Team Vitality sign former Worlds champion Haru

Team Vitality announced a star signing for their League of Legends roster, revealing the addition of former World Championship-winning jungler Kang “Haru” Min-seung ahead of the start of the League of Legends European Championship Summer split.

Vitality also announced the signing of substitute jungler Zhou “Bo” Yang-Bo, while making current team jungler Oskar “Selfmade” Boderek inactive.

Team Vitality sign Haru

Entering the 2022 LEC Spring split, many believed that Team Vitality would be in the running for their first league title. They had spent the offseason building a European superteam of Barney “Alphari” Morris, Selfmade, Luka “Perkz” Perković, Matyáš “Carzzy” Orság, and Labros “Labrov” Papoutsakis.

However, the team struggled immensely. After starting the split 0-3, Vitality eventually snuck into the playoffs with a 9-9 record. However, they fell in the second round of the lower bracket to G2, finishing fifth.

There were many problems with the team, and many members underperformed. However, rumors began to circulate that Vitality were looking for a change at jungler. Selfmade had joined Vitality ahead of the 2021 Summer split after parting ways with Fnatic. During the 2022 Spring split, he had the fourth-worst KDA amongst junglers.

In the end, the organization would sign not one, but two replacements for Selfmade, whose future is now unclear as he moves to Vitality’s inactive roster. The direct replacement for Selfmade, and the person who will start for the team when the Summer split begins on June 17, is Haru.

Haru’s early career

Most of Haru’s early career was spent playing second fiddle in the jungle. Despite playing well when he had the chance, his time with Samsung Galaxy in 2017 and Gen.G in 2018 was primarily spent as a substitute. While Samsung Galaxy won the World Championships in 2017, Haru played in just one game at the tournament.

Haru’s first chance to be an undisputed starting jungler in the League of Legends Champions Korea came when he signed with Hanwha Life Esports ahead of the 2020 season. However, the team struggled, finishing eighth and ninth in Spring and Summer respectively. Haru left the team by mutual agreement following the season.

His departure from HLE also marked the end of his time in Korea. Haru would next be seen in Summer 2021, when played for Puerto Rican side Kaos Latin Gamers. The team finished seventh in the eight-team Liga Latinoamérica. Ahead of the 2022 season, Haru signed with X7 Esports of the Northern League of Legends Championship, a regional competition for the United Kingdom and Nordic nations. X7 would win the NLC title before reaching the quarterfinals of the EU Masters. Now he makes his return to a major region for the first time in two years.

Bo joins as substitute

Vitality also signed Bo in a surprise move to many. Entering the 2021 season, Bo was a highly-touted prospect in China’s League of Legends Professional League. And he lived to expectations, starting his tenure with FunPlux Phoenix with a 10-0 record. However, those 10 games would be the only ones he would play before receiving a suspension from Riot Games following an investigation into match-fixing. Bo has not played professional League of Legends in any capacity since February 6, 2021. In their statement announcing the additions, Vitality stated that Bo would remain the substitute as he adjusted to the new region and language.

With the LEC due to begin on June 17, fans will not have to wait long to see if Haru and Bo were the pieces that Vitality was missing.

Header: Riot Games