Максим Звонарев

Biography

Season 3

Cho "Mata" Se-hyeong joined MVP Ozone as a support in February of 2013. In his first season as a professional player, Ozone won the OLYMPUS Champions Spring 2013 finals 3-0 against CJ Entus Blaze in one of the biggest upsets in League of Legends history. The team did fairly well in HOT6iX Champions Summer 2013, placing third after losing 3-1 to SK Telecom T1 but beating CJ Entus Frost 3-2 in the third place match. Ozone earned enough circuit points to qualify automatically to the Season 3 World Championship as the second seed from Korea. A week later, both Ozone and their sister team, MVP Blue, were bought by the Samsung organization, forming Samsung Galaxy Ozone and Samsung Galaxy Blue. Ozone disappointed at worlds, dropping out in groups after losing a tiebreaker to Gambit Gaming.

2014 Season

Ozone began the new year with PANDORA.TV Champions Winter 2013-2014 where they made it to the finals but were swept by the undefeated SKT K to end in second place overall. They placed similarly at HOT6iX Champions Spring 2014, losing 3-1 to Blue in the semis but beating Blaze 3-2 in the third place match to finish in third. A month later, Ozone changed their name to Samsung White. HOT6iX Champions Summer 2014 was not much different for the team. They lost 3-1 again to Blue in the semis but they swept SK Telecom T1 S in the third place match. They were forced to play a tiebreaker against SKT K for the second Korean seed at the 2014 Season World Championship and they swept them 3-0 for the spot. White came into worlds as the heavy favorites and impressed, only dropping two games the whole tournament. They played a fairly one-sided final against Star Horn Royal Club and took the title with a 3-1 victory with Mata managing to earn himself the the MVP title for the tournament. On October 25, 2014, Mata announced that he was leaving the Samsung organization and was considering his options. On November 27, 2014, DanDy, Skatch, Heart and Mata all together joined Vici Stand Gaming.

2015 Season

At the beginning of the year, Mata and DanDy were moved to the main Vici Gaming roster to compete in the 2015 LPL Spring Regular Season. They competed in the 2015 Demacia Cup Spring Season first and fell in the round of 16 with a 3-0 loss to Invictus Gaming. They ended in fourth in the LPL regular season but lost in the first round of the 2015 LPL Spring Playoffs, dropping 3-1 to IG. Vici played in the 2015 Demacia Cup Summer Season, making it to the quarterfinals but forfeiting their series against IG. During the 2015 LPL Summer Regular Season, they ended in sixth in the LPL and made it to the quarterfinals of the 2015 LPL Summer Playoffs but Vici lost 3-2 here to IG.

2016 Season

Despite multiple rumors that Mata would return to Korea, likely to play on Incredible Miracle, Mata stayed in China for the 2016 season, moving to Royal Never Give Up. Royal Never Give Up were invited to IEM Katowice in March 2016 where they finished first in their group beating both Origen and Ever. However, they were defeated 1 - 2 by Fnatic in the playoffs bracket, placing third along with Team Solo Mid.

Biography

TitaN is from Manaus, Brazil, and has become known in the scene as part of the temporary lineup that played for Ilha da Macacada Gaming (later KaBuM! IDM Gaming) at the XLG SuperCup 2016. He stayed in the team officially as a sub for the CBLOL, and after the partnership between KaBuM! and Ilha da Macacada was dropped he (along with the KaBuM! IDM lineup) joined KaBuM! e-Sports.

Biography

He first started playing Defense of the Ancients before moving onto League of Legends because he felt the game emphasized on teamwork more than any other action RTS games out there and was thus, much more interesting and challenging.

Season 2

Westdoor was most known very well as a prominent solo queue player, ranking very highly on NA before the establishment of a Taiwanese server. He created a reputation for himself as an immaculate Twisted Fate player. westdoor soon would join with the amateur team, Tt Dragons, where he would dominate small domestic tournaments. His team even placed 3rd at IPL 5 Taiwanese qualifiers. It however, did not take long for Westdoor to look towards more than an amateur team. Westdoor had a contract issue with the team and was suspended for six months from competitive play. He would become a very well known streamer around this time, often streaming from net cafes. Eventually ahq e-Sports Club inquired about Westdoor and would sign him to replace Artie in May of 2013.

Season 3

Westdoor in his first professional season with ahq was very strong, being an important part of their 2013 GPL Summer run, taking first with the right to challenge the reigning world champions, and 2013 GPL Spring winners, Taipei Assassins. Ahq came in the favorite and defeated the Assassins 2-0 to win the split and end the TPA stranglehold over the region. This was the beginning of Westdoor's and Lantyr's popularity among the Taiwanese fans. Unfortunately, they would not qualify for worlds losing to the Gamania Bears.

2014 Season

Ahq would falter as a top contending team within the region often being beat out by the Taipei Assassins over the course of the season. Westdoor and club however would be able to clinch a berth for the 2014 Season World Championship after placing second in the SEA regionals. Westdoor would play a very important part in their upset win over Edward Gaming, the number one seed in China, to force a tiebreaker. Ahq however lost the game to EDG in front of their home crowd, being eliminated from the tournament.

2015 Season

Placed directly into the finals of the gauntlet-style playoffs, they once again won the season, this time beating Hong Kong Esports 3-0 and automatically qualifying for the 2015 Season World Championship.

At Worlds, ahq were seeded into Group B, along with Fnatic, Invictus Gaming, and Cloud9 and went 3-3, advancing to the playoffs after a tiebreaker victory over Cloud9 (giving the North American team their fourth loss in a row that day). Their World Championship run ended in the quarterfinals, where they were drawn against tournament favorites SK Telecom, earning a top 8 finish.

