Tarzan and WADID leave Griffin
Jungler Lee "Tarzan" Seung-yong and support Kim "WADID" Bae-in have left the former League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) champions Griffin, the South Korean esports organisation announced today.
The announcements of Tarzan's and WADID's departure comes on the heels of Griffin's disappointing performance through LCK 2020 Spring Split. The 2019 League of Legends World Championship quarter-finalists finished the Spring Split last and eventually suffered elimination from the league after a failed run through LCK 2020 Summer Promotion series, where they lost to Seorabeol Gaming and SANDBOX Gaming, thus returned to Challengers Korea (CK) for the first time since CK 2018 Spring, which they won with a perfect 14-0 record.
Following their relegation, Griffin announced they're in the process of terminating contracts of each of their players and the staff members. Since the announcement, Griffin already parted ways with top laner Park "Untara" Ui-jin, mid laner Son "Ucal" Woo-hyeon and ADC Park "Viper" Do-hyeon, all of whom left the team last Sunday. Ucal and Untara have yet to join a new team, while Viper already found a new home at Hanwha Life Esports, where he will take over for Oh "Vsta" Hyo-seong as the team's starting ADC for the 2020 LCK Summer Split.
Although an expected turn of events, the departure of Tarzan and WADID is a massive announcement, since they are two were two of the biggest names on the roster and are widely regarded as two of the best players in their roles. This will add some more heat to the off-season roster changes, as there is more than a few teams that would be more than prepared to offer the duo a spot in the starting roster.
Tarzan has been with the team since he began his professional League of Legends career in March 2017. Throughout the three years, Tarzan has helped his team claw their way into LCK from CK, where Griffin won LCK 2019 Spring and Summer regular seasons and finished second at LCK 2018 Summer, 2019 LCK Spring and Summer Splits Playoffs. With Griffin, Tarzan also won KeSPA Cup 2018, Rift Rivals 2019 LCK-LPL-LMS-VCS and made a quarter-finals appearance at Worlds 2019.
Although Tarzan proved himself as one of the most promising junglers in the scene, his performances throughout the current season were far from inspiring. The 20-year-old ended the LCK Spring Split with 3.08 KDA, 70.2% KPAR, 18.8% KS and 18.1% GS, which were one of the worst marks out of all LCK junglers. Through all that, however, Tarzan has managed to maintain the status of an elite-level jungler, which suggests he will not have a difficult time finding a new home soon.
WADID, on the other side began his LoL professional career in May 2016 when he joined Rising Star Gaming. He later played for SBENU Korea, Team ROCCAT, G2 Esports, Rogue, and FlyQuest. In November 2019, FlyQuest announced WADID's departure from the team after his contract expired. In February 2020, WADID joined Riot Games as an analyst, a role he has held until April when he got picked up by Griffin as a replacement for Jeong "Irove" Sang-hyeon.
With the departure of Tarzan and WADID, Griffin are now left with only four more players on its roster in top laner Yoon "Hoya" Yong-ho and Choi "Sword" Sung-won, support Jeong "Irove" Sang-hyeon and mid/support player Yoo "Naehyun" Nae-hyun.
It remains to be seen what will happen with Griffin's LoL team, however, there is still a chance we might see Griffin return to LCK, if they manage to successfully apply for a franchise spot in for the 2021 season.
