As previously reported by Upcomer, Team Vitality of the League of Legends European Championship have officially announced the signings of two new junglers Kang “Haru” Min-Seung and Zhou “Bo” Yang-Bo. The official announcement made by Vitality through Twitter also stated that Oskar “Selfmade” Boderek will be looking for a new team.
LEC Roster update ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/DVXpZzQRN5
— Team Vitality 🐝 (@TeamVitality) June 6, 2022
The roster moves are a part of Vitality looking to turn things around after a horrible 2022 LEC spring split. The superteam initially formed with the intent of running through the LEC putting the region back on the international map. To that end, during the off-season the team signed superstars Luka “Perkz” Perković, Barney “Alphari” Morris and the aforementioned Selfmade. With a retooled roster, Vitality were preseason favorites to win the 2022 LEC spring split; instead, the team fell flat. A first week where they went 0-3 set the tone for a mediocre split which saw Vitality finish 9-9 and ejected from the second round of the 2022 LEC spring playoffs.
Vitality looks to be making Selfmade the scapegoat for the team’s downfall. In their announcement on Twitter, the team stated “when two different playstyles can’t be mixed well enough, it is important to be able to adapt and try new options.” This tracks with Upcomer’s previous reporting that the team wanted to move on from Selfmade due to different visions on late-game play.
In come Haru and Bo. Haru has a deep history of competing in the League of Legends Champions Korea. With Vitality, he will be new starting jungler for the upcoming summer split. After leaving Hanwha Life in October 2020, Haru played for Kaos Latin Gamers from the Liga Latinoamérica, playing there for the entire 2021 season. Most recently, Haru was a member of X7 Esports of the Northern League of Legends Championship, one of the many regional European leagues.
Bo’s last public appearance was in 2021, at the Chinese League of Legends Pro League. There, as a member of FunPlus Phoenix, he was seen as one of the best up-and-coming players in the league. However, after match-fixing allegations, Bo has struggled to find a team to play for despite his immense talent. Vitality seems to be taking a chance on Bo in hopes of him being able to reach his potential; in their announcement, Vitality states they are “really excited about the superstar potential Bo has as a jungler.”
