Dignitas’ Fresh Face

Riot·Dec 4, 2014·0 votes·14,262 views

When most fans think Dignitas they think big personalities, not necessarily new faces. In a near complete 180, Dignitas has pulled in young Korean talents Yeong-Jin 'Gamsu' Noh and Yong-in 'Core JJ' Jo to supplement their roster and cast a serious light on their 2015 NA LCS outlook. These players aren’t completely new to competitive League of Legends, but they’ll be strangers to many North American fans. In the announcement video, team captain and jungler, Alberto “Crumbzz” Rengifo, said “The most noticeable aspect of having Gamsu and Core JJ on the team is a drastic change in our playing environment. The entire team is now on the same page in terms of practicing and how our time should be managed. They are so devoted and in turn it makes all of us just as motivated to practice. It's now going to be a matter of keeping this work ethic up for the whole season."

Dignitas recently said goodbye to Michael “Imaqtpie” Santana, their previous starting AD carry, who acquired a massive following as a streamer. With Imaqtpie leaving and two committed Korean talents coming aboard, Dignitas wants to send the message that they mean business. The team barely evaded playing the Promotion tournament by taking fifth place in 2014 NA LCS Summer to Counter Logic Gaming. Time will tell if Gamsu and Corejj can help them change their fortunes alongside the returning players from 2014. Gamsu comes to Dignitas as a substitute player from World Championship semifinalist team Samsung Blue. He first appeared on the North American server using the name “Loopercorn,” perhaps as homage to the top laners of the Samsung organization, Jang “Looper” Hyeongseok and Choi “Acorn” Cheonju. CoreJJ previously played AD carry for Bigfile Miracle. Despite Bigfile Miracle’s failure to escape Group Stage in HOT6iX Champions Summer 2014, CoreJJ gained some attention as a promising young AD carry.

Dignitas' 2015 NA LCS Starting Lineup

Top Lane - Yeong-Jin 'Gamsu' Noh Jungle - Alberto 'Crumbzz' Rengifo Mid - Danny 'Shiphtur' Le AD carry - Yong-in 'Core JJ' Jo Support - Alan 'KiWiKiD' Nguyen You can watch Team Dignitas’ new lineup play for the first time at IEM Season IX Cologne, starting December 18. Look out for them next year in 2015 LCS Spring right here on Lolesports.

17 Comments

C9 CynicalDec 5, 20146 votes

honestly i think that NA teams should have people from NA it really bothers me that these teams bring in talent from EU and Korea i mean if the majority of the players on an NA team arent even from NA is it even an NA team anymore? idk maybe i'm just wierd

FapsteinDec 5, 20142 votes

I would agree with you except that rule usually only applies when it's the countries national team, not clubs/organisations as we have in the LoL Leagues. However they can't expect their own players to improve if they don't even put them in the team.

Random EnoughDec 5, 20142 votes

But if they just use NA players then the standard in NA wouldn't improve and it would fall behind. If you can use any players then the NA players need to raise their game to get a chance and that level of competition feeds the whole system to reach new highs.

Uther DoulDec 5, 20143 votes

It would be fun to see more local players get a chance, seeing as most of the foreign players are leaving foreign leagues to play in NA. While it's true that major US sports leagues don't have citizenship rules, many foreign sports leagues have foreign player limits. Japanese Pro baseball teams have a foreign player allotment, as do Japanese semi-pro basketball teams, and various European Pro basketball teams. I remember college friends discussing which European Basketball league they could try out for based on their ancestries (being X% Italian meant you didn't count against the foreign player limit, etc.). So ya, while it sounds un-American to impose a foreign player limit, much of the world does it, even in non-national team sports.

Evil Jungle YetiDec 6, 20141 votes

While I like that the argument is grounded in some really interesting facts, allow me to play devils advocate for a second. While I don't mean any offense to Japanese baseball or European basketball, the majority of news I hear regarding those leagues is when a U.S. team is signing a player from another region. Now perhaps I just lack exposure to the other regions (might be true, but I lack exposure to the U.S. baseball scene too) and they are highly competitive with the U.S., but I doubt it. The U.S. pro sports teams generally don't have restrictions because they are the best leagues and they want the best players. Yes, the U.S. does not have the best Esports leagues. However, I think players from the U.S. would probably get better if Esports developed to be a financially viable career more so than if they were given a free practice space to play in the U.S. and then get crushed in tournaments with real competition. If Esports ever gets as big as the NBA you won't need to worry about foreign player limits, because kids will be practicing for it starting younger and taking it seriously enough that there will be local competition that creates "NBA" caliber Esports players.

Freddy ShopanDec 5, 201415 votes

For me at least, it kind of embodies what NA is, y'know? A mix and mash of cultures and play-styles. As long as a decent majority of the players in NA are citizens, I'm ok with it.

TheSequelsRBadDec 5, 20141 votes

But Riot changed the rules, they must have a majority of North Americans on their team, and there are only 2 Koreans on Dig, the majority are still from NA.

Evil Jungle YetiDec 6, 20141 votes

I'd say not so much weird as either lacking in insight and education, or intentionally neglecting the obvious in favor of supporting bigoted beliefs. Since this isn't the Olympics, the only reason to restrict team membership 100% by nationality would be racism. Additionally, while I'm still not sure I support the idea that Esports is on the same level as "real" sports (although I do love watching Esports I somehow feel it is more a competition akin to Texas Hold 'em or chess since there is no risk of injury), the concept of importing talent to stay competitive shows that Esports is becoming a legitimate business. Many, if not all, NBA teams have foreign players. You know why? Because at the end of the day MOST people care more about if their favorite team is recruiting players who are interesting and good people, and if they are winning, than if the players look and sound like the average fan.

JC DongtonDec 15, 20141 votes

Does Golf have some great risks I don't know about? What about Pool?

BrOoKLyNxDec 8, 20142 votes

"The entire team is now on the same page in terms of practicing and how our time should be managed." AKA IMAQTPIE was a lazy bum and we don't have anymore lazy bums on the team anymore lul.