Worlds winner Nuguri officially joins LPL's FunPlus Phoenix

William Davis Published 17/12/2020

It’s finally official that former DAMWON Gaming top laner Jang “Nuguri” Ha-gwon will be playing for FunPlus Phoenix in 2021. 

From one world championship team to another, Nuguri will be playing in the LPL for the first time in 2021, where he will play regularly against some of the best top laners in the world. The newly-crowned world champion joins the team after three years with DAMWON, where he along with the rest of the organization went from qualifying to the LCK to lifting the Summoner’s Cup in 2020.  

There have been rumors about Nuguri joining FPX since former FPX top laner Kim “Khan” Dong-ha officially joined DAMWON back in November. It’s hard to predict who got the better end of the trade, but it’s likely that Nuguri will be the addition FPX needs to get back on top. 

Nuguri joins FPX after having a very successful year with DAMWON, while FPX has had a terrible year. After winning the 2019 World Championship, fans expected FPX to stay on top in the LPL, but that didn’t happen. The team took a decent third-place finish in the 2020 LPL Spring Split but failed to deliver in the summer when they were knocked out in the first round of the playoffs.  

This resulted in FPX not making Worlds to defend its title, and fans are now seeing the consequences of that. Bringing Nuguri to the team will hopefully bring some fresh air and confidence to the squad, which is seemingly needed. Nuguri has an aggressive playstyle that should fit in the LPL. 

Nuguri will get his LPL debut at the start of 2021. 

What is the FPX 2021 LPL lineup?

With the addition of Nuguri, the FPX 2021 LPL lineup should be complete by now. FPX has only made changes to the top lane, which means that the team will still consist of five former world champions. 

The FPX lineup is: 

• Top – Jang “Nuguri” Ha-gwon
• Jungle – Gao “Tian” Tian-Liang
• Mid – Kim “Doinb” Tae-sang
• Bot – Lin “Lwx” Wei-Xiang
• Support – Liu “Crisp” Qing-Song

Where is FunPlus Phoenix from?

FunPlus Phoenix is a Chinese esports organization that was founded in 2017. The organization is mainly active within League of Legends and is based in Beijing. CEO Yang “Emily” Yan and has been able to develop a top esports organization in just a few years, winning the 2019 League of Legends World Championship after just two years. 

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