Melany M. November 22, 2018
Kim “PraY” Jong-in, Kang “GorillA” Beom-hyeon, and Han “Peanut” Wang-ho are leaving KINGZONE DragonX after two years.
PraY and GorillA first joined Kingzone in 2016 when the team was called Longzhu Gaming. Peanut followed in 2017 after after a spell with SK Telecom T1. With the three of them in the roster, Kingzone became a favorite for the 2017 World Championship, only to lose in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Samsung Galaxy.
PraY and GorillA started their long career as a duo in 2015 on the HUYA Tigers. The duo remained together through numerous iterations of the Tigers team before moving on to join Kingzone.
Peanut briefly joined the pair in 2016 with ROX Tigers before moving to SK Telecom T1, where we won a World Championship title and a Mid-Season Invitational.
Despite the high level of talent and presumed synergy on the roster, Kingzone failed to find international success. In 2018, their performance at MSI was a disappointment for many fans as they finished second behind Royal Never Give Up from China.
The three players announced through Twitter that they would be looking for new opportunities in Korea or elsewhere. Kingzone hasn’t commented on possible replacements.
According to a report by InvenGlobal, Kim “Khan” Dong-ha and Gwak “BDD” Bo-seong are still negotiating new contracts with Kingzone. Khan and BDD are ranked at the top of their positions and it would make sense for the team to build the new roster around them.