According to sources close to Sheep Esports, Canadian Top-Laner Eric “Licorice” Ritchie and the LCS organization Dignitas have reached a verbal agreement to join forces for the upcoming Summer Season. Licorice will be taking over the starting position of the South Korean Top-Laner Lee “Rich” Jae-won.

A Return to Active Play

In November 2023, the LCS announced that it would reduce the number of participating organizations from the initial ten down to eight. Licorice, at this point in the services of the North American organization Golden Guardians, had been left without a home in the league after Golden Guardians were announced to be one of the two organizations parting ways with the league.

As the announcement of the organization’s departure became public only after most organizations in the LCS had already locked in their rosters, Licorice was not in a position to find a suitable new home for himself before the start of the LCS 2024 Season. Using his time without a spot on a starting roster, Licorice appeared on the official LCS broadcast and made a trip to the CBLOL in Brazil to participate in a show match.

The Search for the Defining Change

After recent underperformances on Dignitas in the LCS Spring Split, resulting in a first-round elimination in the Playoffs, the North American organization is looking to make defining changes to turn their trend around. After closely missing out on the playoffs' upper bracket with a fifth-place finish in the LCS Group Stages, the team fell to later victors Team Liquid in a dominant 3-0 fashion and found an early end to their Spring Split.

As the organization is parting ways with its previous Coach Ilias “Enatron” Theodorou, as previously reported by Sheep Esports, securing the services of Licorice has been one of two changes Dignitas plans on making.