Hanwha Life Esports sign DuDu for 2020 LCK Summer Split
A Korean League of Legends team Hanwha Life Esports have announced the signing of top laner Lee “DuDu” Donju, who is set to join the team ahead of the 2020 League of Legends Champion Korea (LCK) Summer Split.
After finishing 2020 LCK Spring Split at an underwhelming eighth place, Hanwha Life Esports have decided to freshen up their roster ahead of the Summer Split. On Friday, May 8, the Korean team announced the departure of Kang "Tempt" Myung-gu, with their substitute ADC Jeon "Zenit" Tae-gwon departing from the team on Sunday.
"We would like to welcome the Top Laner "DuDu" Lee Dongju, a trainee who's called up in the first division at Hanwha Life Esports," read the announcement.
"We look forward to seeing the future growth of "DuDu" with his excellent physicality. Please look forward to and support him so he can show you with great performance."
Not much is know about DuDu, besides that he was a member of Hanwha Life for a while, although only as a trainee, meaning he never got a play a professional match, but instead honed his skill within the organisation as a substitute.
DuDu will now join Lee "CuVee" Seong-jin, Kang "Haru" Min-seung, Oh "Vsta" Hyo-seong, Son "Lehends" Si-woo and Kim "Lava" Tae-hoon, who is likely to take over as the starting mid laner for the team, since Hanwha Life parted ways with Tempt.
There are also talks about the addition of new members of the team, in a bid to improve upon Hanwha Life's poor display during the 2020 LCK Spring Split. Hanwha Life finished last split with 6-12 record, which was one win above the relegation line and three wins short of reaching the playoffs. Although CuVee and co. managed to pick up a few impressive wins throughout the season, namely against Afreeca Freecs, DragonX, T1 and Gen.G, those wins proved to be a fluke more than anything else, since Hanwha Life struggled to find consistent success on the Rift.
From the looks of it, the Hanwha Life roster is in shambles and will likely need a complete roster rebuild to find success at the highest tier of Korean League of Legends competition. Their best placement since Hanwha Life's inception in April 2018, when they acquired an LCK slot from ROX Tigers, came in 2018 LCK Summer Split and 2019 Spring Split when they finished sixth with 10-8 and 9-9 record respectively, meaning Hanwha Life have yet to make an LCK playoffs appearance.
The new-look Hanwha Life will make their first appearance at LCK 2020 Summer Split, which begins on June 17, 2020. The Summer Split will also welcome Team Dynamics as the league newcomers. Team Dynamics will replace Griffin, who have failed to fight their way through the LCK 2020 Summer Promotion series and will continue their venture in the Challengers Korea. This will mark Team Dynamics' first appearance in the LCK as an organisation, although their top laner Lee "Rich" Jae-won, jungler Kim "Beyond" Kyu-seok and Lee "Kuzan" Seong-hyeok all previously played at the highest level.
