After its mid laner was banned from competitive play, Team Dragon Knights had a gaping hole to fill this offseason. They’ve now filled it with another young Korean League of Legends prospect.
The North American Challenger Series (NACS) team has acquired former SBENU Sonicboom mid Lee “do it” Chan-ho to fill the mid lane for the upcoming Challenger split, or at least until the Mar. 11 return of Noh “Ninja” Geon-woo, who was suspended by Riot Games for alleged tampering. The team will make a decision as to who will start after Noh’s return, but plans to retain both players.
“We are excited about what do it brings to the table, he is a solid mid-laner that can compete in the NACS,” Team Dragon Knights co-owner Alan Hubbard told the Daily Dot.
Unlike most teams in North America, who value English speaking players, Lee Chan-ho’s Korean origin was a bonus for the Dragon Knights—Their entire roster is fluent in Korean. “It was important for us to find a Korean speaking mid-laner to maximize our shotcalling capabilities,” Hubbard said.
Of course they had that in Noh Geon-woo, a rising star in Korea in 2014 who joined up with Chinese powerhouse Team WE before coming to Team Dragon Knights for the Summer season of the League Championship Series (LCS). But he is suspended for much of the Challenger season after co-owner Chris Shim and Noh Geon-woo allegedly tampered with League Champions Korea (LCK) team Samsung Galaxy’s AD carry Lee “Fury” Jin-yong while Dragon Knights were bootcamping in Nov. in Korea.
That means Team Dragon Knights must rely on their new addition to carry them through at least the early portion of the Challenger Series. The 18-year-old Lee Chan-ho is largely untested, playing only two games for Sonicboom during the Summer season.
The new mid laner is the fourth confirmed member of the 2016 edition of Team Dragon Knights. Earlier in the season, the team renewed its contracts with top laner Shin “Seraph” Woo-yeong, jungler Kevin “Kez” Jeon, and mid laner Noh Geon-woo. The team is still looking to finalize contracts with a new AD carry and support following the departures of Kim “Emperor” Jin-hyun and Andy “Smoothie” Ta, who joined Team Liquid earlier in the offseason.
Overall, the squad looks to be one of the most competitive in the NACS. They’ll have some tough competition from Ember, who purchased Cloud9 Tempest’s spot, as well as Team Imagine and Enemy. The Challenger Series schedule has yet to be released, but play should begin in Feb. assuming Riot Games adopts a similar one to previous seasons.
Image via Team Dragon Knights
