Vitality signs Steeelback as new AD Carry

Former Fnatic, Unicorns of Love and Team ROCCAT AD Carry Pierre "Steeelback" Medjaldi has found his latest European LCS team, joining Team Vitality pending Riot approval, according to an official announcement Wednesday.

The French native moves to the France-based organization after just one split with ROCCAT. That follows just a single split with Unicorns of Love before that — both splits ultimately disappointing for his teams, but strong statistically from Steeelback. In each of the past two splits, he has led all EU AD Carries in kills.

"I'm both happy and excited to join Team Vitality," Steeelback said in the release. "Following a disappointing season, I want more than ever to be part of 2017 World Championship and I feel it's something that I might be able to do here. Also, even if it didn't really impacted my choice, it would be fantastic to offer to french supporters the first participation of an organization from our country in World Championship since creation of LCS."

The signing fills a big hole for Vitality, a team that missed the Summer playoffs after a strong debut in the Spring Split netted a third-place regular season finish. AD Carry was undoubtedly the weakest point of Vitality’s roster, as the team switched between Korean import Hyeong-gi "Police" Park and Danish prospect Victor "Reje" Etlar Eriksen following former starter Petter "Hjärnan" Freyschuss’s decision to step down.

ROCCAT announced Steeelback’s departure exactly one week ago. His previous international experience consists of the 2015 Mid-Season Invitational, a tournament in which his Fnatic team made it to the semifinals.