Lee “IgNar” Dong-geun has been Misfits Gaming’s support since the beginning of the 2016 Summer Split, and last month, he confirmed that he’s leaving to return to Korea and the LCK. As great as that sounds for him, it wasn’t actually the original plan. He wanted to stay with Misfits in the EU LCS, he says in an interview with Blitz Esports.
His leaving the EU LCS was particularly sad news, and not just for European fans. IgNar and his team qualified to compete at Worlds this year against all odds. They also performed better than any western team in attendance using extremely obscure tactics.
IgNar was at the forefront of Misfits’ success at Worlds, shocking everyone with his top tier gameplay and earning himself and Misfits more fans than ever before.
He’s famous for playing both Blitzcrank and Leona, two extremely off-meta champions at the time, against SK Telecom T1 in the quarterfinals at the tournament, and beating the former world champions with them. In fact, he carried his team with both picks.
As it turns out, IgNar had no intention of taking his pocket picks and impressive play elsewhere. According to him, he was about 60 percent sure he wanted to remain on Misfits, and only talked to other teams to field their offers and discover his worth. He would have returned, but Misfits never even tried to negotiate with him.
“I thought because Misfits never talked about renewing the contract and never attempted to start the negotiation—I thought that they didn’t want me,” IgNar told Blitz. “That’s why I started looking for opportunities elsewhere.”
IgNar wasn’t the only player to leave Misfits this year, as star mid laner Tristan “PowerOfEvil” Schrage also left to join OpTic Gaming in the NA LCS. Misfits fans may be a little bummed to hear that the organization allegedly didn’t try to keep IgNar, one of its best players. IgNar’s fans, on the other hand, are probably psyched that he’s returning to the most dominant region in the world for the 2018 season.
Published: Dec 13, 2017 03:15 pm