By bringing in these last two Korean players, the LoL Championship Series (LCS) team have verified the news that has been going around for weeks about the team trying to field an all-Korean roster.
Pyosik has only represented the South Korean team DRX, where he started from their academy roster in November 2019. The 22-year-old player recently competed at the 2022 Worlds, where DRX emerged as champions. After concluding his training in the academy, he debuted in his first pro tournament, the 2019 KeSPA Cup, in which the team emerged in third-fourth place.
The jungler has also had multiple runs in the League of Legends Championship Korea (LCK). In the 2020 LCK Spring event, he led Team Liquid alongside his teammates to earn third place, and moving on to the 2020 LCK Summer, the team surpassed their previous performance finishing in second place. Pyosik also competed in the 2020 LoL World Championship, where the team came in fifth-eighth place. Also, he claimed the Player of the Split award in the 2021 LCK Spring.
Summit, on the other hand, has represented many top esports outfits such as Cloud9, FunPlus Phoenix, Afreeca Freecs, Liiv Sandbox, and a few others. The 23-year-old top laner was named Most Valuable Player at the 2022 LCS Spring.
Liquid’s co-CEO, Steve Arhancet, welcomed both players to the team in a video and highlighted their reasons for acquiring them.
“It��s an honor, and I��m pleased to announce that he��ll (Pyosik) be coming to the States and joining the roster. He��s an incredible player, obviously,” he said.
“He��s very likeable; he really gets along with his teammates and knows how to have fun when he��s competing. I think his aggression, his selection of champion pool is going to be pretty cool. I think it��s what this team needs; we gave a lot of thought to, like, roles and perspectives, and carry potential and threats on the team, and how the gelling is going to work with this specific roster. And I think this works out.”
Summit has such a track record of producing significant results and acting more like a carry player in the top lane when required. The dynamic champion pool that he brings to the table will give Team Liquid great flexibility in their drafts.
“What he (Summit) wants, I think Team Liquid and this team in particular, and the environment that we have, is really going to be structured for him to maybe have one of his best individual (seasons) ever,” Archancet said.
Team Liquid��s roster now consists of Summit, Pyosik, star support player Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in, and former academy players Sean “Yeon” Sung and mid laner Harry “Haeri” Kang.
Archancet also spoke on the agenda behind their 2023 roster, which is a mixture of veteran and rookie players.
“We��ve been supporting the rookie and amateur scene for quite some time. However, we have not decided to promote many of our LCS players to play in the LCS. But this year, we decided that ��time is now��,” he said.
]]>According to reports, the 24-year-old Korean player has entertained the idea of pursuing opportunities with other LoL Championship Series (LCS) teams teams, such as FlyQuest, and LoL European Championship (LEC) teams, such as MAD Lions. However, Team Liquid came out on top in acquiring the player.
[Sources] Toplaner Summit
has reached a verbal agreement with Team Liquid and will return to the LCS.
FlyQuest and MAD Lions are other teams that considered the toplaner during the offseason. pic.twitter.com/4TDXC9jCfz
— ?L?E?C? LCS Wooloo
(@LEC_Wooloo) November 22, 2022
Summit launched his professional career in November 2016 with Chungnam. After a very short stint, he moved on to Gangwon in 2017, and since then he has represented the likes of Afreeca Freecs, SANDBOX Gaming, Cloud9, and more recently, FunPlus Phoenix, who he only joined this year in June.
All of FunPlus Phoenix��s League of Legends players’ contracts came to an end on Tuesday — except for that of support player Fu “Hang” Ming-Hang, whose deal was extended by a year. Hence, a signing spree is expected from the team in subsequent weeks, or the extension of contracts for former players.
Summit has a few awards up his sleeve. He was named the Most Valuable Player at the 2022 LCS Spring and also led Cloud9 to a fourth-place finish in the split, in which they were defeated by Evil Geniuses in the lower-bracket semifinal.
Team Liquid have been a successful team, although they failed to qualify for the 2022 League of Legends World Championship. Hence, their effort to make a good run in the forthcoming season has led them to recoup strong players.