2019 Season

On January 7, 2019, ahq announced that both Westdoor and Albis would be retiring from the professional scene and move to become a streamer for the team instead.

Biography

Season 3

Odoamne started his competitive career with Absolute Legends, but left for AirWalk Gaming after a few months with the team. At the end of the season, Odoamne joined No Remorse eSports, before leaving less than a month later.

2014 Season

Odoamne joined newly formed Cloud 9 Eclipse at the start of the season, and this saw him playing in a roster that included Febiven and Voidle. The team's first tournament was the SCAN EUW Winter Invitational. The roster managed to impress from the very start, finishing 1st after beating Gamers2 in the final of the tournament. Odoamne and the team continued in the same form, winning Challenger Spring #1. An uncharacteristic dip in the team's play lead to Cloud 9 Eclipse being knocked out of Challenger Spring #2, losing to Departed in the quarterfinals.

Despite this, Odoamne and the team went on to win a number of tournaments on the run. The first of these was Week 20 of the EUW Challenger Series, where they took revenge by beating Departed in the final. Next up was the 2014 Black Monster Cup Europe - Spring, where C9E took further revenge, beating Denial eSports.Europe in the final after the organization picked up the roster of Departed. The team also won International Invitational Tournament 3, beating Dark Passage in the final.

Soon after, Cloud 9 Eclipse competed at the Copenhagen Games 2014 with Santorin subbing in the jungle - the team managed a 2nd place finish, behind Ninjas in Pyjamas. Odoamne and C9E then returned to the Challenger Series with the Spring Playoffs. The team won the tournament, again taking revenge by beating Ninjas in Pyjamas in the final. This would mean that C9E would have a chance to qualify for the LCS in the Summer Promotion. Unfortunately for Odoamne and the team, they lost their promotion match-up against SUPA HOT CREW. Odoamne and Cloud 9 Eclipse's last tournament would be the LoL Pro League - Season I, which they managed to win. After this, the team's roster was released. Odoamne and the majority of the former C9E roster then decided to join H2k-Gaming.

Odoamne's first tournament with H2k was the Challenger Summer #1, which the team won, beating Ninjas in Pyjamas in the final. Next up for Odoamne was the Dailymotion Challenger Cup, where the team finished 3rd, after losing to SK Gaming Prime in the 4th round of the winner's bracket and surrendering their 4th round loser's bracket match to Unicorns of Love. H2k also competed at FACEIT Challenger Invitational 3, but did not make it out of the group stages. Odoamne and the team returned to the Challenger Series with Challenger Summer #2, but the series was not a success, with H2k-Gaming finishing in 4th place after surrendering their third-place match against Gamers2.

Soon after, Odoamne and the team returned to winning form with the Summer Playoffs, beating SK Gaming Prime in the final. They followed this up with a win over Ninjas in Pyjamas in the final of the FACEIT Gamescom Challenge. Due to their performance in the playoffs, H2k-Gaming had secured themselves a place in the Spring Promotion. Despite a considerable amount of hype surrounding the team, they were beaten by Copenhagen Wolves in their promotion matchup. After this disappointment, H2k were quick to recover; going on to beat n!faculty in the final of Challenger FaceOff 3. They also managed to win the 2014 Black Monster Cup Europe - Winter, beating SK Gaming Prime in the final.

With H2k-Gaming, Odoamne competed in the Spring Expansion Tournament, and qualified for the Offline Stage after beating Meloncats. In the Offline Stage, H2k won their first match-up against n!faculty, placing themselves one win away from qualifying for the LCS. The team went on to beat GIANTS! Gaming in the Winner's Bracket Final, meaning that they would be playing in the Spring Split.

2015 Season

The Spring Split itself was relatively successful for Odoamne and H2k-Gaming. After a shaky start, results began to pick up for the team, partly thanks to the introduction of kaSing to the roster. Odoamne's impressive individual performances throughout the rest of the split, particularly on MaokaiSquare.pngMaokai and GnarSquare.pngGnar, helped the team to a 3rd place finish in the regular season. In the Spring Playoffs, Odoamne and the team beat Copenhagen Wolves in the quarterfinals, but were beaten in the semifinals in a close-fought series by eventual champions Fnatic. H2k-Gaming went on to pull off a shock victory over SK Gaming in the third-place match, securing themselves 50 Championship Points.

Odoamne and the team began to impress from the very start of the Summer Split. H2k-Gaming jostled for 2nd position with Origen throughout the regular season, with Fnatic way out in 1st place throughout. Impressive performances from Odoamne on both GnarSquare.pngGnar and RumbleSquare.pngRumble ultimately helped the team to yet another 3rd place regular season finish. The Summer Playoffs also went well for Odoamne and the team, beating Giants Gaming in the quarterfinals of the tournament. The were beaten in the semifinals by Origen, but went on to beat Unicorns Of Love in the third-place match, securing the team 70 Championship Points, which meant that the team had qualified for the 2015 World Championship as Europe's #2 seed.

At the 2015 World Championship, H2k-Gaming were seeded into Group C along with SK Telecom T1, EDward Gaming, and Bangkok Titans. They picked up 2 wins in the group, both coming against BKT. Odoamne and the team finished the group in 3rd place, meaning they would not advance to the knockout stage of the tournament.

2016 Season

At the start of the season, H2k-Gaming were voted to play at IEM Season X - Cologne. They fielded a roster including Odoamne and Ryu from their 2015 roster along with new members Jankos, FORG1VEN, and VandeR. The team beat Cloud9 in the quarterfinals but were then beaten themselves by eventual winners Ever in the semifinals of the tournament.

