Luminosity Gaming is a professional

esports Esports (), short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, played individually or as teams. ...

organization based in North America. It has teams competing in ''

Call of Duty ''Call of Duty'' is a first-person shooter military video game series and media franchise published by Activision, starting in 2003. The games were first developed by Infinity Ward, then by Treyarch and Sledgehammer Games. Several spin-of ...

Overwatch ''Overwatch'' (abbreviated as OW) is a multimedia franchise centered on a series of multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) video games developed by Blizzard Entertainment. ''Overwatch (video game), Overwatch'' was released in 2016 with a success ...

, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege'', ''

Super Smash Bros. is a series of platform fighting video games published by Nintendo. Created by Masahiro Sakurai, the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series is a crossover featuring many characters from other video game series created by Nintendo and other develope ...

'', ''

Fortnite ''Fortnite'' is an online video game and game platform developed by Epic Games and released in 2017. It is available in seven distinct game mode versions that otherwise share the same general gameplay and game engine: '' Fortnite Battle Roy ...

,'' ''

Apex Legends ''Apex Legends'' is a 2019 Battle royale game, battle royale-hero shooter video game developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts, set in the same science fiction universe as Respawn's ''Titanfall'' series. It is offered ...

'', ''

Rocket League ''Rocket League'' is a 2015 vehicular Association football, soccer video game developed and published by Psyonix for various home consoles and computers. A sequel to 2008's ''Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars'', ''Rocket League ...

'', '' Pokémon Unite'', ''

Brawl Stars ''Brawl Stars'' is a multiplayer online battle arena and third-person hero shooter video game developed and published by Finnish video game company Supercell (company), Supercell. The game was released worldwide on 12 December 2018, on iOS an ...

'' and ''

League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL'', commonly referred to as ''League'', is a multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by ''Defense of the Ancients'', a Mod (video games), custom map for ''Warcraf ...

''. The team was founded in Canada by Steve "Buyaka" Maida in 2015, and is based in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

Current divisions

''Super Smash Bros. ''

In October 8, 2016, Luminosity Gaming signed their first Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U representative being the Japanese

Mewtwo Mewtwo (; Japanese: , Hepburn: ) is a Pokémon species in Nintendo and Game Freak's ''Pokémon'' media franchise. It was first introduced in the video games ''Pokémon Red'' and ''Blue'', and later appeared in subsequent sequels and spin-off ...

player Abadango. Shortly after, they signed their first Super Smash Bros. Melee player being European Fox main Ice. Both players left shortly before the start of 2018 ending their Smash Division. This was until Melee player Ginger was signed in February 2021. In October 9, 2022, they announced Enrique Hernández (" Maister") as their first

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' is a 2018 crossover fighting game developed by Bandai Namco Studios and Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the fifth installment in the '' Super Smash Bros.'' series, succeeding ' ...

player. The following year on March 23, 2023, they announced they had signed two more Ultimate players, being Gavin Dempsey (" Tweek") and Leonardo López ("

MkLeo Leonardo López Pérez (born January 20, 2001), better known as MkLeo and sometimes Leo, is a Mexican Super Smash Bros. in esports, professional ''Super Smash Bros.'' player. He was widely considered the best ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' pla ...

"). In May 2024, they announced that they had signed the Smash Ultimate player and content creator Tyler Martins ("Marss"). The following month, Luminosity announced they would be returning to the Melee scene, by signing Miles Foster ("Soonsay") and Justin Hallett ("Wizzrobe") as players.

''League of Legends''

On November 26, 2024, Luminosity announced their entry into ''

'' by entering the North American Challengers League (NACL). The NACL is the second-tier league for teams in North America, with its best teams earning a shot to be promoted to the ''League of Legends'' Championship of The Americas (LTA) North Conference as guests.

Rosters

Former divisions

''Counter-Strike: Global Offensive''

On April 30, 2015, Peter "ptr" Gurney joined the team as an AWPer. On July 29 it was announced that Luminosity dropped its roster and picked up a team based in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

that consisted of Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo, Fernando "fer" Alvarenga, Lucas "steel" Lopes, Ricardo "boltz" Prass, and Marcelo "coldzera" David. In November 2015 Luminosity reached the quarterfinals of

DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015 DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015 was the seventh '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' Major Championship that was held from October 28 – November 1, 2015 at the Sala Polivalentă in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. It was organized by DreamHack with help ...

. Luminosity won

MLG Columbus 2016 MLG ''Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' Major Championship: Columbus, also referred to as MLG Columbus 2016, was the eighth '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' (''CS:GO'') Major Championship held by Major League Gaming (MLG) throughout March 2 ...

on April 3, 2016. On May 8, 2016, Luminosity won DreamHack Austin where they beat fellow Brazilian team

Tempo Storm Tempo Storm is an American esports professional video game team that has teams competing in '' Age of Empires II'', ''FIFA'', '' Magic: The Gathering'', fighting games, and '' Shadowverse''. They have formerly held divisions in ''Hearthstone'', ...

2–0 in the finals. A couple of days later on May 16, 2016, the team won the ESL Pro League Season 3 Finals after beating

G2 Esports G2 Esports (or simply G2) is a European esports organization headquartered in Berlin, Germany, with players competing in ''League of Legends'', ''Valorant'', ''Counter-Strike 2'', ''Hearthstone (video game), Hearthstone'', ''Rocket League'', '' ...

