Early this morning came the news that Luminosity Gaming had swooped in to pluck yet another redhot European talent away from the mother continent and off to darkest North America. Rising star of the French scene Bastien "SuperPlouk" Klau has signed for the recently relocated LG and will be travelling to their team house in Toronto.

Having honed his skills playing with Redskins alongside players like Hqrdest (and briefly SPREE at one point), SuperPlouk's stock had risen dramatically since putting up big performances for the new French superteam melty-Redskin amalgam, Bonjour, in the first European Alienware Monthly Melee. His impressive tank play which had also placed him atop the European leaderboards was further embellished by Slasher who surmised that "98 of the top 100 are probably DPS players".

The new arrival will be stepping in the giant armoured shoes of Dominik "Ruster" Waffler who has vacated the starting roster for reasons unknown, but assumedly remains part of the organisation for the time being. Ruster was one of the founding members of the pre-signing 2sTroNk team which itself spawned from the Experiment roster that debuted back in May at TaKeOver.

The roster has been through many transformations since then, including the more recent replacement of Tseini by SPREE at the expense of NWA. This is the second time they have lifted a player from a promising team and an uncertain future lies ahead for Bonjour after the loss of their superstar tank; undoubtedly a setback in their own search for sponsorship.

Never mind all that doom and gloom, I must give credit to LG for there willingness to make big changes and also for putting out one of the more enjoyable player signing announcements I've read, recounting the SuperPlouk origin story better than I could ever hope to:

We are extremely happy to announce the signing of Bastien "SuperPlouk" Klau to the Luminosity Overwatch team. SuperPlouk will be replacing Dominik "Ruster" Waffler from the starting roster. Filling the role of tank on the team, SuperPlouk is a very talented, flexible player, and will be an influential piece to the team. At 22 years old, he was born in France in a city called Fontainebleau. He credits his father for sparking his interest in gaming as a kid, by allowing him to play on his father's Playstation. He would later move into PC gaming at the young age of 12 playing Counter Strike 1.6 and Medal of Honor. His parents actually started their own gaming team or clan which fueled SuperPlouk's competitive nature for gaming. During this time he would work at his father's computer shop. He dabbled in games like League of Legends and Heroes of the Storm before he discovered Overwatch. Besides being a competitive pro gamer, he enjoys travelling, creating content, streaming and has a general interest in technology.

"I was immediately drawn to SuperPlouk by his high level gameplay. Watching him play it became obvious very quickly that this was someone who went beyond just relying on his mechanical ability. I could tell he took his role seriously, and had a high ingame IQ when it comes to Overwatch. SuperPlouk is a rising star and it won't be long before he is a household name in Overwatch. We couldn't be happier to have him, and look forward to watching him develop as a player under the Luminosity banner." ~ Steve Maida, CEO

"I'm really excited to join LG, it's a great opportunity. Nothing like this has never happened in my life and I feel like my efforts have finally been recognized and that people actually like what I do. LG has been really professional since they approached me and I'm glad to be now part of such an amazing organization. Our practice with the team has gone really well so far and I believe we have the talent to be a top team in the World. I want to thank LG, Steve, and I hope to make them and the fans of LG proud. I will do my best!"

SuperPlouk will join the rest of the team at their gaming house in Toronto, Canada in the coming days to prepare for the NGE NA $100K Winter Premiere over the course of the next few weeks!

Luminisoty will definitely have been buoyed by the news of NGE's Winter Premiere after they did not receive a golden ticket to MLG Vegas, but let's not get in to that. They clearly have plans far beyond December and will be well settled in their North American digs by the time Blizzard's Overwatch League rears its head once more.

The Luminosity Gaming roster is now:

  • Vytis "Mineral" Lasaitis (Support)
  • Kalle Haag "Zave" Nilsson (Support)
  • Alexandre "SPREE" Vanhomwegen (Flex)
  • Tim "Manneten" Byhlund (DPS)
  • Arthur "EISSFELDT" Marx (DPS)
  • Bastien "SuperPlouk" Klau (Tank)