This off-season continues to be filled with shake up from around the world. Europe's number 1 Fanatic has lost three plays so far. This week brings even more news on the Korean scene. I'm considering having a page dedicated to the LCK due to all the crazy changes. I prefer to only use official announcements but I can't really read them for the LCK. Still, here is a run down of all the changes so far about the LCK.
NaJin has disbanded. I do not know if NaJin is getting a brand new roster or if they are leaving the League of Legend scene but that does mean the old roster of veterans are now free agents. If it is the latter then I wonder how the replacement team will be pick. Personally I hope it would be Ever considering their recent run in the KeSPA Cup which allowed them to play in IEM Cologne. KT has shed a lot of its old roster as well as sign new players. KT's new lineup is Ssumday, Score, Fly, Arrow and Ignar. Then you have TrAce, Chaser and Cpt Jack all leaving Jin Air. Jin Air started with a roster large enough that they still have a full lineup. Samsung Galaxy lost 4 of its players while signing CJ's Ambition and Core JJ. That leaves Samsung current lineup as CuVee, Ambition, Crown, Core JJ and Wraith. Luna was a good support but I've been a Wraith fan since he was on SKT. If this Samsung lineup stands, then we should see a lot more Wraith next season which will make me happy. He hard carry his team to victory in one game with a Syndra support! And then there is CJ. The before mention Ambition as well as Coco and Space have left the team. Reach and Cain has joined CJ as coaches so it will be interesting where CJ goes from here.
There is also a lot of news and rumors going on about Korean broadcasting. As the story seem to still be involving I will just give a rundown of what I know so far. Once things get iron out I will update what the final decision is and my thoughts on it. OnGameNet or OGN is the company that help promote and broadcast Korean League of Legends online and on TV I believe. They have both a Korean and English language broadcast and they broadcast every major Korean tournament except for the recent KeSPA Cup. Now KeSPA and/or Riot Korea are thinking about splitting the broadcasting rights between OGN and SpoTV. A normal LCK evening has two best of three matches. The idea is to have OGN broadcast one of those games in their studio and SpoTV will broadcast the other at their own studio. Riot Korea mention three reason why they want to do this. 1. The matches will have a more reliable start time. This has to do with the fact if you only wanted to watch the second match, with the current system you had no idea when those games would start. If the first set was a two game stomp, then your wait could be a little over an hour. If the first set was a close and full three NaJin style 50+ minutes games then you are looking at a three and half hour wait. 2. It would address scheduling problems the current system have with the live crowds. 3. Competition between OGN and SpoTV will force both to increase the quality of their broadcast. I personal think some of the issues they are trying to solve are valid but their answers could create even more problems. However this isn't the end of it. On Reddit I read a translated responds Riot Korea did to an OGN announcement. I do not know what OGN said as it wasn't translated but judging from Riot's tone, OGN wasn't happy. Riot said they want to discuss the matter with all parties and deliver their official position as soon as possible. So depending on what happens with that meeting is what I will comment on in the future.
Lastly, I want to talk more about Easyhoon. I mention that I was glad he was gone because I thought it would be better for him and his career in terms of playing more and making a name for himself. I had no idea how right I was. Being in Faker's shadow was far darker and more oppressive than even I had imagine. Easyhoon explained in an interview why he is leaving SKT and Korea to go play for Vici Gaming in China. It was a very informative and depressing interview. The things he talks about didn't surprise me but I fail to realize the human cost of them. For example I can not imagine playing on the biggest stage of your career and not only winning but also producing a great performance. And then get subbed out! On top of that, on your way to the back the auditorium erupts with cheers for the person who is replacing you. That has to be soul crushing. And that is with a good performance! If Faker had a bad game people would just say that means he's mortal and that stuff can happen. But if Easyhoon had a bad game fans would be complaining why they didn't put Faker in! Easyhoon can't win in this situation. He didn't mention it but I can imagine fans ignoring or pushing him out the way to get a chance to see Faker. It seems he had a good relationship with the rest of the team and the coaching staff. He does say that he thinks if he was younger he would stay in Korea so he could face off against Faker. In the end I think he had to go to China to get away from the fans and Faker's aura. After reading the interview I can certainly understand why he is moving to China. I wish him well. If you want to read the translated interview for yourself, go here: http://barontimer.tumblr.com/post/134330802231/vg-easyhoons-confessions-why-hes-leaving-korea.
PS: Since this posting Monte Cristo, one of the casters for OGN made a 45 minute youtube video explaining the history of the OGN, Riot Korea and KeSPA conflict. For a more complete version of what's going on in Korea go to his video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27j039F8-F4
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