Summit began his professional career at the 2016 Kespa Cup. He represented one of the two teams qualified via the amateur circuit of Kespa, the South Korean esports association. Since then the player has come a long way. After a quick stint at Afreeca Freecs, where he chose his final nickname, he landed at SANDBOX. His first season was interesting, including a third place in the regular season of the LCK Summer Split 2019, although ultimately the team failed to qualify for the world championships of the same year. Despite this good season, as soon as the team struggled in the following year’s Spring Split, Summit was benched. He then regained the trust of the team, but the results of the latter did not really improve. After three years spent in the LCK, Summit flew away at the end of 2021 to join C9.
A fantastic Spring Split
Regardless of the stats you look at, Summit was either the top top laner (damage per minute, gold per minute) or on the podium (second in sights per minute, third in kills). His stats were almost as good during the playoffs, where only his participation in kills was low. His champion pool is not to be questioned either, the South Korean having played 12 different champions in 27 games, which is quite correct. This excellent split had not escaped the jurors of the MVP of the LCS, and without great surprise, Summit won this trophy, in the absence of the title of champion. The announcement of his departure last May therefore surprised a lot of observers, who could not explain this decision. Rumors about his departure had started to swirl as soon as the trophies were handed over, as the player left the ceremony with his suitcase (although the latter may have been just there to carry the trophy). It’s impossible to know what really happened within the North American structure, but it’s hard to imagine that replacing Summit with Fudge (who, despite being a top laner at the base, played on the midlane at the Spring Split) or an upgrade.
Summit the saviour?
If the upgrade is not certain on the C9 side, it is not really so for Summit. Despite their glorious past, the Fun Plus Phœnix had great difficulty qualifying for the playoffs in the Spring Split, having to wait for catch-up matches (due to a COVID 19 problem, the OMG structure had not been able to play for almost 2 weeks, and had games late) to validate their sesame. Their run in the playoffs was no more impressive, and the team lost in the first game against EDG. The Summer Split didn’t start much better for them, with three defeats in as many games. Nevertheless the team still pushed RNG and EDG to the decisive game, which is not bad. Although it was too early to bury them, the leaders seem to have understood that the team would sooner or later hit a glass ceiling, and that a change had to be made. Summit will now have to prove that shining in NA and China in the same season is possible, and it’s a challenge that has rarely been met.