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Why BBQ Olivers should be your new favorite LCK team

You like chicken, don’t you?

By Julia Lee

The BBQ Olivers used to be ESC Ever, a League of Legends team in Korea’s top-flight LCK. After rebranding to a chicken-centirc name and mascot, the team started handing out chicken and chicken masks to fans at games. The rebrand this year had plenty of fans scratching their heads. Chickens? Olivers? What does it all mean? You’re confused. That’s okay. That’s why we’re here.

The Name

BBQ Olivers is a team sponsored by BBQ Chicken, a Korean fried chicken chain. The BBQ in the name doesn’t come from “barbecue,” like how you probably expected it to. The full name of the chain is actually “Best of the Best Quality Chicken.” Olivers is a cute noun for the team. Just like Kongdoo has the Monsters, BBQ has the Olivers! This moniker stemmed from the fact that BBQ Chicken uses pure olive oil to fry their chicken.

The Chicken

Chicken isn’t any more special in Korea than it is in America. There’s plain fried chicken, but there’s another type of fried chicken, dosed in special sauces! While some are more soy and garlic based, there are spicier types, too!

There are tons of American-based Korean fried chicken chains that you can try. BonChon is pretty well-known for selling the sauced-up chicken. Your closest Korean town probably has a hole-in-the-wall type place that sells the chicken as well.

The Culture

Yes, the team eats a lot of chicken now. Beyond that, they give out chicken during their games, too! You can also score a sweet mask of the chicken mascot, though you probably won’t be able to eat the chicken while wearing this mask.

The Team

  • Jae-hee “Crazy” Kim - top
  • Jae-seung “Part” Jin - top
  • Hyeon-woong “Bless” Choi - jungle
  • Myung-gu “Tempt” Kang - mid
  • Yong-jin “Ghost” Jang - AD-carry
  • Jong-seop “Totoro” Eun - support

The team is doing better than most people expected, sitting in fifth place at 3-2, and they also play a fun style of League. While most analysts thought they would be in the bottom half of the LCK, they’ve been frying their opponents.

Now you have everything you need to be a BBQ Olivers fan, so get out there and cheer for them!

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