Bombers (esports)

The Bombers were an Australian professional League of Legends team based in the Tullamarine suburb of Melbourne. Their name came from their parent organization, the Essendon Football Club, which is nicknamed the "Bombers".[1] The team competed in the Oceanic Pro League (OPL), the highest level of professional League of Legends in Oceania.[2]

Bombers
Short nameBMR
GameLeague of Legends
Founded14 December 2017 (2017-12-14)
Folded2 December 2019 (2019-12-02)
LeagueOceanic Pro League (OPL)
Based inMelbourne, Australia
Head coachLuchio "SoulStrikes" Park
ManagerNathan "Euphoria" Mathews-Mallia
Parent groupEssendon Football Club
Websitewww.bombers.gg

History

The Essendon Football Club announced on 14 December 2017 that it had purchased the OPL team Abyss Esports, becoming the second AFL team to enter the professional League of Legends scene after the Adelaide Football Club, which wholly acquired Legacy Esports in May 2017.[3][4] However, unlike Adelaide, Essendon rebranded Abyss Esports along with the acquisition. The team was also relocated from Sydney to the Tullamarine suburb of Melbourne, where Essendon is based.[3]

The Bombers' first roster consisted of top laner Christian "Sleeping" Tiensuu, jungler Sebastian "Seb" de Ceglie, mid laner Carlo "Looch" La Civita, bot laner Alan "Tiger" Roger, and support Andrew "Rosey" Rose. The team finished 6th in the OPL 2018 Split 1 and 5th in the OPL 2018 Split 2.[5] Every player on the Bombers' original roster left in the offseason before the OPL 2019 Split 1 (except for Seb, who was moved to a substitute position). In December 2018, the team acquired a new roster consisting of top laner Min "Mimic" Ju-seong,[6] jungler Choi "BalKhan" Hyun-jin,[7] mid laner Tommy "ry0ma" Le,[8] bot laner Victor "FBI" Huang,[9] and support Jake "Rogue" Sharwood,[10] the latter three of which were already veterans of the OPL. The new roster dominated the regular season of the OPL 2019 Split 1, ending in first place with a 19–2 record and directly qualifying for the grand finals, where they swept ORDER 3–0 to claim their first OPL title.[11] The Bombers' victory in the grand finals qualified them for the 2019 Mid-Season Invitational as Oceania's representative in the play-in stage.[12]

The Bombers were placed in Group A of the first round of the 2019 Mid-Season Invitational play-in stage, along with Turkish team 1907 Fenerbahçe, Vietnamese team Phong Vũ Buffalo, and Latin American team Isurus Gaming.[13][14] The team ended third in their group and eleventh to twelfth overall with a 2–4 record, failing to qualify for the second round of the play-in stage. BalKhan left the team shortly after on 6 May 2019.[15]

LCS team Golden Guardians announced on 28 May 2019 that it had acquired FBI from the Bombers for its academy team.[16] To fill in the vacant positions for OPL 2019 Split 2, jungler Jeong "Wilder" Jin-woo was acquired from Japanese team Burning Core,[17] while Looch rejoined as a bot laner from the Bombers' academy team.[18] The Bombers finished third in the regular season and fourth in playoffs after getting knocked out in the second round by ORDER.

On 2 December 2019, it was announced that the Bombers' OPL slot had been sold to Perth-based internet provider Pentanet.[19][20]

Final roster
Nat. ID Name Role
Mimic Min Ju-seong Top Laner
Wilder Jeong Jin-woo Jungler
ry0ma Tommy Le Mid Laner
Looch Carlo La Civita Bot Laner
Rogue Jake Sharwood Support

Tournament results
Placement Event Final result (W–L)
6th OPL 2018 Split 1 2–8
5th OPL 2018 Split 2 3–7
5th OPL 2018 Split 2 Playoffs 0–3 (against Legacy Esports)
1st OPL 2019 Split 1 19–2
1st OPL 2019 Split 1 Playoffs 3–0 (against ORDER)
11th–12th 2019 Mid-Season Invitational 2–4 (play-in stage)
3rd OPL 2019 Split 2 14–7
4th OPL 2019 Split 2 Playoffs 1–3 (against ORDER)

References
  1. Hancock, James (26 July 2018). "What do gamers and AFL players have in common? A lot at the Bombers". ABC News. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  2. Byrne, Seamus (31 January 2019). "Behind the Riot Games and AFL Exclusive Partnership in Australia". The Esports Observer. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  3. Colangelo, Anthony (7 December 2017). "Essendon Bombers buy Australian esports team Abyss". The Age. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  4. Laughton, Max (15 December 2017). "League of Legends Oceanic Pro League 2018, Order, teams, players, esports news". Fox Sports. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  5. "Bombers/Tournament Results". Leaguepedia. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  6. "'Mimic' joins Bombers esports". Essendon Football Club. 9 December 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  7. "Bombers esports signs talented rookie". Essendon Football Club. 10 December 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  8. "'Ryoma' Bombers' new mid laner". Essendon Football Club. 8 December 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  9. "'FBI' joins Bombers esports". Essendon Football Club. 6 December 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  10. "Bombers esports signs 'Rogue'". Essendon Football Club. 7 December 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  11. Amos, Andrew (6 April 2019). "Bombers claim first OPL title over Order, will represent Oceania at MSI". Dot Esports. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  12. Amos, Andrew (27 April 2019). "MSI 2019 power rankings: Minor regions". Dot Esports. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  13. Amos, Andrew (23 April 2019). "Here are the groups for the MSI 2019 play-in stage". Dot Esports. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  14. Ridgely, Brandon (28 April 2019). "MSI 2019 Play-In Stage breakdown: Group A". RealSport. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  15. "Balkhan departs Bombers". Essendon Football Club. 6 May 2019. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  16. "Golden Guardians Announce Academy Team Roster for 2019 Summer Split". Golden Guardians. 28 May 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  17. "'Wilder' joins Bombers esports". Essendon Football Club. 3 June 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  18. "'Looch' returns to Bombers esports". Essendon Football Club. 4 June 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  19. "Statement: Bombers esports". Essendon Football Club. 2 December 2019. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  20. "Pentanet.GG joins Oceanic Pro League for 2020 esports season". pentanet.com.au. Pentanet. 2 December 2019. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
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