Fnatic has released a video with its LEC coaching staff explaining why the organisation recently made a change to its League of Legends roster.
Earlier this month, Fnatic revealed the signing of former Invictus Gaming toplaner Lim ‘Soboro’ Seong-min.
The Korean pro had been competing in the LPL but was dropped by the team after Kang ‘TheShy’ Seung-lok announced his return to competitive LoL.
The video revealed that the team scouted across Europe, America, Korea, China, and Vietnam before settling on their new player.
Why Did Fnatic Sign Soboro?
Fabian ‘GrabbZ’ Lohmann initially explained why Fnatic decided to drop rookie toplaner Panagiotis ‘Empyros’ Tantis:
“Unfortunately for Panos [Empyros], he had the least development, I would say, or the biggest gap to the teams we want to reach if we want to go to Worlds.”
Missing out on the Spring Split Playoffs was a big blow for the team. It’s why Fnatic has dropped down 44% to just a 6% chance of winning the LEC Summer Split according to Polymarket users.
And it was revealed that former LEC toplaner and now Fnatic positional coach Andrei ‘Odoamne’ Pascu was heavily involved in the replacement selection process.
Odoamne says he watched a lot of VoDs while determining a four-player shortlist, and it was Soboro that stood out.
Not only was Soboro the only one who had been playing in a Tier-1 league, but Grabbz also claims he had “the highest base level of laning” compared to the other targets.
Grabbz also revealed that the other shortlisted players had similar issues to Empyros, so the replacement wouldn’t have made sense otherwise.
While Soboro struggled in the LPL, Grabbz says it was because IG was in the Legends group with the region’s top teams and describes them as a higher calibre than the LEC.
Odoamne also hopes that Soboro’s strong communication skills will help the team improve its indecisive mid-game struggles.
And the Fnatic coaches highlight building a synergy between him and his fellow solo-laner Vladimiros ‘Vladi’ Kourtidis as crucial to the team’s aspirations to improve.
Can Soboro help change Fnatic’s fortunes and take them to Worlds? Share your thoughts with us on the Insider Gaming Discord.
Meanwhile, Riot has announced an EU LCS LoL Classic showmatch for the Karmine Corp LEC Roadtrip. And for even more Insider Gaming delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter.
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