FC Schalke 04 Esports signed Thomas “Kirei” Yuen as their starting jungler for the summer split. Kirei is a journeyman jungler who has played in North America, Europe, Turkey and the the European regional leagues. He will replace Schalke’s starting jungler Gilius, who helped the team reach the League of Legends European Champion Series playoffs in the 2020 summer split.
Gilius will move to a substitute role for the team. Replacing Gilius with Kirei is Schalke’s second roster move this offseason, as their starting mid laner Felix “Abbedagge” Braun jumped to 100 Thieves. In his stead, Schalke added Ilias “Nuclearint” Bizriken from their Academy roster.
Kirei will debut for his new team at the start of the LEC on June 6.
Official Announcement: Please welcome @KireiLol as our starting Jungler for the #LEC Summer Split!* #S04WIN
*pending Riot approval pic.twitter.com/NY73FtWfxq
— Schalke 04 Esports League of Legends (@S04EsportsLoL) May 19, 2021
Before Schalke signed Kirei
Fans of professional League of Legends may recognize the Dutch jungler from his time with Dignitas in 2015. Kirei has been with many teams over his career, several in lower-tier leagues like the Turkish Championship League and La Ligue Française. His last stint in the LEC was back in 2019 with Misfits. That season, Misfits famously benched most of its starting roster and fielded its Academy team for a large chunk of the summer split.
Kirei returned to the Academy roster, Misfits Premier, and played for French squad GamersOrigin for the first half of the 2021 season. He also has a Mid-Season Invitational appearance under his belt from his seven-year career. While with the Turkish side, 1907 Fenerbahçe Esports, Kirei won the TCL and competed in MSI 2019. There, the team failed to make it out of the group stage with a 4-2 record.
Notable achievements for Kirei include six top three finishes in the LFL regulars season and playoffs combined. He also placed first in the TCL with 1907 Fenerbahçe Esports in the 2019 spring split regular season and playoffs. In both of the EU Masters events that he attended, Kirei’s teams placed in the top eight.
“We truly believe that in the environment that we can provide to him that he will pop off this summer split,” Tim Reichert, Chief Gaming Officer of FC Schalke 04 Esports, said.
