KaSing
KaSing
For a moment during the offseason, it looked as though the European LCS might have lost its resident Brit. After almost a full season with H2K, during which the team made it to the Group Stage of the 2015 World Championship, KaSing found himself exported to the US like a box of Earl Grey. There, he helped an overhauled TSM lineup reach the IEM San Jose Semifinals before being brought down by the mighty EU juggernauts of Origen.
But there's a reason TSM offered KaSing the opportunity to play with them at IEM in the first place: he's a fantastic support player, even compared to European heavyweights like Mithy and Yellowstar. In fact it's very possible that H2K would not have made it to Worlds without KaSing's fantastic support plays. He's well known for his Thresh, with some clutch hooks and Flays, feasting on the souls of his enemies as his AD carry Hjarnan takes the kill and feeds on their experience and gold.
It's not just your standard support picks that KaSing excels on, either. Recent patches have made Brand a very strong pick -- one that KaSing is taking full advantage of in the bot lane. His support Brand builds are seeing a decent amount of success in Solo Queue, so don't think him hotheaded if he pulls it out on the EU LCS stage.
Hjarnan and KaSing were a formidable bot lane duo at H2K and now they're both together again on Team Vitality, so they'll be on the top of their game already. Having his old lane buddy around will make the transition to a new team much easier for KaSing. With that synergy already established between the two players, Team Vitality could easily have the bot-lane advantage over newly formed teams who haven't had the time to build those relationships yet.
KaSing's not just there to support Hjarnan, though. He has eyes everywhere to help his whole team. In a game against Unicorns of Love back in August, he purchased 19 pink wards and placed 83 wards total, clearly taking his vision game seriously. With the Preseason updates to trinkets and support items, we're bound to catch even more of KaSing's all-seeing eyes litter the Rift. Will he build his support items into Sightstones and give himself an extra item slot to play with in the late game? Or will he stick to his guns and keep aiming for the Ruby Sightstone builds? We can't wait to find out.
If KaSing can live up to his potential this year, learning from previous mistakes, and continuing to grow as a player as he has done since 2014, he could be in for a very strong season. Which could be a huge win for team Vitality and their chances at making Worlds.
-- By Jem Alexander