Photo: LoL Esports
Never change a winning team. On the other hand, when a team loses and finishes in 10th place in the LEC, it’s no surprise to see heads rolling. This is all the more true if the lack of results is not new, as is the case for Astralis who has still not played since his rebranding any playoffs in the European elite.
The changes are real and profound, since three players have been let go: WhiteKnight (Top), promisq (Del) and Zanzarah (jungle). The replacements are not yet official, but the rumors are multiplying. We are talking about two old splice who competed in the Worlds (Vizicsacsi and Xerxe) for the top/jungle duo. To join them, another rumor, much more exotic and surprising, has emerged on the networks: the import of a small korean nugget. It’s daring, but it necessarily arouses our curiosity.
A Korean nugget named JeongHoon
The nugget in question is Lee “Jeong Hoon” Jeong-hoon, a player who is not “finished” yet. Beyond his pseudonym which remains very basic (that’s his first name), he has never played in a main competitive league. LCK CL (BRO Challengers), he doesn’t even have a team right now. Even if Kevin Kim sells us a talented and promising player who can create play and make a difference, we ask for more before we are totally convinced, especially since this “nugget” has already 22 years old. He remains young, but generally the cracks tend to break through a little earlier… Korean or not Korean, JeongHoon remains an unknown to us and we don’t know if he will have the level to take Astralis out of the bottom of the rankings.
The Korean journalist also tells us that this support has a very dynamic style of play. He roams a lot on the map to help his teammates and create differences on other lanes. Kobbe is an ADC who can carry if he is well accompanied, so on paper he does not seem particularly compatible with the young Korean… We will add that if the arrival of Vizicsacsi is confirmed, this one is rather a weakside player. He holds his 1v1 very well and does not really need to see his support land on his lane.
The Koreans, back in fashion in the LEC?
Right now, there aren’t a lot of Koreans left in LEC. We can count them with the fingers of one hand: Malrang (Rogue) and Hirit (Misfits Gaming). Both are rather successful and we imagine that their cases can serve as inspiration to other teams. Be careful, however, not to go overboard. There was a time when European teams imported Korean players in spades. There have been successes, no doubt, but there have also been quite a few casting errors. In Summer 2016, 7 of the 10 EU LCS teams had at least one player of Korean nationality in their roster:
- Fnatic: Gamsu and Spirit
- G2: Expect and Trick
- Giants Gaming: NightT and SONSTAR
- H2K: Ryu
- Roccat: Parang and Raise
- Vitality: Mightybear and Police
- Unicorns of Love: Move and Veritas
We are still far from this huge wave, but a member of the community like Caedrel encouraged LEC teams to look into the case of LCk players.
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The European Masters of League of Legends continues and there are only 8 teams left to claim victory. Among them, there are 3 LFL teams: Karmine Corp, LDLC OL and Vitality.Bee. Who will reach the last four? It’s time to make predictions!