SK Telecom T1’s head coach just left. On the 27th of November, SK Telecom T1 declared the departure of their head coach, Kim “kkOma” Jeong-gyun. They did so by releasing a video detailing his contribution to the team and thanking him for the same.
Looking back at Kim’s Time with T1
kkOma became the head coach of the team in 2018, after joining in 2012. He successfully helped the team win 2 MSI (Mid-season invitational) championships, 8 LCK championships and 3 world championships. Being one of the most decorated coaches in League of Legends. He is credited with playing a vital part in the dominant run of the team along with mid-laner Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok. kkOma has supervised faker for the majority of the mid-laners’ career. So it will be interesting to see how Sang-Hyeok performs in the absence of his long-term mentor.
The road ahead
While there has been no official declaration as to where kkOma is headed next. Initial reports suggest that he might be headed to Vici gaming, managing them for China’s LPL. The decision to join Vici is apparently not motivated by monetary factors, as he turned down a multi-year seven-figure deal with SKT to join Vici gaming.
As far as T1 are concerned, they have decided to replace kkOma with Kim Jeong-soo, also known as Coach Kim. Kim is well known for leading DAMWON in 2019 to the worlds playoffs. As well as winning the world championship with Invictus Gaming.
T1 have also declared their lineup for the next year, with newcomers Moon “Cuzz” Woo-Chan and Kim “Roach” Kang Hui replacing jungler Kim “Clid” Tae-Min and top-laner Kim “Khan” Dong-Ha respectively.
SKT 2020 starting roster:
- Kim ‘Roach’ Kang-hui
- Moon ‘Cuzz’ Woo-chan
- Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok
- Park ‘Teddy’ Jin-seong
- Lee ‘Effort’ Sang-ho
It remains to be seen how effective the new lineup will be without kkOma and if and when they’ll blend together to reestablish T1’s dominance.
