Golden Guardians – Wikipedia

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The Golden Guardians (GG) are an American esports organization owned by the Golden State Warriors.[2][3] The organization was one of four that joined the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) in 2018 after the league began franchising, the others being 100 Thieves, Clutch Gaming and OpTic Gaming.[4][5] On December 18, 2019, the Guardians announced their expansion into the professional scenes of Apex Legends, Teamfight Tactics and World of Warcraft.[6]

Super Smash Bros. Melee player Zain “Zain” Naghmi and Teamfight Tactics player David “DogDog” Caero were signed by the Guardians on February 6, 2020.[7] On April 2, 2021, the organization announced the signings of Super Smash Bros. Melee player Edgard “n0ne” L. Sheleby, inactive player and streamer Kevin “PPMD” Nanney and commentator Kris “Toph” Aldenderfer.[8] On March 29, 2023, Zain announced his departure from the Guardians; the following day, the organization announced the signings of Melee player Masaya “aMSa” Chikamoto and player-commentator Brandon “HomeMadeWaffles” Collier.[9]

League of Legends[edit]

LCS team[edit]

History[edit]

The Guardians finalized their roster for the 2018 NA LCS Spring Split on December 13, 2017, signing top laner Samson “Lourlo” Jackson, jungler Juan “Contractz” Arturo Garcia, mid laner Hai “Hai” Du Lam, bot laner Matthew “Deftly” Chen and support Matthew “Matt” Elento, with Choi “Locodoco” Yoon-seop as head coach for the team. On February 4, 2018, Locodoco was fired after making inappropriate remarks towards a female member of Riot Games’ esports staff. The final decision was made by the Golden State Warriors, the parent company of the Guardians, who cited their strict zero tolerance policy.[10] Assistant coach Tyler Perron was subsequently promoted to interim head coach to fill the vacant position. The team finished the regular season of the 2018 NA LCS Spring Split in tenth place with a 4–14 record.[11]

On April 23, 2018, the Guardians acquired mid laner Young-min “Mickey” Son from Team Liquid, in preparation for the 2018 NA LCS Summer Split.[12][13] Shortly afterwards, Hai announced his retirement from competitive play for the second time and left the team.[14][15]

The Guardians ended the 2018 NA LCS Summer Split in tenth place, with a 5–13 record, becoming the first team in the league’s history to finish last two splits in a row.[16]

In preparation for the 2019 LCS Spring Split (which had recently renamed to exclude “NA” from its title), the Guardians acquired Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell and Kim “Olleh” Joo-sung from Team SoloMid and Team Liquid respectively.[17][18] Veteran player Henrik “Froggen” Hansen later joined the team to complete the roster.[19][20] The Guardians also hired Nick “Inero” Smith as the Golden Guardians’ new head coach and Danan Flander, former Cloud9 senior general manager, as the team’s first general manager.[21]

Despite a disappointing start to the 2019 LCS Spring Split, the Guardians managed to end the regular season in fifth place after losing a tiebreaker match to FlyQuest, with a 9–9 record. This secured the team their first appearance in playoffs,[22] where they narrowly lost 2–3 to FlyQuest in the quarterfinals.[23] During the first half of the summer split the Guardians kept the same starting lineup from the spring split, but later opted to promote bot laner Victor “FBI” Huang and support Choi “Huhi” Jae-hyun from the academy team.[24] Deftly was later traded to Cloud9 Academy for Yuri “Keith” Jew.[25] The Guardians ended the summer split tied for sixth with 100 Thieves and OpTic Gaming. After losing their tiebreaker match to OpTic Gaming, the Guardians were locked out of playoffs.[26]

Current roster[edit]

Golden Guardians League of Legends roster
Players Coaches
Role Handle Name Nationality
Top Licorice Ritchie, Eric Canada
Jungle River Kim Dong-woo South Korea
Mid Gori Kim Tae-woo South Korea
Bot Stixxay Hayes, Trevor United States
Support huhi Choi Jae-hyun South Korea
Head coach

Samuel “Spookz” Broadley

Assistant coach(es)

Aaron “Chuz” Bland

Legend:

  • (I) Inactive
  • (S) Suspended
  • Substitute player Substitute
  • Injured Injury / Illness

  

Roster updated January 27, 2023.

