Team Dragon Knights are looking to buyout AD carry Johnny “Altec” Ru from his contract with Winterfox, sources close to the organization tell the Daily Dot.
Ru is planning to leave Winterfox after the team was relegated—by the Dragon Knights. Now, the team that knocked him out of the LCS might be his key back in, slotting him into the role currently filled by Korean Lee “LouisXGeeGee” Sung-jin.
Lee Sung-jin came to America in September 2014 hoping to qualify for the 2015 North American Expansion Tournament with Team Dragon Knights. Despite qualifying for the tournament via the Ranked 5s ladder, they were dropped out of the tournament due to internal issues. This would lead to a team disband, leaving Lee Sung-jin as the only remaining member of the team.
The organization built a new team around Lee Sung-jin, bringing in many older and newer talents with them as they pursued qualifying for the North American League Challenger Series. Former LCS players Shin “Seraph” Woo-yeong and Kevin “Kez” Jeon joined the new team. For mid lane, the team imported another Korean player, Seo “Kyle” Ji-sun, while Andy “Smoothie” Ta played support.
The team finished second throughout the Challenger Series playoff, though Lee Sung-jin was heavily criticized for his play. He struggled against other Challenger Series ADCs, such as Zachary “Nien” Malhas, Brian “otter” Baniqued, and Kim “Veritas” Kyoung-min.
Ru, for his part, is widely considered one of the top marksmen in North America. He rose to the spotlight during his time with Cloud9 Tempest in the Spring of 2014, qualifying for the Promotion Tournament before falling to Evil Geniuses. But his performance in that losing fight obviously impressed, and he was called up by Evil Geniuses, later rebranded as Winterfox, to replace retired AD Peter “yellowpete” Wüppen.
Both Winterfox & Team Dragon Knights have yet to respond to a request for comment.
Photo via Riot Games/Flickr | Remix by Jacob Wolf
