JD Gaming is about to participate in its first Worlds. Winner of the LPL during the Spring Split, it proved to be one of the best teams in China during the Summer Split, failing only in the Playoffs final.
Whatever its performance at the Worlds, the year 2020 is already a successful year for this team, which is new to the international scene. As the contracts of Lee "LokeN" Dong-wook and Seo "Kanavi" Jin-hyeok were due to end at the end of this season, the management wanted to send them a strong signal. The two Koreans received a contract extension that binds them to the structure until 2022.
This is good news for the players but also for the team, which intends to build a stable environment to continue to develop on League of Legends.
A constant development
JD Gaming's roster wasn't formed until 2017, when the organization took over the HQ Reapers slot. Although the team had often been in the Playoffs since its creation, it had been struggling to play the lead roles with consistency. But 2020 was a pivotal year for the team. After a first LPL title, the team will participate in its first Worlds and some even place it among the favorites.
For several years the backbone of the team remains the same: Zoom (top) Yagao (mid), Loken (bot) and LvMao (supp). It's rare enough to mention it, but these 4 players have been playing together for 3 years now. They have been able to develop their team cohesion and are now showing an impressive collective strength, especially in botlane.
However, the last piece of the puzzle has often been missing. The jungle position has been particularly unstable in the team. Kanavi is the 6th JDG jungler in 4 years (Clid, Flawless, Levi, Xiaohan and Xynyi). Now that they found the right formula, the structure has every reason in the world to keep the 19 year old Korean.
Original content by Léo "Tipsalewo" Lecherbonnier.
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