OAKLAND, Calif. – The Golden Guardians (GGS), the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) affiliate of the Golden State Warriors, have finalized their Academy roster and coaching staff for the 2019 Summer Split, pending Riot approval.

The current five-player Golden Guardians Academy roster for the 2019 Summer Split includes the following:

Top: Darshan “Darshan” Upadhyaya

Darshan “Darshan” Upadhyaya Jungle: Anthony “Hard” Barkhovtsev

Anthony “Hard” Barkhovtsev Mid: Cristian “Palafox” Palafox

Cristian “Palafox” Palafox AD Carry: Victor “FBI” Huang*

Victor “FBI” Huang* Support: Jae-Hyun “Huhi” Choi

*Matthew “Deftly” Chen will play for the LCS and Academy rosters pending Huang’s travel documents being finalized. *

Barkhovtsev and Palafox return to the Golden Guardians Academy team after competing together in the 2019 Spring Split. Upadhyaya will make his Golden Guardians debut this summer after a four-year stint with Counter-Logic Gaming. Huang spent the 2019 Spring Split with from the Bombers of the Oceanic Pro League (OPL). Choi joins the Golden Guardians in the support position after spending the 2019 Spring Split as starting mid for 100 Thieves.

Jimmy Harrison will begin his first full split as LCS head coach after taking over head coaching duties during Week 2 of the 2019 Spring Split. Under Harrison’s leadership, the Golden Guardians finished the 2019 Spring Split in fifth place with a 9-10 record (9-6 under Harrison) and earned the franchise’s first-ever playoff appearance. Harrison was hired as two-way player coach for the Golden Guardians 2019 Spring Split.

Nick “Inero” Smith, focusing his attention on the Academy team, will now serve as LCS assistant coach during the 2019 Summer Split. This marks the third position that Smith has held within the Golden Guardians organization, serving as head coach of the LCS team to begin the 2019 Spring Split after a stint as team consultant at the end of the 2018 Summer Split.

Nicholas “Potluck” Pollock, who spent the 2018 LCS Summer Split as jungler for the Golden Guardians Academy team, will rejoin the franchise as two-way player coach. The role of the two-way player coach is modeled after that of Golden State’s that focuses on the development of Academy players to prepare the team for a transition to the LCS. This marks the first coaching role for Pollock, who most recently played jungler for Bloody Gaming, an amateur North American League of Legends team.

The current Golden Guardians LCS roster includes the following:

Top: Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell

Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell Jungle: Juan “Contractz” Garcia

Juan “Contractz” Garcia Mid: Henrik “Froggen” Hansen

Henrik “Froggen” Hansen AD Carry: Matthew “Deftly” Chen

Matthew “Deftly” Chen Support: Joo-Sung “Olleh” Kim

Throughout the 2019 Summer Split, players from the Golden Guardians’ LCS and Academy rosters are expected to shift in an effort to continue to build a cohesive ten-man roster.

The 2019 Summer Split will begin on June 1.

The Golden Guardians are the LCS affiliate team of the Golden State Warriors. League of Legends is a multiplayer online battle arena game where two teams of five players battle on Summoner’s Rift with the goal of destroying the heart of the opposing team’s base, known as the nexus, to achieve victory. League of Legends esports games are broadcast live to millions of fans in 18 different languages across the globe, with viewership of the regular season averaging 90 million hours-watched live, week-over-week worldwide.

For more information on the League of Legends Championship Series and Golden Guardians, including clips and bios of the players, CLICK HERE to view the Golden Guardians media guide or visit lolesports.com.