Biography

2018 Season

Tactical began his competitive career by competing for various amateur organizations between 2016 and 2017, including Team Exile Surge, Relentless Gaming, and Super Nova. In 2018, Tactical rejoined Super Nova and helped lead it to several 1st- and 2nd-place finishes in amateur tournaments such as the Upsurge Premier League and Alienware Game Arena. During this time, he also performed well in solo queue and received an invitation to the 2018 NA Scouting Grounds, where he was drafted onto Team Infernal Drake. His team placed 2nd at the tournament and Tactical was awarded a trophy for being one of the Top 5 Prospects.

2019 Season

At the beginning of the 2019 season, Tactical joined TSM Academy. Although the team had not performed well in the 2018 season, with Tactical and new support Treatz, the team finished 2nd in the regular season and 1st in playoffs. In Summer, the team's jungler Grig was moved to the main roster and Spica was brought on to replace him. Additionally, Tactical split play time with trainee bot laner Johnsun, who replaced Tactical in four regular season games. The team struggled to replicate its Spring success and finished the regular season in 4th place. In playoffs, the team underwent more roster changes as top laner Brandini was benched for disciplinary reasons and Grig swapped roles to replace him. Additionally, in the middle of playoffs Spica was moved to the main roster and Akaadian was moved to academy due to jungler problems on the main team. The team was eliminated in the semifinals.

2020 Season

Tactical moved to Team Liquid Academy at the beginning of the 2020 season. However, the main team's jungler problems again caused instability in the academy roster, as Team Liquid jungler Broxah could not play for the first three weeks of the season due to visa issues and academy jungler Shernfire was moved to the main roster to replace him. The academy roster played with last-minute substitution MikeYeung and started with a 5-game losing streak. Once Shernfire returned to the team in the fourth week, the team went on to win six of their next seven games. In Week 6, the main roster's bot laner Doublelift was unable to play due to sickness and Tactical was moved to the main roster to replace him. In his LCS debut, Tactical won both of his games and even put up an exceptional performance against 100 Thieves where he went 5/0/1, gained 72 more CS than his lane opponent Cody Sun, and won player of the game. After the impressive debut, and due to Doublelift's previous poor performance and motivation issues, Tactical was permanently moved to the main roster to split time with Doublelift on a week-by-week basis.

Biography

2013 Season - MVP Blue

Kim "Deft" Hyuk-kyu made his debut in the competitive scene when he joined MVP Blue as their new AD carry in February of 2013. His first professional tournament was OLYMPUS Champions Spring 2013 in which Blue failed to make it through their group. Blue was able to attend HOT6iX Champions Summer 2013 but Blue failed to make it through groups again. Blue and their sister team, Ozone, were picked up by the Samsung organization to form Samsung Galaxy Blue and Samsung Galaxy Ozone, respectively.

2014 Season - Samsung Blue

The new Samsung Blue team played in PANDORA.TV Champions Winter 2013-2014 and they finally made it to the quarterfinals but were stopped by the undefeated SK Telecom T1 K. The competitive experience Deft acquired in these seasons allowed him to develop into one of the sharpest AD carries Korea offers. His Blue teammates could not ask for a better player at the position, as they victoriously marched towards HOT6iX Champions Spring 2014 where they overcame sister team Samsung White 3-1 in the semifinals on the way to the 2014 OGN Summer Finals. Blue ended up beating NaJin White Shield 3-1 in the finals to win their first OGN title. Blue also made the finals of HOT6iX Champions Summer 2014 but they actually ended up losing 3-2 to the KT Rolster Arrows. Samsung Blue had enough circuit points to attend the 2014 Season World Championship as the top seed from Korea but they lost 3-0 in the semifinals to White. In his solo queue adventures, Deft favors Ezreal and Lucian, but he has shown to be able to play any role at the top of the Korean Challenger solo queue circuit. During his tenure on Samsung Blue, Deft favored skill shot based AD carries over auto attack based and was noted for his ability to react and dodge. In particular, he had a strong reputation as a Corki and Kog'Maw player. At the 2014 World Championship, Deft was noted for doing an absurd amount of damage to champions per game.

2015 Season - Edward Gaming

On October 31, 2014, Deft announced his departure from Samsung Blue. Ten days later, he announced that he had joined EDward Gaming. In his first games with EDG, the team won a convincing 3-0 over the team's biggest offseason rivals, Team King in the G-League 2014 finals. EDG played in the 2015 Demacia Cup Spring where they went undefeated from the round-of-sixteen until the finals which ended in a crushing 3-0 victory against Invictus Gaming.In 2015 LPL Spring, Deft played all 44 games with Edward Gaming. The team placed first in the regular season, losing only six games in total. He played 11 different champions, but primarily specialized in Corki, Sivir, and Jinx. He struggled the most on Kalista and Urgot. In the LPL Finals, Deft would notably end Game 5 against LGD Gaming with a pentakill, clinching EDG's spot to represent China at the Mid-Season Invitational. At MSI, EDG pushed their way to the finals and upset the heavily favored SK Telecom T1 by baiting Faker into picking LeBlanc and picking a comp to counter it. EDG won the series 3-2 and took home the title of best team in the World. EDG participated in the 2015 Demacia Cup Summer Season where they won again by taking a 3-0 set against OMG. They ended in first place once again in the 2015 LPL Summer Regular Season but in the 2015 LPL Summer Playoffs they faltered, dropping a 3-0 set to LGD and a 3-1 set to IG to end in fourth place overall. They still qualified for the 2015 Season China Regional Finals and managed to take the second seed from China to the 2015 Season World Championship with a 3-1 victory over IG. EDG were placed in a group with SK Telecom, H2k Gaming, and the Bangkok Titans. They came out of the group in second place and were drawn to play Fnatic in the quarterfinals but lost to them 3-0.

