Evil Geniuses has acquired top laner Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon ahead of the 2020 LCS Summer Split, ESPN’s Jacob Wolf reported on Wednesday.
The formerly second-highest paid player in the LCS found a new home. After being dropped by Dignitas back on April, Huni will join Evil Geniuses for the next split. The terms and conditions will be different from the $2.3 million contract that Huni previously signed with Dignitas. According to the report, Huni will negotiate a new contract with his new team that will carry with it a lower salary.
It’s unclear if Huni will be able to start at the outset of the summer split. Given the import restrictions, each team can have two imports playing on the same day. Evil Geniuses already has two imports on its LCS roster: mid laner Daniele “Jiizuke” di Mauro and ADC Bae “Bang” Jun-sik. In order to start Huni, Evil Geniuses would have to bench one of its players.
Huni needs to play at least 50 percent of the matches in summer to be eligible for the North American residency in 2021. Evil Geniuses might choose to sub Bang out, as he is back in his home of South Korea right now. Through the spring, Bang expressed his wish to go back home. While he might stay in the LCS this season, it’s possible that the two-time world champion will return to the LCK rather than reuniting with his former T1 teammate Huni. In 2021, the LCK is transitioning into a franchised model that will significantly improve the conditions for players that might previously have gone to North America looking for higher salaries.
I wanna go home
— EG Bang 배준식 (@Bang) March 28, 2020
Signing Huni will throw Evil Geniuses off balance if the team decides to use him as a starter. Huni is an aggressive player that demands attention from the jungle. That’s not the style that Evil Geniuses played in the spring, as the squad prioritized the mid and bottom lane, often leaving top laner Colin “Kumo” Zhao to fend for himself. With Huni in the lineup, this dynamic will most likely change.
Evil Geniuses had a solid performance in the spring and will look to repeat it in the summer. Evil Geniuses returns to the stage on June 12 to face 100 Thieves on the opening match of the 2020 LCS Summer Split.
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