Ssumday on his goals for 2023: “I want to be ‘more’ than Impact on EG”

It’s been quite some time since Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho donned new threads to start a season in the League Championship Series. The South Korean top laner spent the last five years on 100 Thieves before joining Evil Geniuses ahead of 2023 — and while there are a lot of new things to get used to after half a decade with one team, he’s found it to be, thus far, a wholly rejuvenating experience.

“It’s kind of like a refresh for my life, even,” Ssumday said after EG’s win over TSM in week 2 of the 2023 LCS Spring Split. “It’s a new experience with a different org… I’m kind of getting energy from my teammates as well because they’re kind of young compared to me. I’m really enjoying being here.”

Ssumday wasn’t the only player from 100 Thieves to go evil in the off-season — AD carry Victor “FBI” Huang, who started for 100 Thieves in 2021 and 2022, joined EG as well.

“It wasn’t confirmed yet, but I kind of knew that a piece of 100 Thieves was coming,” Ssumday admitted. “I kind of like it because I’m kind of an introverted person. At first, I don’t usually talk that much, but if I know a person, they kind of know what I’m thinking even if I don’t talk that much, so it’s really helpful to me.”

Fortunately for Ssumday, the core trio of Evil Geniuses — jungler Kacper “Inspired” Słoma, mid laner Joseph Joon “jojopyun” Pyun, and support Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme — have temperaments reminiscent of the ones that cultivated the environment within 100 Thieves.

“It’s kind of similar,” Ssumday said with a chuckle. “They’re trolling a lot and they like joking around a lot, and I’m kind of just listening to it and we’re laughing together.” 

On Evil Geniuses, Ssumday takes the place of Jeong “Impact” Eon-young, who started for EG in 2021 and 2022 before joining FlyQuest for this season. Ssumday and Impact  have a lot of similarities — they’re both veteran South Korean players who have established themselves as the two best LCS top laners of all time — and because of the players’ on EG’s time with Impact, Ssumday assumed that the team’s identity would remain the same with himself in place of Impact.

“After I joined, I found that it’s kind of different,” said the top laner. “I heard that Impact was very talkative and did a lot of leading the team, but I’m not the person who is leading a lot. I think Impact played really well on EG, so I want to be ‘more’ than Impact on EG. That’s my goal.”

Legacy among Thieves

Before his departure from 100 Thieves, Ssumday was honored as one of the inductees of the first class of the 100 Thieves Hall of Fame for his contributions to the organization’s success in the LCS across the last half-decade, including four domestic finals appearances, one LCS title, and three trips to the World Championship. Ssumday’s picture is now immortalized on one of the walls of the 100 Thieves Compound alongside the other inductees, a monument that has brought a smile to his face in more ways than one.

“I was really honored that I could play for one team for a long time and that the team really trusted me. We believed in each other together. The Hall of Fame thing was kind of funny because I took Uber there and the Uber driver was asking me, ‘Is that you?'” Ssumday recalled. “I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s me.” so that was kind of funny.”

Passion and persistence. The foundation of 100 Thieves League of Legends.

Welcome to the Hall of Fame, @Ssumday #LexusPartner | @Lexus pic.twitter.com/hTDqQwjhU9

— 100 Thieves (@100Thieves) November 17, 2022

In signing Ssumday, Evil Geniuses hopes that the South Korean top laner can build a legacy at their organization like he did his last. He may be doing things in a different way from Impact, but with Ssumday in the top lane, EG are off to a strong start and, at the very least, have a ceiling as high as their roster that brought the org their first-ever LCS title.