Tournament results[edit]

NACL team[edit]

Current roster[edit]

Golden Guardians Challengers roster
Players Coaches
Role Handle Name Nationality
Top Concept Su, Michael United States
Jungle RoseThorn Kim, Timothy United States
Mid Young Choi, Young United States
Bot Array Moldenhauer, Jackson United States
Support Prismal Feinstein, Jacob United States
Head coach

Brandon “Swip3rR” Holland

Legend:
  • (I) Inactive
  • (S) Suspended
  • Substitute player Substitute
  • Injured Injury / Illness

  

Roster updated January 16, 2023.

Tournament results[edit]

Placement Event Final result (W–L)
10th 2018 NA Academy Spring Split 2–16
9th 2018 NA Academy Summer Split 4–14
8th 2019 NA Academy Spring Split 7–11
2nd 2019 NA Academy Summer Split 14–4
2nd 2019 NA Academy Summer Playoffs 1–3 (against 100T Academy)
7th 2020 NA Academy Spring Split 8–10
4th 2020 NA Academy Summer Split 10–8
5th–6th 2020 NA Academy Summer Playoffs 2–3 (against CLG Academy)
9th–10th 2021 NA Academy Spring 2–7
7th–8th 2021 LCS Proving Grounds Spring 1–2 (against 100T Academy)
8th 2021 NA Academy Summer 3–9–6
3rd 2021 LCS Proving Grounds Summer 2–3 (against Team Liquid Academy)
3rd 2022 NA Academy Spring 6–10–2
3rd 2022 LCS Proving Grounds Spring 0–3 (against 100T Academy)
10th 2022 NA Academy Summer 2–5–11
13th–16th 2022 LCS Proving Grounds Summer 0–2 (against AOE Esports)

Super Smash Bros. Melee[edit]

History[edit]

Super Smash Bros. Melee player Zain “Zain” Naghmi was signed by the Golden Guardians on February 6, 2020.[7] During 2020, Zain has won Pound Online,[27] the Ludwig Ahgren Championship Series 2,[28] and Smash Summit 10,[29] all three of which took place online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On June 20, 2020, Golden Guardians hosted “The Octagon”, a one-night showcase of some of Melee’s top players competing in a first-to-five wins matchup with the main event being Zain vs Joseph “Mang0” Manuel Marquez, which Zain won 5–2.

On April 2, 2021, the organization announced the signings of Super Smash Bros. Melee player Edgard “n0ne” L. Sheleby, inactive player and streamer Kevin “PPMD” Nanney and commentator Kris “Toph” Aldenderfer.[8]

Zain was ranked the number one player in the world in 2022.[30]

On March 29, 2023, Zain announced his departure from the Golden Guardians; the following day, the organization announced the signings of then-#2-ranked[30]Melee player Masaya “aMSa” Chikamoto and player-commentator Brandon “HomeMadeWaffles” Collier.[9]

Current roster[edit]

Golden Guardians Super Smash Bros. Melee roster
Players Coaches
Handle Name Nationality
PPMD Nanney, Kevin United States
n0ne Sheleby, Edgard Canada
Toph Aldenderfer, Kris United States
aMSa Chikamoto, Masaya Japan
HomeMadeWaffles Collier, Brandon United States
Head coach
Legend:
  • (I) Inactive
  • (S) Suspended
  • Substitute player Substitute
  • Injured Injury / Illness

  

Roster

References[edit]

