Coming into the 2022 season, Gen.G had put together one of the most explosive rosters of recent years. Its goal was to go big and pick up the best talents to aim for the League of Legends World Championship.
The organization revamped the lineup around its star ADC player Ruler, bringing in top laner Doran, jungler Peanut, support Lehends, and the star mid laner Chovy.
All these players came from a very strong season and Gen.G were considered one of the big powerhouses domestically and internationally, winning the LCK Summer Split and qualifying as Korea’s first seed for Worlds.
That being said, Gen.G’s run for the title stopped in the semifinals, when they were beaten by the compatriots DRX. For the second year running, Gen.G only managed to finish in the top four.
Now that the 2022 season is over, Gen.G might look into making some changes with the hope of fighting again for the championship next year.
Here are all the roster moves and rumors around Gen.G for the 2023 season.
Departures
While the LEC is already pretty much done and dusted in terms of roster moves, with most teams having reached verbal agreements with the players, there hasn’t been much activity over in the LCK.
That being said, Gen.G was one of those few teams to make a shocking decision before the beginning of the free agency period. On Nov. 10, the organization, upon mutual agreement, parted ways with their ADC player Ruler.
The Korean player has spent most of his competitive career with the organization, joining in 2016 back when the team was still called Samsung Galaxy. At Worlds 2017, Ruler became a world champion, beating T1 and ending their streak of dominance at international tournaments.
The roster was later acquired by KSV eSports at the end of 2017 and was renamed Gen.G before the Summer Split. From there onwards, Ruler spent five years of his career on the Gen.G roster.
He will now no longer be a Gen.G player going into 2023, however. Ruler will almost certainly be one of the most contested free agents in the LCK offseason and the latest rumor is that he is looking to join the LPL—potentially JD Gaming.
Just like him, his bot lane partner Lehends also left the organization. His contract expired and Gen.G didn’t extend it, becoming a free agent. Based on the latest news, Lehends will not join the rumored Hanwha Life Esports so it means that we will have to wait a little more to know his next destination.
Gen.G has locked its top side and a new bot lane
Gen.G tried to act quickly once the offseason started. Aside from mid laner Chovy, who has his contract running until the end of 2023, the organization also extended the contract to its jungler Peanut.
The veteran convinced Gen.G to keep him for a second year after he joined at the end of 2021 following a strong year with Nongshim RedForce. He and Chovy will be the core Gen.G will rely on next season.
The two will be joined by top laner Choi “Doran” Hyeon-joon who also re-signed for another year. As a result, Gen.G managed to keep the top side of the map intact.
To replace Ruler and Lehends, however, the team did not decide to bring in a bot lane of veterans. Instead, it opted to promote its Challengers team ADC Kim “Peyz” Su-hwan and former Fredit BRION support Delight. The support player returns to the org he started his professional career back in 2019. In the last two years, he was the starting support for BRION, achieving the best result of sixth place in the 2022 LCK Summer Playoffs.
For Peyz, his promotion also came with a contract extension until 2024. It seems like the org is planning on investing in the rookie player and hopes he can build a new legacy.
Peyz started his career in 2020 on Gen.G’s academy team, the trainee roster that competes in the LCK Academy Series—a Korean amateur tournament. He was later promoted to Gen.G’s Challengers team at the end of 2021, where he achieved the best fifth result in the LCK CL 2022 Summer.
According to stats site Games of Legends, the ADC player individually had a strong split, taking the highest average DPM. He had the second-highest damage percentage at 29.4 percent, despite having a negative gold and experience differential at 15 minutes, which goes to show his great value as a teamfight player. Another fun fact is that he had the highest amount of solo kills (six) among ADCs and was the only player with two pentakills during the summer regular split.
Coming from such a strong performance last year, It will be intriguing to see how he fares against some of the best ADCs in the LCK in 2023.
