Former LoL world champion Bang set to leave 100 Thieves
Evil Geniuses have reportedly acquired bot-laner Bae ‘Bang’ Jun-sik from 100 Thieves for their League of Legends team.
According to ESPN, the two-time world champion is the latest addition to the Evil Geniuses roster, which is being built from scratch for the 2020 season after EG acquired the LCS slot formerly held by Echo Fox.
Evil Geniuses kicked off their roster with the transfer of four players from Cloud9 – Dennis ‘Svenskeren’ Johnsen, Tristan ‘Zeyzal’ Stidam, Matthew ‘Deftly’ Chen, and Colin ‘Kumo’ Zhao. Of those, Svenskeren and Zeyzal are expected to appear in the starting LCS roster.
According to the report by ESPN, EG acquired Bang from 100 Thieves for an undisclosed amount of cash, but the teams have also discussed the possibility of transferring Deftly to 100T at a later date should the organization be unable to find an alternative replacement for their bot-laner.
- Read more: LCS 2020 offseason roster tracker
Bang is best known for his time on SK Telecom T1, playing alongside Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok from 2015 to 2018. During that time, he won two World Championships, appeared in the final of a third, and won four LCK titles.
LoL Esports/Riot GamesHis time in the LCS has been less successful, however. Despite having had an impressive debut year in 2018, appearing in the Spring finals and making it to Worlds, 100 Thieves struggled in 2019, finishing 10th in Spring and 8th in Summer.
While Evil Geniuses have yet to confirm the full roster, the move will team Bang up with Summer 2019 MVP Svenskeren, and two-time LCS finalist Zeyzal, a core that already looks set to position EG as a top contender in 2020.
For 100 Thieves, meanwhile, ESPN report that the coming season will likely be more focused on development, an approach that new General Manager Christopher ‘PapaSmithy’ Smith has previously stated was a possibility depending on the availability of players heading into 2020. Of their existing roster, so far they’ve only confirmed top-laner Ssumday will return, while also signing William ‘Meteos’ Hartman.
Evil Geniuses reported roster so far:
- Dennis ‘Svenskeren’ Johnsen
- Bae ‘Bang’ Jun-sik
- Tristan ‘Zeyzal’ Stidam
100 Thieves confirmed roster so far:
- Kim ‘Ssumday‘ Chan-ho
- William ‘Meteos’ Hartman