In League of Legends the dream of a European super team has burst. For Spring 2022, the French team Vitality bought some of the best players in Europe: They played with a team consisting of a Croatian, a Welshman, a Czech, a Pole, and a Greek. But that was only enough for 5th place in the LEC league. Now they need a Korean. Additionally, they bring in a fallen giant talent from China.
This was the idea of “Team Vitality”: The French team wanted to violently buy their way to the top of Europe. They dug deep into their pockets and gathered some of the biggest stars that Europe has to offer:
- The Croatian midlaner Perkz (thumbnail) was allegedly brought back from the USA for a lot of money – Perkz had been considered the brain of the European perennial champion G2 for years.
- For the top lane, Team Vitality signed the Welshman Alphari, who also returned from the USA – He was supposed to form the foundation for the new power in Europe with Perkz.
- Already half a year earlier, they had acquired Selfmade, a Polish jungler, who was considered an absolute top player in Europe and played a year with Fnatic.
The team was supplemented by the Czech Carzzy (Bot) and the Greek Labrov (Support).
The message was clear: This is now the new power in Europe. They would smash all other teams. They bought a super team.
So it actually went: Not so well. The two “US re-imports” Perkz and Alphari had noticeably fallen out of shape in the USA and struggled to acclimate to Europe.
In general, observers agreed: They are indeed super players, but as a team, it’s not working. In a LoL team, not everyone can be the star; it must be clearly defined which lanes have priority and how to win.
The result was that the supposed super team only showed up in 5th place and was eliminated early in the playoffs.
The German team “Eintracht Spandau” wants to be the somewhat different LoL team:
Team fires Selfmade, says: Super players, but it doesn’t fit
This is what they are doing now: Team Vitality breaks up the European core before the Summer Split 2022 in the LEC: Jungler Selfmade remains in the team, but apparently will no longer play a role. They are looking for a new team for him.
It is said that Selfmade is an incredibly talented player and also very popular in the team. But LoL is very complex and different playstyles must come together – if they don’t fit, changes need to be made.
They believe: Selfmade will surely shine in another team and promise to find him a team.
Instead of Selfmade, they have now signed Kang “Haru” Ming-seung for the jungle, a Korean. Additionally, Zhou “Bo” Yang-bo, a Chinese, as a substitute jungler.
Korean ex-world champion and Chinese super talent
Who are the new imports? Haru is a 24-year-old Korean who had his big time 6 years ago at age 18: He became world champion with Samsung Galaxy in 2017, taking the title from Faker and T1.
But Haru did not have a very stable career: He bounced from team to team in Korea, not staying anywhere longer than a year.
Since June 2021, however, Haru has not played in Korea anymore, took a year off, then returned to the LoL business in Latin America and in the second European league with Team X7 Esports.
This seems to be a typical “Not good enough for the top teams in the LCK anymore, but I want to continue making money with LoL and it fits for the West” career.
In the USA, top laner Impact is still leading a nice professional life after becoming world champion with Faker 10 years ago.
The 20-year-old Chinese “Bo” is probably the more interesting transfer: Team Vitality formally brings him in as a “substitute player”.
But Bo was regarded as an absolute mega-talent for the jungle in China and managed to make it into the starting formation of FunPlus Phoenix, a top team in the LPL. However, he only played there for a short time.
Because BO was then banned due to a match-fixing scandal and apparently fell from grace. He has not played since May 2021.
Now Team Vitality may be getting one of the world’s greatest talents for the jungle in LoL, who is also only 20 years old. Bo could perhaps become a big star in Europe in a few years.
This was the scandal back then:
Scandal shakes LoL: 38 players, coaches, managers banned – 12 for life
