100 Thieves reportedly sign River amid Golden Guardians roster uncertainty

Various reports have indicated that Golden Guardians aren’t looking to spend in the off-season, backed up by Gori being let go and River reportedly signing with 100 Thieves. This massive roster move would shift the direction of the off-season if it comes to fruition.

The LCS has seen a near-unprecedented roster shuffle ahead of 2024, with reports landing players at entirely different teams and pretty much every roster seeing some degree of change, even those that saw a great deal of domestic success.

Golden Guardians was a dark horse team for much of the year, with their incredible rise in Spring seeing them take a game off BLG in a BO3 at MSI 2023 and looking like one of the best teams in the region.

Unfortunately, they weren’t able to carry that success through to Worlds and were dominated by Team BDS in the Worlds Qualifying Series. Ultimately, this failure seems to have led jungler Kim ‘River’ Dong-woo to look for a new team in 100 Thieves according to a report from Sheep Esports.

River reportedly joining 100 Thieves after success with GG

River’s had an interesting journey as a player. He went from styling on NA players at international events while he was on PSG Talon to playing in the LCS himself, becoming one of the most active early game junglers in the league.

This jungler isn’t afraid to fight early and put his laners ahead even if it means forgoing his own farm and pathing in strange ways to throw off the enemy jungler, something former 100T jungler Closer was also good at but didn’t display as much in 2023.

Now, River’s reportedly coming to 100 Thieves as the team looks to revitalize ahead of a disappointing 2023. It’s yet unclear if they’ll retain Doublelift and Quid, but the team will have a very different look in 2024 either way.

This, combined with Gori entering free agency, means the mid/jungle combo of one of NA’s most successful teams in Golden Guardians is very likely to be playing under a different banner in 2024. And it’s hard to say if the team will decide to hold on to its current players, either.

Multiple reports from Sheep Esports and rumors around the scene have pointed to Golden Guardians drastically reducing their spending in 2024, to the point where there’s a possibility they sell their spot.