When Cloud9 hit the 2022 League of Legends Championship Series summer split without their top lane MVP, Park “Summit” Woo-tae, fans were wondering where he went. That question has finally been answered; no longer in North America, Summit is headed to China, where former world champions FunPlus Phoenix have decided to take a chance on the superstar carry.
After a bumpy 2022 LCS spring season, the clash of ideas between management and coaching staff led C9 to overhaul its roster after a disappointing fourth-place finish. Despite Summit being the shining light for C9 in the regular season, his poor playoff performance was a major reason for C9’s shortcomings. However, during the regular season, Summit was phenomenal. In his first split outside of South Korea, Summit sat atop the player of the game standings and took home a first-team All-LCS award as well as the overall MVP of the league.
FPX’s hopes for Summit
FunPlus Phoenix came into the 2022 LPL season with mixed expectations. With the departure of their long-time face of the franchise, Kim “Doinb” Tae-sang, the team looked to rebuild their roster, barely squeaking into the 2022 LPL spring playoffs with an 8-8 record. Eyes were on their young top lane phenom, Ping “Xiaolaohu” Xiao-Hu, who looked to be set to take over for former world champion Jang “Nuguri” Ha-gwon. However, after a poor spring split, FPX decided to look for outside help.
In FPX’s official announcement on Twitter, they stated that they are “thrilled” to bring Summit on board and that they hope that Summit can “bring a new perspective to our team.” The 2022 LPL summer split is well underway, and FPX is already in dire straits. The team is 0-3 in their first three series and sits in last place in the 2022 LPL summer split standings and are 2-6 overall during this losing streak. Ironically, Xiaolaohu hasn’t looked terrible on the team; in fact, Xiaolaohu was a huge catalyst for the two wins FPX had, picking up a player of the game honor in the process.