2016 Season - Edward Gaming

EDG had a rough start to the 2016 LPL Spring Season and played several games without ClearLove. They were however able to bounce back and finished 2nd in Group B, slightly behind Royal Never Give Up. In the playoffs, EDG was able to sweep Snake Esports 3-0 and then won automatically against Qiao Gu Reapers due to QG forfeiting the match. In the finals, EDG faced off against Royal Never Give Up and despite EDG being the favorites going into the match, they lost 1-3 and finished in 2nd place, failing to qualify for the 2016 Mid-Season Invitational. Once summer came, EDG was placed in Group A of the 2016 LPL Summer Season. This split would be the start to EDG's resurgence as the team finished with an undefeated 16-0 regular season. In the 2016 LPL Summer Playoffs EDG would defeat Team WE 3-2 in the semifinals which set them up for a rematch against Royal Never Give Up. In clean fashion, EDG was able to defeat RNG in a 3-0 sweep and reclaim the LPL championship while also qualifying for the 2016 Season World Championship as China's #1 seed.

At Worlds, Deft and EDG were grouped against H2k-Gaming, ahq e-Sports Club and INTZ e-Sports and finished as the 2nd seed after they lost the tiebreaker match against H2k. They were then seeded against ROX Tigers in the bracket stage and lost the series 1-3. After Worlds, EDG made an announcement that Deft will be leaving the team after the 2016 Demacia Cup, which they won after a win against I May in the Finals. On November 30, KT Rolster announced that Deft would be the team's new ADC in the upcoming season.

2017 Season - KT Rolster

In the 2017 LCK Spring Season performed well and finished at the top of the standings. However in the playoffs KT fell short and lost 0-3 to SK Telecom T1 in the finals. Although their regular season run in summer was a bit more successful, their playoff run was worse and they fell 2-3 to SKT again but in the semifinals this time. In the 2017 Season Korea Regional Finals KT was taken down 0-3 by Samsung Galaxy and failed to qualify for the 2017 Season World Championship.

2018 Season - KT Rolster

After a disappointing year, Deft chose to remain on KT Rolster. The team kept their core players and proceeded with a shake-up in the coaching staff along side the addition of two substitute players, Rush and Ucal. While the team failed to qualify for Worlds, KT Rolster was still painted out to be Korea's potential "Super Team". As the LCK Spring Season debuted, KT Rolster ended up in 3rd place, finishing split with a score of 13-5. Heading into playoffs, the team did not find much better success as they once again were defeated by the Afreeca Freecs 1-3 and were forced to stay at home while the eventual winners of the tournament Kingzone DragonX went on to represent Korea at the Mid-Season Invitational.

While the spring split turned out to be disappointing for Deft and the KT Rolster players, it was a reinvigorated KT Rolster that headed into Rift Rivals and, while Korea did not win the tournament, KT Rolster racked up an impressing score of 3-0 against the other Asian representatives, notably beating Invictus Gaming who would go on to win the 2018 World Championship the same year.

Returning to Korea, KT Rolster quickly picked up the pace and finished 1st place in the LCK Summer Season with the same score of 13-5, earning themselves the first seed going into the playoffs. Deft and his teammate seemed like a entirely new team with the transition of Ucal into the starting mid laner position. As the finals approached, it turned out that KT Rolster would be matched against Griffin, one of Korea's youngest bloods and most impressive teams at the time. Dominated in the first game of the finals, KT quickly bounced back and won themselves the second game of the match. Later on, Griffin would win the third game, going into match points and pushing KT Rolster at wit's end. While game 4 looked grim for Deft and his team, his teammates Smeb and Mata fiercely showed their impressive team play and skill as they turned the game around and sent the match into game 5, narrowly escaping the jaws of defeat and eventually winning KT Rolster their LCK Summer Playoffs title, earning Korea's first seed going into the 2018 World Championship.

Heading into the tournament, Deft and his team were placed into Group C with EDward Gaming, Team Liquid, and MAD Team. The Korean team quickly proved their dominance as they ended the Group Stage in first place with a score of 5-1, only dropping one game to EDward Gaming. Sadly for Deft, KT Rolster were faced with a tough opponent in Invictus Gaming in the very first round of the Knockout Stage, eventually getting defeated 2-3 by the Chinese team, being eliminated in their very own country. While they fought to the bitter end, their performance was not enough as Invictus Gaming would proceed to win the entire tournament, not dropping a single other game after their match against KT Rolster.

It was shortly after their loss at the World Championship that Deft would leave KT Rolster and join Kingzone DragonX.

The team then competed in the 2018 LoL KeSPA Cup during which they were defeated in their very first round 0-2 by Gen.G.

2019 Season - Kingzone DragonX

After the tragedy at the 2018 World Championship, Deft joined previous LCK winners in King-Zone DragonX, to play botlane along side TusiN. He was also reunited with his good friend PawN, who got benched at KT Rolster during the previous split due to medical issues. KZ started off the Spring Split wildly inconsistent but picked up the pace later on as they ended the regular season with a 6 match winstreak to finish in 3rd position, behind only SK Telecom T1 and Griffin. They came into the semi-finals slightly as underdogs, and lost 3-0 in an unfortunate BO5. SK Telecom T1 would move on to win the LCK Spring Cup in convincing fashion, with a 3-0 sweep against the tournament favorites in Griffin. Deft would end the Spring split in second place when it comes to individual MVP standings, being only 100 points (1MVP) down on Chovy.

