Mexican esports organisation LYON has officially released Canadian player Frankie ‘Zamudo‘ Lin following persistent visa issues.
Zamudo was supposed to be the starting top laner for LYON for its 2026 LCS season, but the player has been unable to play with the rest of the team due to complications with his visa application. As a result, the player has now been officially released, according to a public statement from the team.
Zamudo’s Quick Rise in North America
Before joining LYON, Zamudo was known for being one of the hottest prospects from the North American Challengers League (NACL).
After spending two years in amateur teams, Zamudo made his debut in the NACL back in 2023 with Wildcard Gaming and quickly gained recognition within the Tier 2 scene. In 2024, he ended up winning the NACL Summer Playoffs with Dragonsteel, earning the Finals MVP. His strong fundamentals and large champion pool are what allowed him to get picked up by LYON during 2025 summer.
The top laner was supposed to make his Tier 1 debut in 2025 during LTA North 2025 Split 2, but the player had already started facing complications with his visa back then. LYON then decided to loan him to Isurus for the third split, before making his return to the team.
The visa issues, however, persisted, forcing the organisation to replace Zamudo with veteran top laner and former 100 Thieves player Niship ‘Dhokla‘ Doshi. The former was then labelled as inactive on January 12th and is now released. As a result of the change, Dhokla will remain with the team for the foreseeable future.
LYON’s Rough Start to 2026
LYON was considered one of the biggest winners during this year’s offseason, having picked up several strong players such as former FlyQuest jungler Kacper ‘Inspired‘ Słoma and former DN Freecs (now DNSOOPers) ADC player Kim ‘Berserker‘ Min-cheol.
Despite the upgrades, LYON hasn’t been able to achieve strong results so far, only finishing in sixth place during the regular season of the LCS Lock-In. The team will face FlyQuest in the playoffs’ lower bracket on February 21st. The losing team will be knocked out and will lose the opportunity to compete in the Americas Cup or the first global event of the 2026 season, First Stand.
