According to sources close to Sheep Esports, jungler Lanzo "Zicssi" Ciajolo has reportedly reached a verbal agreement with Gentle Mates and will be staying in the LFL next season. The French player will join his compatriot Jérémy "Eika" Valdenaire and the Greek players Markos “Comp” Stamkopoulos and Panagiotis “Empyros” Tantis who were all three already reported. Only the support is now missing to complete the M8 roster for 2025, as Kamil "kamilius" Košťál should not stay for next season, according to sources. These changes follow the announcement of Léo "Lounet" Maurice stepping in as the new general manager of the organization, and Adrien “GotoOne” Picard as the team’s new head coach.

Looking to turn the tide

Formerly known as Zicssiflay, the jungler made his debut in the LFL this year, after winning all three splits of the Hitpoint Masters with Entropiq, in 2023. Despite an unsuccessful 2024 with GameWard, Zicssi, and his team maintained GW’s spot in the LFL for next year and qualified for the Summer edition of EMEA Masters. However, they did not survive the LCQ, as they were eliminated by Movistar KOI (1-2). In September, the jungler also took part in the SoloQ Challenge organized by streamer Jean “Trayton” Medzadourian. Zicssi finished 7th out of 49 competitors, and third jungler. His team won the challenge.

Gentle Mates, on the other hand, also made their debut in the LFL this year. While the org had lined up a team full of promises, they struggled to live up to it. Not without difficulty, M8 managed to secure a third-place finish in the Spring Split, before getting eliminated in Group D at the EMEA Masters. The team then decided to replace Eika with Jeong "Mireu" Jo-bin, and completely collapsed for Summer, with an eighth-place finish, even failing to qualify for the last edition of EMEA Masters in 2024. With a strong-looking roster so far, Gentle Mates seem to want to try their luck again to conquer the LFL and maybe even, EMEA.

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