After spending almost the entire 2018 season on Topsports Gaming, Jang “MaRin” Gyeong-hwan has parted ways with the organization, Topsports Gaming announced on its Weibo account earlier today.
“After a brief evaluation with the team, we decided not to renew [MaRin’s] contract,” Topsports Gaming said in its announcement post regarding MaRin’s departure, as translated by INVEN Global. Topsports Gaming thanked MaRin for his service in 2018, and “wish for his success in a new team that he joins.”
Marin joined Topsports midway through the LPL 2018 Spring Split. At the time of MaRin’s arrival, Topsports were 0-7 in the LPL. Despite finding some wins with MaRin, Topsports ended the LPL Spring Split last place in the league’s eastern conference. MaRin sat on Topsports bench the following split, playing five total games throughout the summer.
Topsports ended the LPL Summer Split regular season third in the western conference, qualifying for playoffs, where they were knocked out of playoffs in the quarterfinals by the eventual league champions, Royal Never Give Up.
Best known for his time on SK Telecom T1 in 2015, when he won that year’s World Championship MVP award, MaRin has since played for a variety of teams in both China and Korea since raising the Summoner’s Cup. After leaving SKT at the end of 2015, MaRin has played for LGD Gaming, Afreeca Freecs, and most recently Topsports.
It is currently unknown whether MaRin will continue to play competitively, or focus on his streaming career.
