Nearly a month after HEROIC announced tN1R’s departure, with rumors of a move to Spirit quickly following, the deal has now been confirmed.

When the news first broke, the word on the street was that zont1x would be the one getting the boot. This came as a shock to most, given how integral he has been to Spirit’s success. Not to mention the fact the team had just won IEM Cologne, the most prestigious trophy outside of the Majors, and had done so right after a roster change.

Maybe they took a page out of NIP’s management playbook, who knows?

But Spirit’s statement cleared up the confusion. It turns out zont1x himself requested to be benched, asking for “some time off in order to solve certain personal issues.”

While this explanation clears up most of the uncertainty, it still leaves a big question mark over his return and what that might look like. According to OverDrive, “zont1x has not been put on transfer and is not going to search for a new team in the near future”.

So, what does that mean? Will he still have a spot in the lineup when he returns “this winter”? Will Spirit simply bench tN1R and reinstate him in the active lineup?

That seems unlikely, as Spirit probably paid the big bucks to HEROIC, so benching tN1R after a few months - especially if he performs well - would be questionable. That said, zont1x would be an upgrade to 99% of teams out there, so if a spot doesn’t open up in Spirit when he returns, finding a new home shouldn’t be a problem.

As for tN1R, he’s proven he can hang with the best and perform consistently as HEROIC’s centerpiece, clearly operating at a higher level than zont1x. But can he reach those same levels in an environment where donk and sh1ro are the stars?

His individual skill is undisputed, so it will be interesting to see how he meshes with the new team, starting in just a few weeks at ESL Pro League S22.