Entering League of Legends eight months ago, Team EnVyUs looks to make a splash in the 2017 season, adding two new members to their starting roster.
- Shin “Seraph” Woo-yeong
- Nam “LirA” Tae-yoo
- Noh “Ninja” Geon-woo
- Apollo “Apollo” Price
- Nickolas “Hakuho” Surgent
2016 Season
After acquiring Renegades’s LCS spot and roster halfway through May, EnVyUs needed to immediately find roster replacements. After a few days of tryouts, EnVyUs decided to add former Impulse jungler, Kim “Procxin” Se-Young, as well as challenger AD Carry, Benjamin “LOD” deMunck, to their roster heading into the summer split.
EnVyUs’s performance during the summer split could be considered average at best. Throughout the summer split, EnVyUs handily took down the bottom four LCS teams, but struggled against the top teams, earning the team a well deserved sixth place regular season finish.
EnVyUs was knocked out in the first round of playoffs by Cloud9, who then went on to make the finals. After getting knocked out of the playoffs, EnVyUs was given another chance at a Worlds qualification in the form of the regional finals. After taking out a Dardoch-less Team Liquid in the first round of the regional finals, EnVyUs had a rematch against C9. But unfortunately for EnVyUs, the results remained the same, and C9 took down the boys in blue 3-0.
Offseason Changes
Like many of the other NA LCS teams, EnVyUs made a couple of roster changes during this past offseason. The first change was switching out Procxin for former Afreeca Freecs jungler, LirA. In Korea, LirA was considered an average to above-average jungler. LirA, alongside the Afreeca Freecs, was the only team in the LCK to consistently beat world champions, SK Telecom T1, earning the nickname “SKT slayers.” LirA should have an easier time adjusting to NA as both Seraph and Ninja are also Korean.
EnVyUs’s second roster change came in the form of an ADC trade with Dignitas. In exchange for LOD, EnVyUs received Apollo. LOD and Apollo have very similar playstyles, as both of these players fulfill more of a supportive role on a team. Instead of trying to make flashy plays, these two take a more safe approach of playing back, not taking any risks.
2017 Season
Skillwise, EnVyUs’s 2017 iteration looks to be almost the exact same as 2016 roster. But while EnVyUs stagnated over the offseason, almost every other team in the league substantially improved. Compared to the rest of the confirmed rosters, I can’t see EnVyUs finishing anywhere above eighth or ninth.
EnVyUs’s main carry, Seraph, shined in 2016 because of the lack of top lane talent. With all the new imports joining the NA LCS in 2017, the top lane talent pool has risen immensely. Seraph will have a much more difficult time carrying games against the likes of Flame and Ssumday, in addition to Impact and Hauntzer, who were already in the league. Unless another lane can step up and shine, EnVyUs will most likely end up facing relagation by the end of spring.
Do you think EnVyUs can win the NA LCS? Let us know by commenting below or tweeting us @GAMURScom.
Article by Malcolm Abbas. Follow him on Twitter @SmashhLoL.
Photo via LoL Esports
