On May 4, the Daily Dot reported that Dignitas was searching for former Winterfox jungler Shin “Helios” Dong-jin. It wanted to sign the player before the rapidly approaching roster deadline for the League Championship Series (LCS) Summer Split.
Well, it seems that Dignitas has found him. Finally. The team just announced it has in fact added Shin to the roster, signing a sixth man to add “versatility” to the team.
“Going into the Summer split, I have the goal to take the team to the playoffs,” Sami “Rico” Harbi, Dignitas head coach, said. “The team has the ambition and the skill to make it, but we need to add versatility to the roster.”
Dignitas narrowly avoided falling out of the LCS last season after suffering relegation and narrowly surviving a 3-2 series against Team Fusion. The team did not make any roster changes entering the Split after failing to sign Shin, but they’ve managed to put together a 3-1 record. That’s largely in part due to the solid play of jungler Andrew “Azingy” Zamarippa, who has found a spell of superlative form on the champion Zac so far this season.
That’s led to many fans questioning the decision to replace him, especially with a player like Shin, who had a mediocre split with Winterfox in the Spring. But Zamarippa’s inconsistent play plagued the team last split, and his suspect champion pool, relying on out-of-meta picks like Zac, makes Dignitas vulnerable—through a lack of versatility.
Plus, Zamaripa’s recent form shows something—with solid jungle play, Dignitas has the tools to put together wins in the LCS.
Shin provides a steady hand in the jungler, a true veteran of the game with experience both in Korea and in North America. He should mesh well with a team that already features two Koreans in Noh “Gamsu” Yeong-jin and Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in. Plus, it alleviates leadership duties from Alan “KiWiKiD” Nguyen, who essentially received them by default after Alberto “Crumbzz” Rengifo stepped down at the start of the Spring season.
“With Helios our laner’s full potential will unlock,” Harbi continued. “An experience jungler is key to ensuring our ticket to the playoffs and beyond.”
That sounds a little hopeful considering the current Dignitas looks little different than the one that was nearly relegated last season, a team many expected to place last entering this season. But the addition of Shin really does give them some hope—he’s a unique package perfectly situated for their situation, bringing leadership, skill, experience, and the ability to interface with Korean and English speaking players.
Photo via Riot Games/Flickr
