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Top Esports have announced the signing of Korean player Song “Rookie” Eui-jin to their League of Legends roster. The 2018 Summoner Cup champion will replace the Chinese esports franchise’s former mid laner Zhuo “Knight” Ding.
Knight had parted ways with the franchise in late November, creating space for Rookie who has been an active player in the League of Legends Pro League since 2014. Currently fielding a seven-man team, which includes two top laners, Yu “Qingtian” Zihan and Huang “Wayward” Renxing, jungler Gao “Tian” Tianliang, bot laner Yu “JackeyLove” Wenbo, Rookie and two support players Wang “Zhuo” Xuzhuo and Ling “Mark” Xu, Top Esports are poised to make a statement in the upcoming season.
Prior to joining TES, Rookie previously played for Victory Five for one season. During his time with Victory Five, the team failed to qualify for the World Championship but had a good run in the spring. Albeit they suffered a loss to Top Esports that ended their run in the LPL Spring 2022 tournament, the Macanese esports team finished team in the spring.
The franchise had a different experience in the summer, finishing 5th-6th after losing to LNG Esports in a close best-of-five series. They also had a chance to revenge in the LPL Regional Finals lower bracket semifinal but suffered yet another blow at the hands of LNG Esports.
Victory Five took to their Twitter account to announce the departure of Rookie and thereafter informed fans that the 25-year old will be moving to TES.
“Rookie leaves V5,” Victory Five announced via a tweet.
“The next stop for this Worlds Champion mid laner is rumored to be TES, where he will team up with his former teammate JackeyLove.”
The Korean started his career with KT Rolster Arrows (now known simply as KT Rolster), where he spent a year before joining Invictus Gaming. He spent seven years with IG and made his way to various international events, including the Worlds in 2018. He also has a notable achievement of winning the LCK trophy in 2014.
The offseason for TES has been relatively quiet, with the team only making two notable moves: signing a Rookie and parting ways with Knight. Additionally, the contracts for both Tian and JackeyLove have been extended. However, Wayward and Mark’s contracts, which pertain to the top laner and support positions, will only be active for a year pending renewal.
As a LOL team, TES have consistently been one of the strongest in the LPL. Although in the recent World Championship of 2022, they were the only Chinese team to be eliminated in the group stage. Prior to this, they made it to the semifinals in 2020 after clinching the LPL Summer Split title in the same year.