Summer Split started of great for KZ, fluctuating between place 1 and 3 in the close standings, before dropping significantly after week 5. Deft couldn't repeat his carry performance, and along side internal problems, the team ended the split in a disappointing 7th position. They had one chance left to go to Worlds, the Regional Finals. KZ, despite coming in as heavy underdogs due to their lack of performance in the last couple of weeks of LCK Summer, beat both Afreeca Freecs and Sandbox Gaming. In the finals against Damwon Gaming however, they lost 3-2, despite an amazing Baron Nashor steal from Deft in game 2.

It was shortly after 2019 Season World Championship that KZ announced the renaming of their team to DragonX, DRX. Deft immediatly announced that he would stay, eventhough the entire team left. In the following weeks, DRX announced that Spring Split MVP Chovy would join in the midlane, aswell as Doran in the toplane. Jungle and support positions would be filled by rookies Pyosik and Keria.

2020 Season - DragonX/DRX

LCK Spring Split 2020 started very well for DragonX, by winning their first 4 games, before dropping games against T1 and Gen.G in week 3. DragonX would continue to fight in this way, and ended Spring tied for first with earlier named teams. Due to worse win/loss record, DragonX finished the Split in third position, which would match them against Damwon Gaming in round 2 of the playoffs. Deft and his teammates defeated DWG in a grueling 5 game series. In round 3 of playoffs, with the finals in their eyes, DragonX lost against T1 with a 3-1 record. T1 would eventuelly go on to beat Gen.G 3-0 in the finals. In comparison to LCK Spring 2019, Deft only secured 200 points in the MVP Standings.

DragonX was matched with 2018 World Champions in Invictus Gaming, LPL Champions JDG and Gen.G in the Midseason Cup. After a flamboyant 2-0 start, with victories over IG and Gen.G, DRX would end up in a triple tiebreaker after losing against JDG. DragonX would lose both tiebreaker games and ended third in its group with a 2-1 record.

LCK Summer split started of very well for the renamed DRX, being at the top of the standings for the entire split. However, due to better win/loss record, DWG got the first place heading straight to the finals. DRX played semi finals against Gen.G and won a tiring 5 games series after a 3hour pause. The finals was done quite fast, after a 3-0 sweep. DRX however, was already qualified for Worlds due to having the highest amount of Championship Points in LCK 2020 season. Deft would have a "better" personal split, and acquired 500 MVP points. With Deft qualifying for Worlds, he could once again pursue his dream, which is winning the World Championship.

2021 Season - Hanwha Life

On 24th of November 2020, Hanwa Life Esports confirmed Deft as their new AD Carry player for the 2021 LCK Season. Over the next few weeks the roster would get filled with the likes of Chovy, Morgan and a few other players.

Season 11 started of really well for the team of Hanwha Life eSports, with collecting wins over Gen.G and a very close 2-1 loss against World Champions DWG KIA. The team slowed down however, and their performance started to drop down towards the end of the split, losing series against all top teams including T1. Deft's individual performance wasn't the best, only securing 4 MVP's in the entire split, and not making it into any of the 3 LCK All Pro Teams. Hanwha Life eSports eventually ended their split in 3th place, after winning 3-2 against Nongshim RedForce, before dropping 3-0 against DWG KIA in the semi finals. Hanwha Life ended the LCK 2021 Spring Split in third place. The LCK 2021 Summer Season didn't bring much joy to Hanwha Life nor Deft. The team started the split with a single win in their first three weeks. The next few weeks didn't bring anything better, the team ended the split in eight place, a disaster for the organization, given the players' quality. The players and coaching staff didn't find a way to play competitive, resulting in a 7-11 record at the end of summer, thus not granting them access to the playoffs. The regional finals were a bright light in the darkness from the 2021 season for Deft. Hanwha Life eSports was able to beat both Liiv SANDBOX and Nongshim RedForce in the regional best of 5, in respectively 3-1 and 3-0. Deft's individual performance was much better, and fans finally saw the "vintage Deft". Winning these 2 crucial BO5's granted HLE access to the 2021 Season World Championship. This way Deft became the first player to attend Worlds with 5 different teams.

Biography

Gwak "Bdd" Bo-seong joined CJ Entus as a sub mid laner in April 2015 but was unable to play a single game for them due to being underage. He finally turned 17 on March 1, 2016, and he made his competitive debut in the 2016 LCK on March 2 in a series against Kongdoo Monster, which CJ won 2-1. Bdd is a versatile mid laner. Despite his ability to play several meta and non-meta champions, Bdd is especially fond of assassins, citing Zed as one of his favorite champions to play.

2016 Season

During the 2016 LCK Spring Season, CJ went 8-10 in sets, finishing in eighth place overall for the spring split. Sky played as the starting midlaner for CJ during the first round robin while Bdd was still underage, but Bdd assumed the starting mid position after he turned 17, just in time for the second round robin. However, it was not enough to make playoffs.

CJ Entus had a very poor showing in the 2016 LCK Summer Season, going 3-15 total in set score. Neither Bdd's benching and subsequent reinstating as the starting mid laner seemed to make no difference in their abysmal results. Locked into tenth place in the LCK season, CJ Entus participated in the 2017 LCK Spring Promotion. In the first round they were swept 2-0 by Kongdoo Monster, bringing them down to the loser's bracket. There, they beat SBENU Korea 2-0 before falling to ESC Ever in a 3-0 sweep to become relegated from the LCK. This marked the first time an original Kespa team was relegated from the LCK.

