Many League of Legends fans have seen star-studded teams fall short of expectations before. And over the past two years, Top Esports has been one of the big names to falter. As a result, the organization has started to retool its roster by re-signing Knight and parting ways with top laner 369, veteran star jungler Karsa, and support Yuyanjia.
Knight has been one of the most explosive players in China since he made his debut in 2019. He swiftly became one of the most feared mid laners in the LPL after he tore up the competition with his aggressive play and mechanical prowess. This past summer, he led the league with 221 kills, 174 assists, and only 62 deaths through 38 games, according to Oracle’s Elixir.
The only setback for Top Esports’ past two years was that the roster could never find its footing at the bigger international events. In 2020, for example, the team dominated the second half of the LPL by only dropping three games during the regular season and crushed their way to an LPL championship.
At Worlds, however, they had to pull off a reverse sweep against the LEC’s Fnatic and were eliminated by Suning Gaming a round later. This year was even worse since the team failed to win a single championship and didn’t attend an international event.
With names like Karsa, JackeyLove, and Knight, the lack of success was unacceptable for the team, leading to sweeping changes. Now, Top Esports must rebuild itself around its fiery, young carry duo in the bottom and mid lane, with head coach Luo “Crescent” Sheng leading the way.
With only a handful of weeks until the start of the 2022 Spring Split, Top Esports will have to find some great talent to pair with these two firecrackers if they want to have a chance of challenging for the LPL throne and beyond.
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