Insanity becomes TSM’s first NA mid laner to play since Reginald
Riot GamesInsanity will start for TSM in the LCS on June 14, making him the team’s first North American mid laner in almost a decade.
TSM have announced that backup player David ‘Insanity’ Challe has been thrust into the starting lineup while Lee ‘Ruby’ Sol-min settles in after only recently having his visa approval.
The North American organization has not set a timetable to get Ruby into the lineup, raising doubts about the Korean’s availability for the remaining Week 1 matches, against FlyQuest on June 15 and Cloud9 on June 16.
Insanity joined TSM last month after a year with Dignitas Challengers. He has prior LCS experience, having been part of Immortals for three splits between 2020 and 2021. He went on to play for 100 Thieves Next, the organization’s Proving Grounds roster, before joining Dignitas Academy, which later became Dignitas Challengers.
When he steps foot on the LCS stage tonight, Insanity will become TSM’s first North American mid laner since Andy ‘Reginald’ Dinh, who stepped down from the team in November 2013.
A long line of foreign mid laners
Since then, TSM have always relied on foreign talent for the mid lane position, starting with Søren ‘Bjergsen’ Bjerg, who would go on to win six LCS titles with the organization.
After the Dane retired from the game (for the first time), TSM turned to another European mid laner, Tristan ‘PowerOfEvil’ Schrage, who was part of the team for a whole year. But since his departure, TSM have been a revolving door of Asian mid laners.
Tina Jo / Riot GamesThe 2023 LCS Summer Split could be TSM’s last hoorah in North America’s top League of Legends competition. Last month, Reginald confirmed that the organization is leaving the LCS with a view to joining another tier-one region, with a report from The New York Times revealing that TSM have set an asking price of $20 million for their slot.
TSM’s mid laners since Reginald
- Bjergsen (November 2013 – October 2020)
- PowerOfEvil (November 2020 – November 2021)
- Keaiduo (December 2021 – March 2022)
- Takeover (March 2022 – May 2022)
- Maple (May 2022 – April 2023)
- Ruby (May 2023 — ??)
- Insanity (May 2023 — ??)