  1. ^ @GoldenGuardians (December 18, 2019). “With our new branding, we will also be changing our tricode. Goodbye GGS, welcome GG. #GGWIN” (Tweet). Retrieved January 4, 2020 – via Twitter.
  2. ^ “Golden Guardians”. www.lolesports.com. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
  3. ^ “Sources: Warriors-owned League of Legends team to be called Golden Guardians”. ESPN.com. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
  4. ^ “Golden Guardians Announce North American League of Legends Championship Series Roster”. Golden State Warriors. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
  5. ^ “Sources: NA LCS team roster finalized with Rockets”. ESPN.com. Retrieved February 5, 2018.
  6. ^ Esguerra, Tyler (December 18, 2019). “Golden Guardians expands to compete in Apex Legends, Teamfight Tactics, and World of Warcraft”. Dot Esports. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
  7. ^ a b “Golden Guardians add DogDog and Zain to their esports roster”. ESPN. February 6, 2020. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  8. ^ a b “Golden Guardians Continue Expansion Into Super Smash Bros. Melee | Golden Guardians”. www.goldenguardians.com. Retrieved April 3, 2021.
  9. ^ a b Michael, Cale (March 30, 2023). “Golden Guardians expands Smash Melee roster, signs aMSa one day after losing Zain”. Dot Esports.
  10. ^ Wolf, Jacob (February 4, 2018). “Sources: Golden Guardians fired Locodoco after inappropriate remark”. ESPN. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  11. ^ “NA LCS 2018 Spring Split | Teams and Standings”. www.lolesports.com. LoL Esports. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
  12. ^ “Farewell Mickey”. Team Liquid. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
  13. ^ Goslin, Austen. “Golden Guardians announce changes for Summer Split roster”. The Rift Herald. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
  14. ^ Li, Xing (April 23, 2018). “Hai retires from competitive League”. Dot Esports. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
  15. ^ Goslin, Austen (April 24, 2018). “Hai Lam retires after 6 years of professional play”. The Rift Herald. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
  16. ^ “NA LCS 2018 Summer Split | Teams and Standings”. www.lolesports.com. LoL Esports. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
  17. ^ Wolf, Jacob (November 26, 2018). “Sources: Haunzter, Olleh to join Golden Guardians”. ESPN. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
  18. ^ Abbas, Malcolm (November 26, 2018). “Report: Golden Guardians to sign Hauntzer and Olleh”. Dot Esports. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
  19. ^ Wolf, Jacob (November 24, 2018). “Sources: Golden Guardians expected to sign Froggen”. ESPN. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
  20. ^ Li, Xing (November 24, 2018). “Report: Froggen is back, to sign with Golden Guardians”. Dot Esports. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
  21. ^ Abbas, Malcolm (October 18, 2018). “Inero named Golden Guardians’ new head coach”. Dot Esports. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  22. ^ Esguerra, Tyler (March 23, 2019). “Froggen, Golden Guardians qualify for the 2019 LCS Spring Split playoffs with a win over OpTic Gaming”. Dot Esports. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  23. ^ Esguerra, Tyler (March 31, 2019). “FlyQuest beat Golden Guardians to advance to the 2019 LCS Spring Split semifinals”. Dot Esports. Retrieved April 7, 2019.
  24. ^ Li, Xing (July 6, 2019). “Huhi and FBI to start for Golden Guardians in the bot lane for week 5 of the 2019 LCS Summer Split”. Dot Esports. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
  25. ^ Esguerra, Tyler (July 17, 2019). “Golden Guardians trade Deftly to Cloud9 for KEITH”. Dot Esports. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
  26. ^ Geracie, Nick (August 4, 2019). “League of Legends: OpTic Gaming triumphs over Golden Guardians in tiebreaker to qualify for LCS Summer Playoffs”. Inven Global. Retrieved August 12, 2019.
  27. ^ Robertson, Scott. “Pound Online – Melee Singles”. Smash.gg. Smash.gg. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  28. ^ Collier, Brandon. “Ludwig Ahgren Championship Series 2 – Melee Singles”. Smash.gg. smash.gg. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  29. ^ “Smash Summit 10 Online”. smash.gg. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  30. ^ a b GimmeDatWheat (January 21, 2023). “SSBMRank 2022: The Top Ten”. Medium. Retrieved February 12, 2023.

External links[edit]