Former Team SoloMid Darkness (referred to in this piece as “Darkness”) Lyonel “Arcsecond” Pfaender, Ryan “Big Ol Ron” Ballard, and Paul “Indivisible” Nguyen are planning to take legal action against Team SoloMid’s parent company, SoloMid Corporation (referred to as “SoloMid”). The three plaintiffs allege that SoloMid had breached numerous portions of the contract and wrongfully terminated the players’ contracts.

Pfaender, Ballard and Nguyen provided Esports Heaven with a statement about the situation:

“After hearing about the termination of the contract, we reached out to the SoloMid organization to discuss the events surrounding the contract’s termination. Having heard no initial response, we explored legal options. After being informed that we have a case by our  legal counsel, we made our intention known to SoloMid that we would be seeking legal action.

We maintain that SoloMid wrongfully terminated the players’ contracts and did not fulfill the agreed upon services stated in the agreement. We also believe that they have violated numerous other clauses outlined in the individual contracts.

This was an unwarranted release and we feel the handling of the roster was totally unacceptable.” - Lyonel “Arcsecond” Pfaender, Ryan “Big Ol Ron” Ballard, & Paul “Indivisible” Nguyen; former TSM Darkness players

Darkness, as Team Confound, participated in the Spring NACS qualifiers. The team nearly made it through the qualifiers but were defeated by Cloud 9 Tempest in a 2-0 loss.  It turned out; however, that C9T were to be disqualified for using a substitute ringer and Confound to be given their place in the NACS.

Confound eventually signed with North America’s most prestigious League of Legends organization, SoloMid, under the name TSM Darkness.

Source: Team SoloMid

Darkness started off the the season strong with a victory over Counter Logic Gaming Black, but have failed to obtain any victories after week 1, slumping to a 1-7 record.

On Mar 21, Esports Heaven reported that Darkness AD Carry, David “t3azer” Berube leaked scrim footage to Team Fusion coach, Keaton “Bee Sin” Cryer. While both CLG and Fusion swiftly condemned the move, Team Solomid went even further and released the entire team - a move which the three players allege is a violation of their contract.

Esports Heaven has reached out to SoloMid for comment but have not obtained a response by time of publication. Esports Heaven will keep you up-to-date as more information becomes available.

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