Newly appointed League of Legends European Championship franchise Origen has made its first three signings, picking up Barney "Alphari" Morris, Erlend "Nukeduck" Holm and Patrik "Sherrif" Jiru, according to the Riot Games global contract database and confirmed by ESPN.
Nukeduck, a mid laner formerly of Schalke 04 Esports, signed a three-year deal, according to the database. Alphari, a top laner formerly of Misfits Gaming, signed a two-year deal. Sheriff, formerly of H2k-Gaming, is signed through 2019.
Origen makes it return to the top flight of European League competition in 2019 after being acquired by Astralis' parent company RFRSH, which submitted a successful franchise application this year. The Spanish organization is run by Danish entertainment media company RFRSH with the help of new general manager and former EU commentator Martin "Deficio" Lynge. Origen originally debuted in the EU LCS after being founded in December of 2014, but were relegated to Challenger in the summer of 2017.
Nukeduck's Schalke team finished third in the EU LCS regular summer split standings and second in the playoffs, and the Norwegian mid earned third-place "team of the split" honors. Alphari's Misfits finished fifth in the summer split, while Sherrif's H2k team struggled to a last-place finish.