EDG i flammer efter et skuffende Worlds

Efter endnu et skuffende League of Legends World Championship for Edward Gaming er spillerne nu begyndt at lede efter andre tilbud. De to sydkoreanske superstjerner Kim "Deft" Hyuk-kyu og Heo "PawN" Won-seok, der begge har spillet for Edward Gaming i to sæsoner, har nu annonceret, at de vil forlade Edward Gaming efter Demacia Cup i november.

Edward Gaming blev grundlagt i 2013, hvor de købte LMQ's plads i 2014 LPL spring split og deltog fremadrettet. Siden da har Edward Gaming altid været et absolut tophold både på verdensplan, men også specielt i den kinesiske liga, hvor organisationen har vundet 16 titler. En af deres største sejre var i 2015, da holdet overraskede hele verden og slog SK Telecom T1 i finalen af 2015 Mid-Season Invitational 3-2. En turnering som kun overgås af selve verdensmesterskaberne i prestige og anerkendelse. Organisationen der er støttet af blandt andet douyutv og ducky har aldrig manglet penge, og de har altid været i stand til at finde verdensklasse spillere samt skabe fantastiske faciliteter for spillerne.

Edward Gaming's hovedkvarter hvor deres League of Legends hold blandt andet holder til og træner op til vigtige turneringer og kampe.

Foto: theScore esports

Den populære verdensklasse AD Carry Kim "Deft" Hyuk-kyu udtalte følgende på Facebook omkring skiftet:

Hello I am Deft and I have been playing the ADC role for EDG. I have decided after the Demacia Cup taking place in November to leave EDG. I had some tough times during my 2 years, but I feel extremely fortunate to be able to be part of EDG while I played in China. I am extremely happy I was able to win many LPL titles and one international title with my hard working teammates. I also like to thank our coach Aaron who helped me out like a friend when I was homesick for Korea and also his promise that he will put me in a team with the best players in the world. Coach I just want to say I was really happy to be able to play with such great teammates. Also I fought with him the most and sometimes he gave me suggestions like a older brother and sometimes gave me criticism as a teammate, Clearlove thank you for teaching me a lot. Also Meiko lol you were really bad at first but you are extremely competitive and hard-working which reminded me of myself when I was young, so I tried to help you out as much as possible and hopefully next ADC you get can withstand your snoring. I believe you will still play well without me and will get better. Also even though I am Korean I like to thank the Chinese fans for cheering me on. I felt like I received overwhelming amount of love, this post became longer than I expected but Thank you for reading it until the end.

Den tidligere Samsung White verdensmester Heo "PawN" Won-seok udtalte følgende på Facebook omkring skiftet:

“During my two years in EDG there were a lot of tough moments but I won a lot of tournaments and even learned a little Chinese, so I think it was time well spent,” he wrote. “If I had any regrets, it would be that we lost against the ROX Tigers without being able to a single game. I want to thank EDG for taking care of me for two years and I hope they have more success next year.”
“I don’t know what team I’ll be a part of next year, but I will work hard to show an even better performance for worlds. As for my back, I’ve been taking good care of it so I don’t expect it to be a problem during practice or competition.”

Spørgsmålet er nu, hvordan den enorme organisation Edward Gaming vil håndtere tabet af to af deres bedste spillere. Edward Gaming har dog aldrig skuffet, når det gælder om at skabe en verdensklasse roster.

Der er allerede nu rygter ude om, at organisationen har tilbudt verdens bedste mid laner Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok et svimlende beløb på $4M, hvis han forlader SK Telecom for at spille for Edward Gaming i LPL. Disse rygter har bredt sig ud efter, at Echo Fox's Head Coach skrev følgende på sin Twitter: