Team Vitality has officially announced the departure of jungler Selfmade today ahead of the beginning of the 2022 LEC Summer Split. Meanwhile in the same announcement, the League of Legends team introduced their new jungler, Kang “Haru” Min-seung. This roster move was first rumored at the beginning of May but was just absolutely confirmed today, rather awkwardly under two weeks before the start of the split.
In explaining the reasons for the roster change, the Vitality organization said it is “important” to be able to adapt and try out new options within the game same as outside the game when “two different playstyles can’t be mixed together.” Alongside saying goodbye to the former jungler, the team also expressed its gratitude to Selfmade for all his early contributions and said that it’s working closely with him to ensure that he is able to “land” on a team where he can continue to succeed in the future.
During the first LEC split of 2022, as usual with most super teams created, Vitality did not live up to all the expectations from fans and experts alike, the team said in its official statement on Twitter. The organization excited many League fans at the start of the year by forming a roster full of international stars with accomplished backgrounds, who have made history in the European competitive scene, marked as a team of winners. But expectations were quickly lowered when the squad struggled in the regular season, as they definitely did not seem in sync when playing together, barely qualifying for the playoffs by the skin of their teeth landing in sixth place.
In its recent statement, Vitality has renewed its goal to have a “successful” Summer Split to qualify for the 2022 World Championship as their ultimate goal. And to achieve that goal, the organization recruited former world champion Haru. The jungler lifted the Summoner’s Cup back in 2017 while playing for Samsung Galaxy, then proceeded to join other Korean organizations over the next few years, including blockbuster names in T1 and GEN G. In 2021, he moved from Korea to play in other minor regions, achieving first place in the Northern League of Legends Championship and winning the 2022 Spring Split together with Bifrost.
Even though it has been some time since Haru competed in a major league, Vitality’s head coach Mephisto has high hopes for him, saying that the newly signed player will lead the team to “more victories and success.” Alongside Haru, the team has also signed former FunPlus Phoenix rookie jungler Zhou “Bo” Yang-bo as a substitute. Vitality expressed its excitement for the possible “superstar potential” but will provide the Chinese player some time to adjust to the new country, culture, playstyle, and different language.
Now that this roster change is official via Riot Games, League fans will just have to wait 10 days to see the new Vitality roster play in the first match of the 2022 LEC Summer Split set to start on June 17th.
