League of Legends: 100 Thieves Move Bang and Soligo to Academy
| Tags: League of Legends
| Author Brandon Sturak
100 Thieves have announced that Max “Soligo” Soong and Bae “Bang” Jun-sik will play on the Academy team for their match against Golden Guardians Academy. The move was announced on their Twitter page today and is leaving fans with a number of concerns. Because of a 0-4 start in the opening weeks of the LCS, many fans have been calling for something to change.
This week, we’re experimenting with changes across our League of Legends teams. For today's Academy match vs. GGSA, we’ll be starting @Bang & @Soligoms.
On Friday, we’ll announce our LCS line-up for this weekend. pic.twitter.com/t6o8FXU0Ug
— 100 Thieves (@100Thieves) June 12, 2019
Because of a 0-4 start in the opening weeks of the LCS, many fans have been calling for something to change. Fingers are pointed at all aspects of the team, but this change comes as a shock. Soligo is the roster's newest member, transferring up from the Academy team last split. His performances haven't been terrible, but they do leave something to be desired. It is honestly difficult to expect Soligo to lift the team up out of their rut as a newbie to the LCS stage. But, this change could make sense if they are expecting to bring Ryu “Ryu” Sang-wook back onto the starting line-up. He wasn't the strongest LCS mid laner, but he does have a wealth of experience to draw on.
Meanwhile, Bang is a World Champion and among the most famous ADC players in the world. Surely he wasn't a cheap pick up, and its insane to see someone of his caliber designated to Academy. Jacob “Prismal” Feinstein would be his likely replacement, but the odds of him being an upgrade to Bang are low. Out of all the players, Bang appears to be the most stable. Seeing him on an Academy roster may be tough, but it may help the team in the long run.
A Step in the Right Direction?
This move is similar to Cloud9's 2018 Summer Split roster changes. Here, the coaching staff benched some of their star players while giving Academy members the opportunity to prove themselves. It was a daring move, but once that roster was set, the team went from 10th place to 2nd in the Split. After that, they want all the way to World's Semifinals.
The 100 Thieves clearly need to try something new. They won't reveal their LCS starting roster until Friday, which may feel like a long time to the fans. It's also important to keep in mind that other positions could change as well. It is most likely Bang will be back on the LCS roster this weekend, but the mid lane is very much up in the air. Hopefully this change will help rebound the severely underwhelming team. It's been a long time since they were expected to be top-tier team, but this may be one step to achieving that goal.
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Featured image via LoL Esports and 100 Thieves.
Brandon is a writer and editor for ESTNN with a passion for esports. He writes about League of Legends and esports generally, providing analysis and commentary on both. He is a founding member of Niagara University Esports, while being the previous mid laner and Head Coach for the NU Esports LoL team as well. Twitter @GhandiLoL