3–2 in the finals. On June 24, 2016, it was officially announced that the Brazilian roster would be joining

SK Gaming SK Gaming is a professional esports organization based in Germany that has teams across the world competing in different titles. SK is particularly known for their success in '' Counter-Strike'' (CS) tournaments. SK's Brazilian ''CS'' team won ...

on July 1, 2016. The roster's final tournament with Luminosity was the Esports Championship Series Season 1 Finals where they placed second, losing to G2 Esports in the finals. Luminosity signed the Brazilian team WinOut on July 30, 2016. Its roster consisted of Renato "nak" Nakano, Bruno "bit" Lima, Lucas "destinyy" Bullo, Vinicios "PKL" Coelho, Gustavo "yeL" Knittel and is coached by Alessandro "apoka" Marcucci. Renato "nak" Nakano and Bruno "bit" Lima were kicked on the team on September 8, 2016. Gustavo "SHOOWTiME" Gonçalves and Bruno "shz" Martinelli joined Luminosity on September 11. On September 12, 2019, Luminosity dropped its second Brazilian roster.

''Hearthstone''

On January 11, 2015, Luminosity picked up Stanislav Cifka, Nuno "Ignite" Pinho and Josh "Impact" Graham. On July 13, 2015, Christopher "PHONETAP" Huynh left Team Hearthlytics and joined Luminosity.

''Madden NFL 17''

On October 15, 2016, Luminosity picked up Eric "Problem" Wright. Widely known as the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) in the Madden franchise, Problem is the only 3-time winner of the Madden Challenge. No one else has won more than one. He also won Madden Nation, Season 3, which was featured on ESPN, along with numerous other tournaments.

''Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege''

On June 22, 2019, Luminosity picked a ''Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege'' team that consisted of Coal "Doodle" Phillips, Kian "Hyena" Moyazani, Richie "Rexen" Coronado, Tom "Tomas" Kaka, and Muteeb "PiXeL" Chaudary. They quickly became a top team in North American Pro League defeating top teams

DarkZero Esports DarkZero Esports, or simply DarkZero (DZ), is an American esports organization. Founded in 2018, DarkZero participates in competitive ''Rainbow Six Siege.'' Founding and structure An American organization, DarkZero Esports was founded in 2018 by ...

and Team Reciprocity. Luminosity placed third in the online qualifier for the Six Major Raleigh and failed to qualify for the event. In Dreamhack Montreal 2019, Luminosity lost to

Team Liquid Team Liquid is a multi-regional professional esports organization based in the Netherlands that was founded in 2000. They signed their first professional players with the release of '' StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty''. In 2012, Team Liquid acq ...

and BDS Esport being eliminated in the group stage and placing 13-16th, alongside top European team, Chaos Esports Club and amateur teams Livid Gaming and Super Nova. After this defeat, PiXeL left the team and was replaced with former player of Rise Nation, Abdullah "Factor" Rihan. Luminosity placed 4th in North American Pro League Season 10, failing to reach the Season 10 finals but avoiding relegation. On April 14, 2020, Hyena released a statement detailing conflict between the team, Luminosity, and the developers of Rainbow Six Siege, Ubisoft criticizing the latter two for mismanagement and miscommunication resulting in the team's removal from Pro League. A day later, Ubisoft confirmed that the team would not be competing in Pro League. On April 17, Luminosity released Hyena along with the rest of the team. Hyena later retired from Rainbow Six Siege.

Controversies

On December 17, 2024, Luminosity was named a defendant in a case alleging discriminatory behavior against Felix Hasson, a globally ranked gamer known in the gaming community as "T_pot." In late 2023, Hasson, a professional Super Smash Bros. player from New York City, faced online harassment and was banned from several tournaments due to his pro-Israel views expressed on social media. Hasson was removed without notice from the "Luminosity Makes BIG Moves 2024" tournament, scheduled for January 5–7, 2024, in New York. The tournament organizer, "Aerodusk," confirmed the decision, citing a tweet that labeled Hasson a "racist zionist weasel." Following this, Hasson was banned from weekly tournaments at Waypoint Cafe NYC and Game Guys Entertainment in Houston. Organizers justified the bans by referencing his social media posts, with one stating that "sometimes these expressions have consequences." Hasson, who had spent a gap year in Israel and openly identifies as Jewish and pro-Israel, expressed that the bans and accompanying online criticism were hurtful. He emphasized that he has never intended harm and voiced concern over the impact on his professional gaming career. The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) publicly condemned the bans, arguing that no one should face discrimination for their Zionist identity or support for Israel. CAM called for Hasson's reinstatement in the tournaments. This incident sparked broader discussions about the intersection of personal beliefs and professional participation within the gaming community.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2015 establishments in Canada Apex Legends teams Call of Duty teams Defunct and inactive Counter-Strike teams Defunct and inactive Overwatch teams Esports teams based in Canada Esports teams established in 2015 Hearthstone teams League of Legends teams Rocket League teams Smite (video game) teams Super Smash Bros. player sponsors Team Razer Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege teams Valorant teams World of Warcraft teams Marvel Rivals teams