In League of Legends, the mid laner Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg has been regarded as the biggest star in Europe and North America for years. After a disastrous tournament at Worlds 2020, the Dane is ending his career at the age of 24. He will now become the coach of Team Solo Mid.
This was Bjergsen’s career: The Dane began his career in 2013 in Europe with the Copenhagen Wolves and quickly made a name for himself.
In 2014, he was one of the first players to move from Europe to North America and became the mid laner for Team Solo Mid. There, he replaced Reginald and became the franchise player and face of TSM over the next 6 years.
Bjergsen won the US championship 6 times with TSM. The team’s strongest phase was 2016/2017 when they claimed 3 championships in a row and dominated the US league LCS.
However, after the Worlds 2017, TSM decided to dismantle the team to rebuild around Bjergsen to become competitive internationally.
This was followed by 5 disappointing seasons: The bot laner Doublelift, who had been released, vowed to get revenge on TSM. He won 4 championships in a row with Team Liquid. TSM failed to regain former glories despite many EU imports.
Only in 2020 did Team Solo Mid become champions again, with Bjergsen in the mid lane and returning Doublelift in the bot lane. However, at the Worlds 2020, the team was eliminated without winning a single game.
The first time a “number 1” seed from a major region embarrassed themselves with a 0-6.
It seemed clear: If there was a window in which TSM could have leveraged Bjergsen’s peak to achieve international success, they had missed that window. The new generation of LoL players from Asia is now emerging into the spotlight: The new stars of Worlds are around 20 and are therefore about 4 or 5 years younger than Bjergsen.
Depressed boy from Denmark becomes the biggest star in US LoL
This is what makes Bjergsen so special: Bjergsen is regarded as the biggest name in League of Legends outside of Asia, although he was never particularly successful internationally. A mix of skill in League of Legends, his personality, and external circumstances made him immensely popular:
- TSM was for years the biggest LoL team in the USA and Bjergsen was the franchise player. The mid lane is the most prestigious spot in LoL. Here the stars play, from whom highlight reels circulate. Bjergsen was voted MVP of the LCS 4 times.
- Bjergsen is particularly known for his play with Zilean, but he is also generally regarded as a mechanically strong mid laner. Although he has been more criticized in recent years.
- On Twitter, Bjergsen has 1.3 million followers. He was regularly voted to the top positions in the All-Star voting of recent years. He is a popular guy, people like him.
- He has a story as a “depressed boy in Denmark who uses LoL as a getaway,” with which many can identify. Many LoL fans have known and followed his story for 7 years. They grew up with Bjergsen and became adults themselves. This creates a bond.
Bjergsen wants to see what he can achieve as a coach when he gives 100%
This is what he says now: At 24, Bjergsen is ending his career as a League of Legends player and will become the coach of TSM.
He says the decision to switch to coaching has been on his mind for a long time. It’s not due to the poor performance at Worlds. As a veteran and leader of TSM, he has been doing some “coaching on the side” for a long time, but he couldn’t focus on it. Now he wants to fully transition into this role and see what he can achieve if he focuses his efforts on it.
Even earlier than Bjergsen, the ADC star Uzi ended his career, but for health reasons:
One of the best LoL players of all time retires – health fails at 23
For him, it doesn’t feel like retirement, but rather a change of perspective.
These are the reactions to his retirement: What Bjergsen says about his departure as a pro player and his new role at TSM, you can see here on YouTube.
In the comments below, many fans take the opportunity to tell Bjergsen how much they appreciate his career:
- He is a legend, you read this repeatedly.
- People say they cried at the announcement.
- Anecdotes of special Bjergsen moments are shared.
- It is also analyzed that TSM put too much on him with the “shotcaller” role and couldn’t provide teammates that allowed him to shine.
Some professionals also speak out: CoreJJ writes that they have lost “the brightest shining star in North America.”
Mid lane rival Jensen writes how much he will miss playing against Bjergsen.
TSM also sums up the achievements on Twitter:
- 8 seasons
- 6 championships in the LCS
- 4 times the MVP
- 5 times at Worlds
Doublelift explains how poorly Worlds 2020 went for TSM
This was the rough Worlds 2020: For Bjergsen’s teammate at TSM, Doublelift, Bjergsen’s decision comes as a complete surprise.
Doublelift is 27 years old. He says he also considered quitting LoL. But it felt wrong to end his active career on such a bad note as after Worlds 2020.
Doublelift explained in streams in what terrible condition TSM was at Worlds 2020. He said that as a team, they only won about 10% of their practice matches.
The team fell apart even during preparation. People realized how unreachably far behind they were and also started to ruin practice by trying to force plays that weren’t there.
Bjergsen retires as a pro after TSM and he were quite down. He himself says he had hoped for a really good season before he ended his playing career. Bjergsen probably hopes fans will remember the national season in the LCS, not Worlds 2020.
At 24, Bjergsen would be in his prime in most sports and close to peak performance. In LoL, he has already spent 8 years as a pro and is at retirement age.
Even earlier than Bjergsen, the ADC star Uzi ended his career, but for health reasons:
One of the best LoL players of all time retires – health fails at 23