At Team Liquid, Summit will be joining top laner Gabri?l “Bwipo” Rau, Danish jungler Lucas “Santorin” Tao Kilmer Larsen, South Korean star support Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in, and their new coach Jang “MaRin” Gyeong-hwan.
Due to their incomplete roster, it is likely that Team Liquid will continue to take advantage of the free agency market.
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??FPX took to their official Twitter account to announce the Summit acquisition, saying they were excited to have secured the signature of the Korean player following a solid LCS Spring campaign with C9. ??
��LOL Roster Update: Today we’re thrilled to announce Summit will be joining the FPX family as our new top laner!�� the tweet read.
��After his exceptional performance in the LCS Spring Season, we’re excited to see him bring a new perspective to our team! ?Let’s give a warm welcome to FPX. Summit!��??
Having spent about five months with Cloud9 and featuring in his first North American split, Summit will return to Asia in order to debut in the League of Legends Pro League (LPL). While he performed well in his time with the NA franchise and had a good run in the LCS Spring Split, he was outperformed by other top laners from other franchises in the tournament.
??Summit’s acquisition by C9 hinged on the role swap of Ibrahim ��Fudge�� Allami at the start of the season. Fudge had moved to the midlane to create room for Summit as the top laner. But after their playoff run came to an end, the franchise replace Summit with Fudge, moving him back to the top lane. ??
When you're looking to revamp your team for the Summer Split, who better than @jensen, who has never missed Worlds?
How our LCS 2022 Summer Roster was formed:
https://t.co/AtatZEERku pic.twitter.com/MYWUGrotbk
— Cloud9 League of Legends (@C9LoL) May 17, 2022
Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen returned to the team on May 11 to reclaim his midlane role, which in turn forced Summit out of the team. C9 finished fourth in the LCS Spring Split after being swept by Evil Geniuses. ??
Summit joins FPX with the league only just starting, but the team ranks last place in the LPL Summer Split regular season. His signing could be uplifting to a team that has featured in three outings and lost all three games.
??FPX’s first game of the season was against Edward Gaming, who won 2-1. Their second outing ended in a 0-2 clean sweep against Invictus Gaming, while their most recent bout ended 1-2 in favor of Royal Never Give Up.
??The franchise is looking to make some changes with the signing of the former Cloud9 star, which they hope will lead to positive results. While Summit is not known for his consistency, a change of environment and some alterations to the meta could be a recipe for success.
??The 23-year-old will make his debut in FPX��s next game, which is against the second-placed team on the standings, Victory Five, on June 21.
]]>?It is yet to be announced where the three players are headed following their departure from Cloud9, with the residency status of both Isles and Summit potentially at stake.
?The founder and CEO of Cloud9, Jack Etienne, revealed that the players were offered as free transfers to the other LCS teams. It is as yet unknown to the public if any of the other LCS teams have accepted the offer.
This statement came after Summit recently revealed that he wanted to join TSM next season but the move was blocked. Although the 23-year-old didn��t go into detail about how the deal was prevented or which team blocked the deal, fans are led to believe that Cloud9 was behind the deal falling through.??
??In response to a tweet speculating that Etienne had set the buyout too high for Summit, leading TSM to back out on the deal, the Cloud9 boss responded: ��Zero buyout asked for Summit, Isles, or Winsome. I immediately contacted all LCS teams after our season ended to let them know they were available.��
??Regarding speculation that the deal was blocked by Cloud9, Etienne has assured fans that Cloud9 had no part in Summit��s offer not being accepted by TMS. He stated that he suspected something must have happened on the other team’s side.
?According to some sources, Summit also talked about making a return to the LCK and stated he would like that but he isn��t sure there��s a spot left for him at the moment. The 23-year-old top laner has since had talks with Misfits Gaming in the LEC, although it is unknown whether an agreement has been reached between him and the team.
?Cloud9 have not officially confirmed who will be joining their principal roster in the top and support spots after the departure of Summit, Winsome, and Isles. It is still unclear whether any of the LCS teams have accepted the $0 buyout offer and where these three players will end up.?
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