Griffin’s former League of Legends coach Kim “cvMax” Dae-ho left the team ahead of the League of Legends 2019 World Championship. He has now explained the circumstances of his departure from the team during a stream, blaming it on internal conflicts within the organization.
As a head coach, cvMax helped Griffin’s League team come from the League of Legends Champions Korea 2018 Summer Promotion tournament all the way to winning both the spring and summer LCK splits, falling behind SK Telecom T1 in the playoffs and qualifying for Worlds as Korean’s second seed.
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But the achievements weren’t enough to keep cvMax on the team. The coach parted ways with Griffin this September, just ahead of Worlds. Griffin’s statement claimed they ended the contract based on a mutual agreement, but cvMax has now said otherwise in speaking to his stream’s viewers.
According to the translation of cvMax’s stream provided by Reddit users, Griffin’s representative Cho Kyu-nam put cvMax in a position from which he had no choice but to leave the team. cvMax was told, among other things, that he had nothing to do with Griffin’s success and had just gotten lucky.
Allegedly, Cho has told cvMax he had to leave the team after the LCK summer finals, only to change his mind and ask that he stay until Worlds. But cvMax claims that Griffin players told him the coach wasn’t necessary for their success, and that he ultimately decided to go ahead and leave.
“We would have won with any other coach,” Cho reportedly told cvMax. “Just remember, Griffin is not your team, and even if we win, it won’t be because of you.”
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Cho’s and cvMax’s disputes weren’t new to the team. According to another Reddit post, Cho had disallowed cvMax from streaming, criticized his drafts, questioned his judgment in handling the team, and took credit for cvMax’s success.
Griffin’s former trainee ADC “DdangWoo” confirmed cvMax’s accusations on his own stream. He agreed that cvMax had been crucial in Griffin’s ascent, but Cho failed to take notice and continuously put him down.
Cho’s understanding of League of Legends was also brought into question. It was alleged that the team’s manager had discredited cvMax’s knowledge of League even though Cho himself had only a passing understanding. Cho would speak to his own credentials as a StarCraft coach when promoting his own knowledge over cvMax’s.
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