In an interview conducted with Odoamne by the LEC broadcast staff, he revealed some new details about the off-season and that, from his perspective, KOI’s management had a “personal vendetta” against him.
Despite how their Worlds 2022 run ended, Rogue had one of their best seasons so far with Andrei ‘Odoamne’ Pascu in the top lane. The meta really suited this top laner, and he was able to excel as a teamfighter and influence the map with tanky top laners like Maokai and Ornn.
After years of trying, Odoamne took his very first domestic title as well, something that Odo didn’t have much time to celebrate before heading to worlds according to his interview with Dexerto. He was ready to move on and improve in 2023 with KOI, formerly Rogue – but that isn’t how things worked out.
Odoamne revealed that, according to him, management at KOI purposely told other teams that Odo was planning to retire, leading to him being picked up last-minute by XL.
Odoamne calls out KOI management
2023’s off-season was particularly chaotic in Europe. Between Heretics entering the LEC and a ton of rookie players getting their shot in the league, it was hard to predict what would happen.
But no one expected Odoamne to leave KOI after the year he had with them in 2022. Rogue was the best Western team by far and had a foundation to build upon to come back better in 2023.
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As it was later revealed, not even Odo himself expected to be on a different team. He made a number of claims that KOI management deceived him as well as other teams’ management in the off-season.
“I was kind of disappointed with how it ended up with the fact that I was kind of misled for the whole year into thinking I was gonna be first option and I was gonna resign. And the person in charge of this move is telling other teams that, at the beginning of spring split, that teams should not reach out to me because I’m planning on retiring at the end of the year.”
According to Odoamne, KOI management (Rogue at the time) made him think he was guaranteed a spot on the team in 2023. Meanwhile, that same management was telling other teams not to try and negotiate for a contract with him since he was planning to retire anyways. Odo didn’t seem happy with how things played out.
“For me, it just felt like a full-on personal vendetta just because the person who was in charge of this decision didn’t get along with me on a personal level.”
Fortunately for Odoamne, the XL offer came “out of the blue” and worked out well enough for him to quickly regain a spot in the LEC on a different team. Odo went on to say that he doesn’t have a vendetta against his former teammates or the organization itself, just the people who he felt wronged him within the org.