Fnatic have announced their new LEC toplaner in former Invictus Gaming pro Lim ‘Soboro’ Seong-min.
This is the Korean toplaner’s debut season. He was filling in for legendary toplaner Kang ‘TheShy’ Seung-lok this year.
However, Soboro was dropped after TheShy announced he was returning to competitive play for LPL Split 3.
So, Fnatic have snapped up the promising understudy of the legendary toplaner who bested them in the 2018 LoL Worlds final.
Fnatic’s Toplane Issues
It has been a very poor year for the team, hence why Polymarket only gives Fnatic a 4% chance of winning the LEC Summer Split.
Fnatic failed to win a single game in the LEC Versus Playoffs and then didn’t even qualify for the Playoffs in Spring.
Eventual LEC champions G2 didn’t scrim Fnatic for the entirety of Spring, with many assuming this meant Fnatic wouldn’t offer strong enough practice for the league’s best team.
Greek rookie toplaner Panagiotis ‘Empyros’ Tantis has particularly struggled for Fnatic, often left to play weakside, and was dropped earlier this month.
The match that ended Fnatic’s Spring Playoff hopes saw Empyros fall 3k gold down after just 15 minutes against Team Vitality star Kaan ‘Naak Nako’ Okan.
It means Fnatic now currently have had three LEC toplaners under contract with Óscar ‘Oscarinin’ Muñoz Jiménez sitting on the bench for most of the year, but has now joined GIANTX.
How Good Will Saboro Be?
In Fnatic’s announcement video, Saboro said he was fitting into the team: “Scrims are going very well, and our process is coming along quite well too.”
He also revealed he used to live with Fnatic support Park ‘Lospa’ Joon-hyeong at Gen.G Academy and has a good friendship with him.
That built-in synergy will help him settle a lot, and his support surely put in a good word to Fnatic management.
Saboro describes himself as an aggressive toplaner who likes to work with his teammates to make plays together, and it’s that communication-heavy style that concerns LoL caster Alex ‘Nymaera’ Hapgood.
“Soboro’s got some spice to him, he’ll make the same weird plays TheShy does in some spots, but his overall laning level was poor in LPL this year,” says Nymaera.
“Largely my read on Soboro is that he’s good if he’s gets out of lane even, and he’s playing with a team he can communicate his weird/creative angles to.
“LEC top laners compared to LPL shouldn’t push him in lane as much, but using another language may affect his largest strength.”
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Meanwhile, G2 have shockingly dropped LEC coach Dylan Falco. And for even more Insider Gaming delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter.
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