Over the course of the last few days, Gen.G Esports announced their LCK roster for 2022 and boy is it an upgrade.
Gen.G reached the semi-finals of Worlds 2021 on the back of BDD playing spectacular. With that said, some people would say that they got a bit lucky with the draw of the knockout stages, so it is not as big of an achievement for them. Thus, Gen.G went out this offseason and got 4 new players for the team to contend to win the LCK and more.
Gen.G added a number of good players and in our opinion, upgrades for each of their roles. Here are the changes for the team.
Top Lane:
Their new top laner is set to be Doran, who played in KT Rolster last year. He is one of the brighter spots on that team and is a reasonable and more solid upgrade from Rascal. Rascal did not have the greatest of years so moving to Doran is a very reasonable option given the LCK top lane pool this offseason. He offers versatility in the top lane and can play weakside. With Doran, you know what you are going to get, so he is not going to be the x-factor for this team going forward. However, what he does bring is being adaptability and stability in the top lane.
Jungle:
After some mishaps from Clid in the jungle at times and wondering what was going on with Gen.G at times, Peanut rejoins the team after several years. It has been a while since Peanut was on this team but he isn’t really joining as a player in his peak. Peanut was the LCK 2021 Summer MVP but that was due to his leadership on the team. He was the shot caller of Nongshim RedForce last year, and he will bring a voice to the team, which Gen.G probably has needed given they often sat back and just lost games. This should be a start of a new identity for Gen.G.
The question on everyone’s mind would be whether this is a good signing or not. In our opinion, it is very close in terms of skill level with Clid but Peanut will bring a change of approach for this team that desperately needs it. Here is to hoping it works out.
Mid Lane
Definitely the biggest signing of the team, getting one of the top available players in the LCK onto the team. Despite BDD playing out of his mind at Worlds, Gen.G move on to sign Chovy, one of the best mid laners in Korea. While Chovy is an excellent player, he has stuff to improve on. His Worlds 2021 wasn’t the greatest, but he did pop off in moments. Gen.G will be hoping to get the best version of him for the team. At least Gen.G has surrounded him with a good amount of talent, so it will not be all on Chovy to carry this team to reach the heights they want to.
It is an upgrade compared to BDD as Chovy brings versatility to the roster as well as carrying the team when it’s on him to do so. Whether Chovy progresses as a player will be one to watch in the upcoming year.
Support
For the last roster change, Gen.G is signing Lehends to pair up with Ruler in the bot lane. Last year, it felt that Ruler and Life was not clicking as a duo. It felt like they had different ideas in mind when playing the lane as Ruler did want to go aggressive in lane but Life was not really that kind of support. Bringing Lehends in changes that. Lehends is an aggressive support and this will fit into the new identity Gen.G wants to build up.
Fit wise, this duo will be more aggressive compared to what we have seen in the past years with Gen.G. Ruler is perfectly capable of playing aggressive and Lehends fits the bill for the team. He did not have that great of a year last season, but it’s a moment for him to shine on a team that is built really well just like Griffin was during his peak.
Coaching Changes
Gen.G is changing up their coaching staff and bring in a legend of the LCK in Score as their head coach. They are also adding ex-Invictus Gaming coach Mafa and ex-DRX coach Museong. Score has not coached a team before but his wealth of experience as a player will work wonders. They also added some veteran coaches on the staff to help out Score and the team. Thus, all these look like a good hire for a reinforced roster looking to change how they want to play.
Overall Thoughts On The Changes
Gen.G went out and upgraded every facet of the team possible. The roster is an upgrade compared to their past iteration with more versatility on the table. The coaching staff is also an upgrade given they brought in experience from both the coaching and the playing side of things. The changes should also give Gen.G a new play style, which is a welcome change.
The questions people would have regarding the roster is Peanut and Lehends. While Peanut has not been the greatest, it was evident Peanut was a lot better in LCK Summer Split than Clid was. Clid had a good Worlds tournament but changing it up makes sense in a vacuum. Lehends had a down year but fit wise, this is a good move.
This team is expected to be in contention to win the LCK. Best case scenario would be to win the split but that is not ideal as it is a team with new players and a new coaching staff. They will need some time to figure it out. Thus, expect them to be a better side going into Summer Split as opposed to Spring. However, they will still be very competitive and we should expect to see some good games from them.
It’s a well built roster on paper with a better coaching staff, and they have all the tools to succeed in the LCK. The question as always is whether they step up and prove they are a contender in the LCK.
