Counter Logic Gaming has announced an adjustment to its roster for the 2021 League of Legends Championship Series Spring Split. CLG Academy mid laner Alexey "rjs" Zatorski will be starting in the mid lane against Dignitas in place of Eugene "Pobelter" Park, who started for CLG Academy this week. 

At the start of the 2020 season, rjs was signed as a top laner for CLG Academy under the moniker Deus. A re-shuffling of CLG Academy's roster in the off-season led rjs to return to his originally intended professional role of mid lane, and to mark the shift, the Canadian rebranded. 

Deus made his LCS debut in the Summer Split last year, but is returning to the big stage in an entirely new role. CLG General Manager Daniel "Tafokints" Lee explained how the team was handling its roster leading up to the Spring Split. 

The reasons for rjs' LCS start, as well as CLG's general approach in practicing with swapping mid laners on its LCS and Academy teams, is peculiar given the wealth of Pobelter's experience and his history as a lightning rod for the organization. On esports talk show The CrackDown, CLG AD Carry Jason "Wildturtle" Tran cited attitude issues as the reason for Pobelter's benching, but Tafokints stated in a subsequent tweet that attitude had nothing to do with the decision to start rjs.

Another reason for the swap could be the fact that visa issues are still hindering jungler Mads "Broxah" Brock-Pedersen from joining the team, and with CLG Academy jungler Raymond "Griffin" Griffin (formerly Wiggily) being promoted, it's possible that rjs will have more synergy with him than Pobelter due to both initially being intended for the 2021 CLG Academy roster.

Fortunately, while he was not present for the 2021 LCS Lock In, CLG top laner Finn "Finn" Wiestål has been with the team for over a week now and is slated to make his debut with his new team today against DIG. 

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