After failing to sign former Griffin mid laner Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon, reports are coming in that Evil Geniuses has instead settled on Team Vitality’s former mid laner Daniele “Jiizuke” di Mauro.
Evil Geniuses had reportedly discussed signing a foreign top laner, specifically targeting SK Telecom T1’s Kim “Khan” Dong-ha, but the Korean player chose to sign with China’s FunPlus Phoenix, who recently won the World Championship.
The returning LCS team then turned to North America for a mid laner, pondering Tanner “Damonte” Damonte and Eugene “Pobelter” Park, who recently discussed his disappointment with missing out on LCS’ upcoming season.
Evil Geniuses purchased Echo Fox’s LCS slot earlier this year when the organization was forced to sell their slot and later dissolve completely thanks to ongoing money issues. While many fans were excited to see Evil Geniuses return to the League of Legends scene, many were concerned that the organization had come into the LCS without a single signed player.
Early in the offseason, the organization took part in a multi-million dollar deal with Cloud9, resulting in the acquisition of four players: Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen, Tristan “Zeyzal” Stidam, Colin “Kumo” Zhao, and Matthew “Deftly” Chen. Then they bought Bae “Bang” Jun-sik from 100 Thieves soon after. The addition of Jiizuke would complete the new roster for the upcoming 2020 LCS season.
When Griffin’s entire roster became free agents after they were forced to dissolve all of their unfair contracts, Chovy became one of the most desired free agents in the League of Legends marketplace. According to ESPN, the popular player has opted to join teammate Choi “Doran” Hyeon-joon on South Korea’s DragonX.
While Evil Geniuses have yet to make a public comment on the situation, sources claimed the team had offered the 18-year-old mid laner millions of dollars. But it appears that the multi-million dollar offer wasn’t enough for Chovy, who opted for a lesser deal in order to play with his former Griffin coach Kim “cvMax” Dae-ho while remaining in his home country of Korea. This choice further brings into question the validity of claims that cvMax was a verbally and physically abusive coach.
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