TSM replaces head coach Chawy with Reven, signs mid laner Ruby

If your team is not preparing for the Mid Season Invitational, it’s probably looking to make upgrades. That has been the case with several LCS teams, including Team SoloMid. One of the oldest brands in esports and League of Legends, in general, has been facing an uphill climb for the past couple of years. Positive results have been few and far between, but losing the FTX sponsorship is what really set the organization back. With CLG ceasing operations, and the LCS eyeing a format change, TSM is making roster and head coaching changes heading into the 2023 LCS Summer Split.

TSM Head Coach Chawy replaced by Reven

The first news that came out recently was that TSM had a new coach. Former LCK caster and current FlyQuest content creator, Nick ”LS” De Cesare, mentioned on his stream that TSM had a new head coach. He would go on to elaborate that this probably means that TSM are not selling their LCS slot just yet, and that they have a new strategy moving forward. There have been a lot of rumors recently that LCS owners are pushing for changes to the import rule. At the moment, teams can only sign two foreign players. If the rumors are true, the LCS might get 3 import slots next year. And it looks like TSM is gearing in that direction, with reports suggesting the team is looking to compose Korean-centric rosters moving forward.

Everything came full circle once Anonimotum reported on behalf of Blix that Seong “FLAnalista” (Reven) Sang-hyeon has reached a verbal agreement with TSM and will be the head coach of the LCS team. If you were wondering where LS got the info from, now you know.

New TSM Head Coach Reven endorsed by Nick ”LS” De Cesare

Reven was the ADC for Tempo Storm, the team that LS coached in North America before moving to Korea. At the time, Reven retired from competing and transitioned into an analyst role for Flamengo (now Los Grandes in the CBLOL). That’s where he got the FLAnalista nickname and helped the team win both splits in 2019, competing in the play-in stage at the World Championship that same year, before moving to Estral Esports (LLA) in 2021 and Cloud9 in 2022.

He was a part of the LS-composed coaching staff Cloud9 had last year, before he was fired and replaced by Max Waldo. In 2023, Reven was promoted to be the head coach of C9 Challengers, winning the 2023 spring split and spring playoffs. A lengthy winning resume on top of vouches from some notable figures in the community was probably enough to give Reven the TSM coaching job. But let’s not act like Chawy was the issue for TSM during this split. 

The organization has been crumbling on all fronts for the past 2,5 years, losing talent at all levels. Most of the founding members of the organization, have already left, citing workplace abuse from owner TSM Reginald. The remaining staff were also fired in cost-preventive moves. Chawy has been running the entire League of Legends department at TSM for a few months now since most of the analysts, positional coaches, and the general manager were fired. Considering how decent TSM looked despite the talent depletion and his track record as a coach in League of Legends and Dota, hopes are that TSM will retain his services in-house even if he is not coaching anymore.

Team Heretics mid laner Ruby joins TSM

And the first order of business for the new coach was getting a new mid-laner. Maple was removed from the global contract database a few days after their Spring Split ended, so we knew they would move in a different direction in summer. Lee “Ruby” Sol-min is reportedly the guy they chose, and according to Anonimotum, they have already reached a verbal agreement. Ruby fits TSM’s criteria for an English-speaking Korean import, pairing up with incumbent jungler Bugi and the new coach, who also fall in the same boat. He still has 1,5 years left on his contract, and since the money-strapped TSM is getting him after 1 split in Europe, it seems that Team Heretics are splitting the bill. 

Ruby got a lot of criticism for his performance during the Winter and Spring LEC Splits. Team Heretics were one of the bottom two teams in both splits, and many pointed to Ruby as the culprit. But the statistics show that he is one of the best mid laners in multiple categories. He ranked first in assists, damage per minute, and damage percentage while being top 5 in the rest of the categories. He often performed better than other well-known names but a lot of silly and preventable deaths dragged down his numbers and created this negative narrative. It was his first split in the LEC and he was on the 9th-placed team. His Ahri games straight up led Team Heretics to two of their wins and he performed admirably on the rest of his massive champion pool. 

Evil Geniuses release Head Coach Freeze

The Evil Geniuses organization has seen better days. Just a few days ago, they dropped their entire LCS roster. The same nucleus that led them to an LCS title, MSI and Worlds appearance. Now, it looks like the coaching staff will follow suit. All indications point to head coach Freeze and the rest of his coaching staff being let go due to financial reasons. On the other hand, their Valorant roster is making noise for all the wrong reasons. Not only are they paying 9 players instead of the required 6, but they are also failing to deliver results. It looks like the entire organization is facing the pressure.