Defending champion and LPL representative Invictus Gaming is not taking head coach Kim “Karam” Ga-ram to the 2019 League of Legends World Championship.
Invictus Gaming has announced the roster and coaching staff going to the LoL World Championship and coach Karam was not included on the list. Instead, the team has listed Won “Mafa” Sang-yeon as the head coach. The announcement comes two weeks before the start of the event where Invictus will face Team Liquid from the LCS and ahq e-Sports Club from the LMS in the group stage.
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The organization is yet to release any official statement regarding Karam’s status within the team. In the meanwhile, the team is preparing to defend its LoL World Championship title in Europe.
The decision was unexpected, but not necessarily surprising. Karam has been missing from the stage since Invictus Gaming’s mediocre performance in the LPL summer playoffs. Mafa is the one behind the team who guided the players through the regional qualifiers.
If the organization confirms that Karam is exiting the team, it would be the second time in less than a year that the team loses its coach. Former head coach Kim “Kim” Jeong-soo parted ways with the team in November 2018. Coach Kim took his success to the LCK where he joined a DAMWON Gaming squad that qualified to the Worlds as Korea’s third seed.
Considering that the iG side has already been working with Mafa, the decision shouldn’t affect the team’s performance. Invictus Gaming is one of the biggest mysteries of Worlds 2019. The team stumbled through the regular season, failed to win a series in the summer playoffs, and barely won through the regional qualifiers.
The team is relaying in top laner Kang “TheShy” Seung-lok and bottom laner Yu “JackeyLove” Wen-Bo to carry the team to victory at Worlds. The team has a tough journey ahead of them, especially considering that they’re in a group with Team Liquid, who took iG out in a best-of-five series at the 2019 Mid-Season Invitational.
Invictus Gaming is the second team to drop its head coach ahead of the tournament. On September 26, Griffin announced the organization parted ways with coach Kim “cvMax” Dae-ho.
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