Team SoloMid will revamp its roster after a failed bid at the League of Legends World Championship.
Today the team announced that jungler Lucas “Santorin” Larsen, support player Ham “Lustboy” Jang-sik, and top laner Marcus “Dyrus” Hill will no longer start for the next season.
Hill, whose pending retirement as a professional player was already revealed before Worlds, will now be joined by Ham. Both will stick with Team SoloMid as part of their streaming brand.
As for Larsen, the Danish jungler is “mutually parting ways” with the organization, and also considering ending his competitive career, mulling the possibility of full-time streaming while attending school part time.
“Santorin was a pleasure to work with,” Andy “Reginald” Dinh, the team’s owner, said. “It’s a real shame that things didn’t work out. I wish him the best of luck for the future.”
Ham, who Team SoloMid imported from Korea midway through the 2014 season, quickly became recognized as a top support in the region. But during the second half of 2015, his play slipped as the Korean player began making uncharacteristic mistakes and seemed to have less control over the vision game.
The player lists shoulder injuries as a primary reason for his decision, though also notes he’s tired with the travails of competition.
“I will never forget how much fans and everyone treated me kindly, and I appreciate the opportunity given to me by TSM to prove my skills even though I was a foreigner,” Ham said.
As for the departure of Hill, there’s not much left to say that hasn’t been said. His name has been synonymous with Team SoloMid for three years, and him leaving the lineup marks a drastic shift in the makeup of the team, and the start of a new era for Team SoloMid.
That new era, perhaps, is the era of prominence on the World stage. While Team SoloMid managed to surpass Cloud9 to become the American champions with their current roster, they faltered in the Summer season and lost out to Counter Logic Gaming before getting thrashed at Worlds. Now the team will try to build a world-class lineup around its remaining two members, superstar mid laner Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg and AD carry Jason “WildTurtle” Tran.
The team is currently holding tryouts to fill the roster spots, looking for players fluent in English, Challenger in their region, and willing to relocate to California and the LCS. Per LCS rules, the team may import up to two players from other regions, meaning at least one of their players must be a local North American talent.
In many ways, that’s par for course in the North American League of Legends scene right now. Most teams are in flux as players, rosters, and even ownership shift ahead of what promises to be an extremely competitive 2016 season. It’s a time of change in League, and even America’s most stalwart organization is not immune.
Photos via Riot Games/Flickr | Remix by Jacob Wolf
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