Not content with their initial four player roster, UK-based ManaLight has looked across the pond for their next Hearthstone signing.
Josh “Impact” Graham, who was quietly released from Luminosity Gaming earlier this year, has joined the team as their fifth signing. The Canadian player is a veteran of the game with a number of online cup successes to his name. Though he has had limited success offline, he did finish in the top eight of DreamHack Bucharest earlier in the year.
ManaLight is the third team Graham has signed for in the last ten months. In December, he became the last signing for the IHearthU organisation before it became inactive after the departures of Jan “Faramir” Engelmann, Daniel “DTwo” Ikuta and Harald “Powder” Gimre.
Graham then signed with Luminosity along with Nuno “Ignite” Pinho and Stanislav Cifka, but was quietly dropped recently with no official announcement from the team. Sources told the Daily Dot that this was a budgeting decision as the team looked to approach free agent Sebastian “Xixo” Bentert, but they lost out to Natus Vincere—though in statements to the Daily Dot, Luminosity has adamantly denied this, saying the source’s information was not accurate.
Luminosity also recently dropped Ben “Applejacked” Wilkinson after the player’s erratic behavior on stream.
In signing with ManaLight, Graham reunites with former teammate Gimre.
The new signing is another significant investment for ManaLight into their Hearthstone division. Gimre is said to be on a salary close to the high salary he received while on the ill-fated Trig Esports team.
Bertil “Frezzar” Fall, William “Modernleper” Bindloss and Juho “Ersee” Hyödynmaa make up the rest of the ManaLight roster.
Correction Oct. 5, 4:45pm: The original version of this article did not include statements from Luminosity about the circumstances of Graham’s departure. Additionally, irrelevant details about Applejacked’s departure have been removed. We regret the oversight.
Image via ManaLight | Remix by Jacob Wolf
