After weeks of speculation, T1 has announced its coaching staff for the 2021 LCK season and to everyone’s surprise, it doesn’t include Nick “LS” De Cesare.
T1 introduced its new coaching staff, starting with General Manager Choi “Polt” Seonghun. The head coach for 2021 will be none other than former DAMWON Gaming head coaches and current world champions Lee “Zefa” Jae-min and Yang “Daeny” Dae-in.
Zefa returns to T1 after a banner year with DAMWON Gaming, replacing Kim “Kim” Jeong-soo whose time with the team ended after just one season. This is the second year in a row where T1 picked up the coach of DAMWON following Worlds.
“One of my top priorities is that players have the absolute best training environment. And to focus on making internal improvements in performance, based on feedback from all. Leveraging my experience as a former pro-gamer, I will guide every player from amateur to pro, to seek out the best solutions together. With the goal to win Worlds in 2021, we have put together a world-class coaching staff,” said Polt in the announcement.
Zefa and Daeny are currently under quarantine and will introduce themselves once they’re cleared. On the same announcement, former jungler Bae “Bengi” Seong-woong was appointed as T1 Academy’s head coach. Bengi worked briefly with T1 as a back in 2018 before starting his mandatory military service.
One of the biggest stories of the League of Legends offseason has been toxic T1 fans. After news began circulating that T1 was set to add LS, fans began harassing the former caster so badly that it extended to his grandmother, and culminated with him leaving social media. In another sad incident, someone sent funeral flower wreaths to T1’s offices to intimidate organizations taff.Â
Unfortunately, the harassment delivered by these fans was ultimately successful. LS will not be a part of the organization in 2021 and it is unclear what’s next for him. This case is the perfect example of how toxic the League of Legends community can get, with fans attacking an individual and his family over news that was not even confirmed to be true.Â
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