Team Vitality jungler Oskar “Selfmade” Boderek has officially been benched by the organization after rumors of a change surfaced earlier in the off-season. Fnatic will replace Selfmade with Kang “Haru” Min-seung.
The now-former Fnatic player joined the team ahead of this current season to become part of a European superteam that also included Luka “Perkz” Perković and Barney “Alphari” Morris, who returned to EU from North America to compete with the lineup. However, a hugely underwhelming spring split saw Vitality scrape into playoffs in sixth place, which later became a fifth-place finish in the playoffs.
Vitality has since confirmed changes to its roster as a result of this disappointing finish. Fnatic alluded to the rationale behind the decision by saying “when two different playstyles can’t be mixed well enough. it is important to be able to adapt and try new options.”
Regarding the player’s future, head coach Louis-Victor “Mephisto” Legendre revealed that the team will be “working closely together with Selfmade to make sure that he lands on a team where he can continue to succeed.” Fans were quick to point out the peculiarity with the change as the player had only recently signed a contract extension until 2024.
Vitality has confirmed Haru as the organization’s new starter. Haru spent the spring split playing in the Northern League Championship for Isle of Man organization X7 Esports, winning his region and reaching the quarterfinals of EU Masters.
Despite currently making the step up from ERLs to the LEC, the jungler already has a wealth of experience at the top level having spent a number of years in Korea’s LCK as well as winning the World Championship with Samsung Galaxy in 2017.
Also confirmed by Team Vitality’s announcement is the signing of Chinese jungler Zhou “Bo” Yang-Bo, who joins from FunPlus Phoenix and is expected to act as a trainee substitute while gearing up to take over the starting spot in 2023.
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