Biography

Gwak "Bdd" Bo-seong joined CJ Entus as a sub mid laner in April 2015 but was unable to play a single game for them due to being underage. He finally turned 17 on March 1, 2016, and he made his competitive debut in the 2016 LCK on March 2 in a series against Kongdoo Monster, which CJ won 2-1. Bdd is a versatile mid laner. Despite his ability to play several meta and non-meta champions, Bdd is especially fond of assassins, citing Zed as one of his favorite champions to play.

2016 Season

During the 2016 LCK Spring Season, CJ went 8-10 in sets, finishing in eighth place overall for the spring split. Sky played as the starting midlaner for CJ during the first round robin while Bdd was still underage, but Bdd assumed the starting mid position after he turned 17, just in time for the second round robin. However, it was not enough to make playoffs.

CJ Entus had a very poor showing in the 2016 LCK Summer Season, going 3-15 total in set score. Neither Bdd's benching and subsequent reinstating as the starting mid laner seemed to make no difference in their abysmal results. Locked into tenth place in the LCK season, CJ Entus participated in the 2017 LCK Spring Promotion. In the first round they were swept 2-0 by Kongdoo Monster, bringing them down to the loser's bracket. There, they beat SBENU Korea 2-0 before falling to ESC Ever in a 3-0 sweep to become relegated from the LCK. This marked the first time an original Kespa team was relegated from the LCK.

Biography

Edward is an Armenian League of Legends player who lives in the city of Omsk, Russia. He lives with his parents and older brother, who happens to be a League of Legends player. [36] He has been playing LoL since the NA Open Beta. He played with against All authority and various Russian teams before meeting Alex Ich, who recruited Edward to his team at the time, Empire. After joining Empire, Edward recruited his friend Diamondprox to the team. He splits his time between LoL and his university studies.

Pre Season 2

He started making headway though in the scene when he joined Team Empire in late 2011, playing Support and using the name GoSu Pepper. The team made a large splash at IEM Season VI Qualifiers by winning it, and thereby being invited to play at IEM Season VI - Global Challenge Kiev But just as much for making a now famed highlight vs SK Gaming, which gave birth to the famous meme and the habit of players shouting "EMPIRE!". [37]

Season 2

Edward, with the rest of Team Empire, was recruited by the organization Moscow Five in December 2011. Their first major appearance would be at the IEM Season VI - Global Challenge Kiev on January 19, 2012. It would be here that Moscow 5 would make a name for themselves internationally, as they had little fame prior to IEM Kiev. At the event, Moscow 5 would show a dominant performance, going undefeated in group stage against Dignitas, against All authority, and Sypher. [38] Taking first by going 3-0 in the group stage, Edward and the team would advance to the playoffs where they would take the series 2-0 against SK Gaming. Moving to the finals, Moscow 5 would defeat North American powerhouse Team SoloMid 2-1, dropping their only game of the tournament against them. [39]

On January 31, 2012, Edward and company would compete in the online Kings of Europe tournament. Once again showing their strength, they would go undefeated in the group stage, defeating SK Gaming, exGBT, and Team Mistral. [40] Advancing to the playoffs, they would go on to defeat French team Sypher 2-1 in the semifinals. By doing so, Moscow 5 would face off against European favorite Counter Logic Gaming EU in the finals, where they would fall 1-2. [41]

On March 10, 2012, M5 would attend the IEM Season VI - World Championship in Hanover. Reproducing their results from Kiev, Moscow 5 once again went undefeated in group stage 5-0, beating SK Gaming, Curse Gaming, Team SoloMid, Sypher, and EHome. [42] Edward would play a crucial role as Support, assisting his team and helping continue their winnning streak in the playoff bracket, beating Counter Logic Gaming Prime 2-0 in the semifinals and defeating Dignitas 2-0 in the finals, to take home first place. [43] This tournament would mark a high point in Moscow 5's history, as they were able to come out of the tournament not only victorious, but able to do so while not dropping a single game throughout the entire competition.

His team's next high placing at a major tournament would be at the online Corsair Vengeance Cup. Coming out of the group stage of the tournament 2-1, Moscow 5 had a strong run in the playoffs, defeating Hauteur 8, Intent Gaming, TeamRedbyteItalia, and Meet Your Makers in the first four rounds of the playoff bracket, before falling to aAa 0-2 in the second phase of the winner's bracket, knocking the Russian team down to the loser's bracket. Moscow 5 would face off against Team SoloMid in their first match of the loser's bracket, in which the Russian team would come out victorious 2-1. They then faced and defeated SK Gaming 2-0 in the next round of the loser's bracket, which put them up to face off against aAa once again. This time the team would come out victorious, defeating aAa 2-0, and putting the team up against Counter Logic Gaming EU in the grand finals of the Corsair Vengeance Cup. Unfortunately, Moscow 5 would fall short to CLG.EU 0-2, losing to the team once again in a finals setting, taking home second place. [44]

On June 16, Edward and comrades would attend DreamHack Summer 2012 after taking second in the online qualifiers. Moscow 5 would take second in the group stage, going 2-1, defeating Absolute Legends and Mebdi's Minions, but losing to Counter Logic Gaming EU. Advancing to the semifinals, Moscow 5 would face off against Curse Gaming EU, where the Russian team was able to come out ahead 2-0, advancing them to the grand finals of DreamHack Summer 2012. In the finals, Moscow 5 would play against familiar opponent, Counter Logic Gaming EU, where they would fall 0-2. [45]

Edward and Moscow 5 attended European Challenger Circuit: Poland after qualifying online with a 2-0 victory over CLG.EU, sending them to the loser's bracket. This would mean that the teams would meet again in the group stage, where Moscow 5 took second place, going 2-1 by defeating EloHell and Ocelote World while losing a game to CLG.EU. In the semifinals, Moscow 5 had a strong showing, defeating Curse EU 2-0, achieving a perfect 15-0 score in the second game. In the finals, Moscow 5 would meet their rivals CLG.EU once again. After having a 0-4 record against them in lan events, Edward and his team were able to claim their revenge with a commanding 2-0 victory making them the ECC Poland champions. [46]

