Nongshim RedForce signed Kim “Canna” Chang-dong in the top lane and Jang “Ghost” Yong-jun in the bot lane for their 2022 roster, the League of Legends Championship Korea team announced Thursday. The signings round out the organization’s five-man roster, as they announced Wednesday the signing of Lee “Dread” Jin-hyeok for the jungle position and Lee “Effort” Sang-ho for their support player. Gwak “Bdd” Bo-seong will play mid lane for the team in 2022 after a “mutual agreement” was met between Nongshim and Gen.G to transfer the mid laner, in exchange for jungler Han “Peanut” Wang-ho.
We had a mutual agreement with Gen.G to exchange players. Bdd will join our roster for 2022 and Peanut will be playing for Gen.G next season. We appreciate Peanut's contribution to the team and look forward to Bdd's performance next year.#NONGSHIM #NSTOGETHER #NSRedForce #LCK pic.twitter.com/bV3B4x8Qyp
— NS RedForce Global (@NS_RedForce) November 23, 2021
Canna’s signing comes after a series of reported disputes between Nongshim and his former team, T1. After statements from both sides about the dispute and Canna’s free agency status, the South Korean player now joins a new team for the 2022 season.
Nongshim will now field a full team of South Koreans, featuring a roster of new faces for the organization. In 2021, the team had five different players but have cleaned house after a relatively successful season that saw them narrowly miss international competition in the spring split.
In their first season as an LCK team — as Nongshim bought out Team Dynamics’ spot in the league in 2020 — they placed eighth in the spring split and third in the summer split. While they started slow in the summer, in spring, the team seemed to blossom as they even held the top spot in the regular season at one point.
But, when it came time to qualify for the League of Legends World Championships, the team needed to win the summer playoffs or the LCK Regional Gauntlet. They did neither, placing fourth in the playoffs and third in the gauntlet.
That Nongshim team had a few rookies and younger players, who may have not been ready for the intensity of playoff and international competition. Now, the organization is moving toward veteran players who have experienced international competition before. These include Canna, Ghost and Bdd, who were at Worlds 2021.
The LCK regular season begins in January.
