Photo: LoL Esports
It is with a certain pleasure that we heard again about Ryu. This former midlaner has had an accomplished career. Whether in Korea, Europe or North America, he managed to play leading roles wherever he went, earning the respect and love of the community. Of course, some will remember him above all as the faker victim in 1v1 Zed against Zed. But Ryu still has enough other accomplishments under his belt to be remembered otherwise.
After disappearing from the radar for many months, to make his military service, the former midlaner of H2K is back on the front of the stage! He joined the Korean structure Liiv Sandbox.
A role to (re)discover?
To 28 years old and after a military service where he hasn’t really had the opportunity to play League of Legends, Ryu is not returning to competitive play as a player. That’s hardly a surprise, considering he last played in August 2019. He joins Liiv Sandbox to coach the academic team in LCK CL. Under the direction of FanTaSy (head coach), he will have the opportunity to learn. This may be the start of a new career for him and we hope to see him one day assume the role of number 1 in a technical staff.
To be completely precise, Ryu does not fully discover this function. For a time, he had dressed as an assistant coach at 100 Thieves. But at the time, it was more of a temporary interim to continue integrating him into the roster when he had lost his starting position in midlane.
Ryu, a busy playing career
The youngest may not have known Ryu at its prime. His CV is however full and he went through big teams. Whether in South Korea (KT), Europe (H2K) or North America (100 Thieves, Phoenix 1), his career would make more than one envious. His trophy cabinet isn’t particularly full (MLG 2013 Winter and an IEM in 2014). But he still participated in Worlds 3 times with a semi-final in 2016 alongside Jankos.
He will also have succeeded during his journey to collect 2 pentakills (Corki and Taliyah) while earning a reputation on champions like Ahri, Ryze, and Orianna. We imagine that his great experience will allow him to supervise young talents with efficiency. While he’s never been able to get past Faker on the court, he can get a bit ahead of the GOAT in the area of coaching.