As one of the eight European invitees for the Season Two Regional Finals - Cologne, Moscow Five would fly to Germany for a chance to qualify for the Season 2 World Championship. Matched up against the recently formed Polish team EloHell, Moscow Five would take a 2-0 victory to advance to the second round of the playoffs. There, Moscow Five was able to come out victorious against Fnatic in a close 2-1 win, qualifying for the Season 2 World Championship in Los Angeles and advancing to the grand finals of the tournament. Continuing their dominant performance, Edward would help win the finals 2-0 against SK Gaming. [47]

At the Season 2 World Championship in October, Edward and his teammates were considered by many analysts and professionals to be the favorites coming into the event. [48] They were given a bye through the group stage and were selected to face Invictus Gaming in their quarterfinal match. Although iG consistently pressured M5's early game and won the laning phase, the Russian squad was able to overcome their deficits in the midgame and take the series 2-0. Advancing to face the Taipei Assassins in the semifinals, M5 continued their dominant form in the first game of the match and quickly secured game one. However, TPA matched M5's aggression in the next two games and successfully turned the series around. The Taiwanese team took the set 2-1, and Moscow Five was forced to settle for 3rd-4th place and $150,000.

Pre-Season 3

After the Season 2 Championships, Edward's team would attend the European tournament Tales of the Lane from October 27 through November 11, 2012. They would emerge as first in their group stage 3-1, with wins against Curse EU, Eclypsia and MYM, but losing to the hungry IWantCookie. They were granted seeding directly into the semi-finals due to their placing in the group stages. On November 11 M5 would travel to Paris to compete in the offline portions of the tournament. There they would face an upset from Curse EU, losing 0-2, knocking them into the third-place match. They would finish the tournament with a sweep of SK Gaming, taking 3rd and €5,000 in winnings.

On November 22, 2012, Moscow 5 had the great opportunity to fly to Shanghai to attend the TGA Winter 2012 event. While not contestants in the tournament itself, the team would look to boost their popularity with the Chinese tour, doing photo ops, fan signings and Mandarin greeting videos[49][50]. M5 also played two show matches against WE and iG, winning against both. They would leave China on November 27, flying directly to Las Vegas to attend IPL 5.

On Day 1 of the IPL event, Edward and M5 would advance through the group stages by defeating Curse Gaming twice and dropping a game to world champions, Taipei Assassins. They would then face World Elite, who they scrimmed against heavily in Shanghai. However, WE would rout the Russian team 2-0, dropping them to the losers bracket. M5 would then defeat the tournament favorites, Korean powerhouse Azubu Blaze in a close 3 game series. M5 would get a chance to avenge their loss in the Season 2 World Championship against TPA in round 5. Despite Alex Ich amassing an amazing 538 creep score and leading in gold to the very end of the game, M5 would still fall to the Taiwanese team in game 1, and lose again to Stanley on Nidalee in game 2, making it five consecutive loses to TPA. M5 would finish the tournament in 4th place and earn $3,000 in winnings.

On January 10, 2013, resultant of the arrest of Moscow Five's CEO in July of the previous year, leaving, the entire roster was released from the eSports organization as it went defunct due to lack of funding.[51][52]

Formation of Gambit

Four days later, on January 14, it was announced that Gambit Gaming had acquired Edward and the rest of the former M5 roster.

Pre-Season 3

Marking their first appearance in an offline event as Gambit Gaming, in late January of 2013, the Russian team would compete in IEM Season VII - Global Challenge Katowice as one of the eight qualified teams. Gambit Gaming would go 1-2 in the group stage, winning against MYM, while losing to Curse Gaming EU as well as Azubu Blaze. Because of this, the round robin had a tie of MYM, Gambit, and Curse Gaming EU, who all went 1-2. A time coefficient was used to break the tie, giving Gambit Gaming a spot in the semi-finals. Edward would help his team, the underdogs, to defeat Azubu Frost 2-0, then go on to take first place by knocking out Frost's brother team, Azubu Blaze who they had lost to in the group stage. Gambit Gaming took home $15,000 USD (~11,609 Euros) as well as a direct seed into IEM World Championship.

Season 3

Spring EU LCS

Having qualified as Moscow Five, Edward and company would compete in the Riot's new professional league for Season 3, the European Season 3 League of Legends Championship Series. Gambit would be a highly respected threat throughout the 10 week Spring league, being one of the most feared teams to play against, with Edward making exciting plays on his notable hook champions, ThreshSquare.pngThresh and BlitzcrankSquare.pngBlitzcrank. They would complete the European Spring LCS Split in 2nd place, with a record of 21-7. This ensured their LCS spot for the summer split portion of the league. They would then take second place in the Season 3 EU Spring Playoffs, losing 2-3 to Fnatic.

IEM World Championship

Gambit with Edward attended the IEM Season VII - World Championship in Hannover, Germany held in March. The team dominated their group, going an undefeated 5-0, placing them in the semi-finals. They then faced CJ Entus Frost and lost the set 2-1, knocking Gambit out of the tournament, the team finishing in 3rd.

MLG Winter Championship

The Russian players were then invited to play in an international exhibition at 2013 MLG Winter Championship, playing first against American Team Dignitas who they beat 2-0, by constantly pressuring their opponent. Gambit then faced Korean top contender KT Rolster B in the exhibition finals but were unable to secure 1st place, losing 2-1.

