DAMWON Gaming’s new roster:
- Park “exy” Geun-cheol
- Kim “t3xture” Na-ra
- Jung “Bangnan” Min-u
- Jeong “Esperanza” Jin-cheol
- Park “allow” Sang-wook
- Kim “Lakia” Jong-min (On Loan)
- Kang “solo” Geun-chul (Head Coach)
After losing to Maru Gaming in a disappointing fashion and failing to reach the VALORANT Champions Tour 2022: Korea Stage 2 Challengers grand finals, DAMWON Gaming have made significant roster changes. They signed former Jadeite duelist Park “allow” Sang-wook and parted ways with Lee “Hate” Ye-hun. Kim “Lakia” Jong-min will also join the Korean roster on loan from his current team IGZIST.
All three players involved in the roster shuffle began their 2022 VCT journey in the Japanese region. Hate played alongside allow in Jadeite for Stage 1 of Japan’s VCT circuit. Jadeite failed to qualify for Challengers Playoffs following elimination in both Week 1 and Week 2 of Open Qualifiers. Hate then joined DAMWON Gaming for their Stage 2 run in Korea. The team came in third behind DRX and Maru Gaming in Korea’s Challengers Playoffs.
Allow joined Jadeite prior to the start of this year’s VCT circuit and primarily played duelist agents for the Japanese roster. The team showed improvement from their performance in Stage 1 and made it to Challengers Playoffs in Stage 2, but were eventually eliminated from the tournament after two consecutive losses in the playoff bracket.
Lakia also experienced varying results during his stint in Japan with IGZIST. Despite a strong start in Stage 1 after netting a top-three placement in Stage 1 Challengers behind ZETA DIVISION and Crazy Raccoon, IGZIST was less impressive in Stage 2.
The team made it to the Main Event of Week 2 Challengers, but were just shy of qualifying for the playoffs following a loss to Crazy Raccoon, the eventual third-place finishers.
Alongside DAMWON Gaming’s announcement of Lakia’s addition to the roster, IGZIST has put out a tweet wishing Lakia success for LCQ and Champions, implying that his loan period would be for DAMWON Gaming’s upcoming run at East Asia Last Chance Qualifier, and for Champions 2022 if the team successfully qualifies through the LCQ event.
allow and Lakia are set to reunite with DAMWON Gaming’s current head coach Kang “solo” Geun-chul, who was the in-game leader for the duo on the first iteration of the NUTURN roster, whose most noteworthy achievement was a third place finish at Masters 2 Reykjavik last year.
DAMWON Gaming finished fourth and third place in Korea’s Challengers Playoffs for Stage 1 and Stage 2 respectively. Their circuit point total grants them one more chance at qualification for Champions 2022 through the upcoming East Asia LCQ, which will run from August 8 to August 14.
The Korean squad is now preparing to play in the VALORANT Champions Tour 2022: East Asia Last Chance Qualifier, where they are going to have a shot at qualifying for the VALORANT Champions 2022, which is the biggest VALORANT event of the year.
