Golden Guardians Shore-up Academy With Dropped LCS Stars

There have been many different moves throughout the North American League of Legends Championship Series during the off-season break between Spring Split and Summer, and it seems that no one has benefited more than the Golden Guardians.

Already the Guardians are a pretty great team, on paper. Their performance at the end of the 2019 LCS Spring Split had them departing the playoffs immediately, losing to FlyQuest in their first round best-of-five. 

Almost two months ago, 100 Thieves parted ways with mid-laner Choi “huhi” Jae-hyun, a formidable play-maker and beloved team member. Yesterday, Golden Guardians signed huhi to their Academy team as a support player. In a tweet posted when his departure from 100 Thieves was announced, huhi mentioned that he would love to pursue opportunities in other lanes. 

First I'd like to thank @100Thieves for the opportunity. The split has not gone the way we thought it would. But I wont stop working hard and with that I'd like to say that now I am Free Agent, open to all opportunities in NA, LCS and Academy as a Mid or Jg/Sup. Dms are open.

— huhi (@huhi) April 3, 2019

In almost the exact same step, Golden Guardians signs recently released Counter-Logic Gaming mainstay top-laner Darshan “Darshan” Upadhyaya to their Academy roster. Darshan is one of the most storied and experienced players in competitive League of Legends in North America, and the pick-up by Golden Guardians is a big step for the franchise to -- at the very least -- get some much needed mentoring in for their younger players. 

For all my fans: thank you for sticking me through thick and thin and the ups and downs of my career. If there is one thing that will always remain, it is my burning passion to improve and become the best. This isn't the last you'll be seeing of me.

— Darshan (@DarshanU) May 7, 2019

The last major Academy move that Golden Guardians made was picking up Victor “FBI” Huang from the Bombers of the Oceania region. FBI’s squad had an amazing performance at MSI 2019 in comparison to the expectations put onto that team. It’s a smart way to pluck a star from a younger region and see if they fit into the North American League of Legends scene. 

Teams for years have been trying to steal Korean stars away from their high-profile teams, usually after a devastating loss that leads to a roster shake-up. This path usually does not end very well. 

Golden Guardians have a fairly sure starting LCS roster, however, they could be better as the standings from the last split prove. The moves to add some talented star-power to their Academy roster grant them insurance just in case things do not click on the LCS stage, or things click a whole lot in Academy. 

It’s easy to imagine scenarios where both FBI and huhi get shots to play on the LCS roster during the season if things go their way. Darshan on the other hand, has Hauntzer above him on the LCS team, and he’s one of the strongest and most consistent top-laners in League of Legends. 

The Golden Guardians LCS team kicks off their Summer Split on June 1st, at 6:00 PM PST against Echo Fox.