SKT signs Peanut as new jungler

SK Telecom T1 has signed one of the most sought-after free agents available on the League of Legends market, bringing in former ROX Tigers jungler Wang-ho “Peanut” Han, the team announced Wednesday.

SKT announced Monday that it had re-signed legendary mid laner Sang-hyeok “Faker” Lee, among others, and had let go jungler Seong-woong “Bengi” Bae, so it was already known that the team would be looking for a new jungler, despite the presence of Sun-gu “Blank” Kang on the roster.

The 18-year-old Peanut made his claim as the best jungler in the world this year while playing for ROX. The team won the LCK Spring regular season, finishing runners-up to SKT in the playoffs before winning the Summer regular season and playoffs for the organization’s first LCK title. Entering Worlds as one of the tournament favorites, ROX nevertheless exited the tournament in the semifinal round after an epic five-game series against SKT.

Peanut started his career in 2015 with NaJin e-mFire, sharing the starting jungle position with the more veteran Jae-geol “Watch” Cho. He signed with ROX in January 2016 and helped the team immediately dominate the LCK.

SKT has struggled to find a consistent answer to the jungle position, bringing in Blank to challenge Bengi but switching back to Bengi when Blank’s more carry-oriented style didn’t mesh as well with the team’s roster. The team has, however, won three of the last four world championships.

Elsewhere in the LCK this offseason, KT Rolster have made a series of splash signings, bringing in former ROX Tigers superstar Kyung-ho “Smeb” Song and former EDward Gaming/Samsung stars Won-seok “PawN” Heo and AD Carry AD Carry Hyuk-kyu “Deft” Kim.