
The current 100 Thieves Next roster consists of Milan “Tenacity” Oleksij, Shane “Kenvi” Espinoza, Jouhan “Copy” Pathmanathan, Osama “Auto” Alkhalaileh, and Philippe “Poome” Lavoie-Giguere. The team competes in the Upsurge Premier League, where it sits undefeated in the Ocean Division with five wins.
100 Thieves Next was founded in January of 2020 and serves as a pipeline to develop amateur talent. The LCS is known for its use of import players from other regions. Some say this issue is due to the fact that native players are more interested in becoming content creators and streamers, rather than professional players. Nevertheless, it is far more cost-effective to sign someone early on, and FallenBandit can leverage his LCS experience to develop these players.