LCS All Stars

In April, Edward, with teammates "Alex Ich","Diamondprox" and "Genja" were publicly voted to represent their respective lane positions on the Europe LCS All Star team, to compete at All-Star Shanghai 2013, playing against the world's best All Star teams, chosen in the same fashion. However, due to a rule stating that only 3 members of any given team could be inducted onto the all star team, Genja was replaced as AD Carry by Evil Geniuses' Yellowpete. The team's top lane was sOAZ from Fnatic. The EU LCS first faced off against heavy favorites Korean OGN Champions, and despite good early gameplay from jungler Diamondprox, the Korean team overtook them in a 2-0 set. Their next opponent was their sibling league, the North America LCS. Both teams played an explosive two games of up and down fighting however, NA LCS ended up being the victor, knocking the EU LCS out of the tournament.

Summer NA LCS

A few days before Summer EU LCS started, Edward would leave Gambit Gaming, stating, "First of all, the main reason for such an end, is misunderstandings between me and Genja. Despite the fact that we played together for more than one year, we didn't fit well with each other. Secondly, I don't like the current atmosphere in the team, after a few bad results in a row. Due to these factors I have decided to leave the team." [53] Soon after, it was announced that Edward would be joining North American Team Curse in their starting lineup, to play in the NA LCS for summer, being the first player to participate in both NA and EU LCS. [54]

Despite the acquisition of Edward, Curse had a shaky Summer season, fighting hard to stay in the middle of the pack. They did end the season in a 4th place spot, going into NA LCS Summer Playoffs. They first faced off against Team Dignitas and even though they won their first game in a dominating fashion, they lost the next ones, losing 1-2. They then had to play CLG for the 5th spot decider. Curse was unable to best them in the set, losing 0-2, and were sent to play for their spot in the Season 4 Spring Promotion, though Edward would leave before this.

2014 Season

After his departure from Team Curse, Edward planned to return to the EU LCS. [55] He eventually did so, by rejoining his former team Gambit Gaming on the 7th of November.[56]

Edward made his comeback to Gambit at IEM Cologne. The team did not lose a single game at the tournament, beating Cloud9 in their semifinal matchup and Fnatic in the grand final.

His next tournament back with Gambit Gaming was the IEM World Championship. The team perfomed well, but were knocked out in the semifinals by KT Rolster Bullets.

The Spring Split was a slight disappointment for Gambit. Despite Edward's convincing displays on ThreshSquare.pngThresh and AnnieSquare.pngAnnie, the team only managed a 5th place finish in the split. This was a fall from Gambit's high standards, but still meant that they had a spot in the Spring Playoffs. Edward and the team only ended up coming 5th in the tournament after losing to Team ROCCAT in the quarterfinals.

Alex Ich's departure from Gambit ultimately meant that the Summer Split would be worse for the team than the spring split. Gambit struggled throughout, and the team finished in 7th place, meaning that they would have to fight for their LCS status in the Spring Promotion. Edward and Gambit held on to their place in the LCS, beating SK Gaming Prime in their promotion match-up.

2015 Season

Due to being fan-voted in, Edward and Gambit Gaming took their place at IEM Cologne. They managed to win the tournament after beating Counter Logic Gaming in the final.

Gambit Gaming had a successful Spring Split, finishing 4th in the regular season, partially thanks to Edward's impressive performances on ThreshSquare.pngThresh and MorganaSquare.pngMorgana in particular. The team's regular season performance meant that they would be playing in the Spring Playoffs. They were beaten 3-1 by Unicorns Of Love in the playoff quarterfinals.

Due to their 1st place finish at IEM Cologne, the team were invited to compete at the IEM Season IX - World Championship. After a Round 1 loss against the CJ Entus, Edward and Gambit Gaming were knocked out of the tournament, losing to Team WE in Round 1 of the losers bracket.

After changing his name back to GoSu Pepper, he and the team had an unsuccessful Summer Split, eventually finishing the regular season in 8th place. This meant that Gambit Gaming would be playing in the 2016 Spring Promotion. GoSu Pepper and the team faced mousesports, winning the series and securing their place in the 2016 Spring Season.

2016 Preseason

GoSu Pepper announced his free agency in November 2015, leaving Gambit for the second time (the first being summer 2013).

Biography

Chawy started playing video games at age 12- his first game was Neopets. From ages 13-17 he played competitive table tennis. He was on his school table tennis team, and during this time won the West Zone Champion. He quit playing competitive table tennis to focus on competitive gaming. His first experience as a professional gamer was with DoTA on Team Scythe. His parents were initially neutral about his decision to do professional gaming, but they allowed him to travel overseas to represent Singapore in Southeast Asian tournaments. After he started showing good results in the tournaments, they became actively supportive of his career decision. Chawy won third place in The International DoTA2 Championship (with a prize of $150,000 USD) before switching to LoL to try something new. His a advice for DoTA players looking to switch to LoL is to "play with your brain, not just your hands". He first tried League of Legends at the 2010 World Cyber Games. Other than DoTA and LoL, Chawy also enjoys playing MMORPGs, like Perfect World. However, he prefers to concentrate his efforts and attention on his competitive gaming career. He is currently in Singapore's National Service and balances his time between training with SGS and his full-time Service work schedule. He looks forward to the completion of his Service so that he has no travel restrictions and can dedicate all of his time to gaming. Chawy has played both AP and AD Carry for SGS. He enjoys AP Carry the most because he likes to make plays and control the map. He brings his AP playstyle into his AD Carry role: he is very aggressive, spams spells, and aims to snowball his lane. Chawy believes this playstyle will help him to achieve his goal to be the best AD and AP Carry in the world.