100 Thieves sign Bang and Huhi, Ryu moves to coaching role

The NA LCS offseason is in full swing and that means more roster moves as every team tries to get a little better before next split starts. One of the most high profile of these moves came from 100 Thieves, as the organization brings in two new players mid laner Choi “Huhi” Jae-hyun and ADC Bae “Bang” Jun-sik.

Huhi joins the team after three years on CLG, where he won one NA LCS title. Huhi will be rejoining former CLG teammate and current 100 Thieves support Zaqueri “Aphromoo” Black, who he had a conversation with during the team’s official announcement video. Huhi is known for his Aurelion Sol play and still managed impressive stats last season despite the fact that CLG struggled through the year.

100 Thieves former mid laner, Yoo “Ryu” Snag-wook, will be moving to the role of assistant coach as Huhi moves into the lane. Ryu has been with the team since it started last year, and has been in the NA LCS since 2017. A pro player since 2012, Ryu has almost as much top level experience as any player in the world and his move to a coaching role will open up an international roster spot for 100 Thieves.

ADC Bang joins 100 Thieves from SK Telecom T1 and will take up one of the team’s remaining import slots — the first import slot is taken by top laner Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho, who the team recently signed an extension with. Bang is a former back-to-back world champion, helping SKT win the title in both 2015 and 2016, as well as a second place performance in 2017. After missing out on the three-peat, SKT had a difficult 2018 where the team struggled to find cohesion among an endless sea of shifting top laners and junglers. Despite this, Bang proved himself to still be a strong ADC, making this one of the most high-profile imports to date in the NA LCS. Bang will take the place of Cody Sun, 100 Thieves former ADC who the team has since parted ways with and is helping to find a new team.

100 Thieves came into the NA LCS as a part of the league franchising that started last year and the team quickly found success. In its first split, spring of 2018, the team finished second in the league, losing out to Team Liquid in the Finals in Miami. Despite stumbling slighting in the summer split, 100 Thieves still managed a fourth place finish. However, when the team arrived at Worlds, things didn’t go so well. While making it to Worlds as a first year organization is impressive, the 2-4 result is one of the weakest by any North American team at the tournament, leaving the team feeling disappointed despite their season’s long success.