LoL - LEC: Vitality Coach Mac explains controversial Hylissang benching: "We have high hopes for Nisqy"

Only an hour after Sheep Esports reported Vitality's decision to bench support Zdravets “Hylissang” Galabov for Yasin “Nisqy” Dinçer, the French organization announced the bombshell move online. Nisqy — who has only ever played mid professionally — was an unexpected roster move for the team. Despite their mediocre results in Winter, role swapping a player with middling recent results to replace one of the most legendary supports in European history was bound to be controversial.

The statement, unusually long for a roster move announcement, had dual intentions: thanking Hylissang for his time with the team and getting ahead of criticism of the decision. James "Mac" MacCormack, having worked with Hylissang for two years across two organizations, clearly wanted to express gratitude towards the renowned support as a person, highlighting that the decision had brought him "no small degree of sadness on [his] part personally."

To give insights on the reasoning behind the decision, Mac explained that the team's rate of development was below expectations and, since the organization was "committed to becoming a top team in Europe," they had to make a change. He cited "conflicting ideas within the team" about their approach to strategy in-game, which he said compromised communication and structure, drawing special attention to their practice environment.

Despite only making one change, he made sure to clarify that this wasn't designed to scapegoat a single player — and that it wasn't a decision born of a collapsed team environment or a lack of hope as a team.

There is precedent for moves like this — Alan "Busio" Cwalina and Choi "huhi" Jae-hyun both started their professional careers as midlaners. After lauding Hylissang's accomplishments as a player and speaking to his affability as a teammate, Mac highlighted his high hopes for the former midlaner in his statement, drawing attention to the fact that he and Matyáš "Carzzy" Orság had already competed with Nisqy on MAD Lions.

In Spring 2023, Nisqy and Carzzy, on a MAD roster led by Mac, won the LEC trophy and qualified for MSI as the region's first seed. Having worked with him in the past, Mac testified to Nisqy's work ethic, ambition, and determination — qualities Team Vitality felt they needed to resolve the issues that have plagued the team.

When Mac left MAD to join VIT, fans of the behemoth organization hoped he could help resolve the team's pattern of disappointing results. Instead, they have been distinctly worse than MAD's results under Mac. Though the move to pick up Nisqy as a support is controversial, it's the kind of bold move that earned Mac praise as a successful coach on MAD — the community will be watching closely to see if the Belgian veteran midlaner can adapt well to a new role.