After advancing to the LCS with H2K the teams’ midlaner Febiven left and signed with Fnatic.

Replacing him is Ryu Sang-ook, former KT Rolster player and IEM World Champion, and the organisation has high expectations on their South Korean star.

– I’m certain he will perform on the level we’ve seen him in the past, team manager Robin ”Jed” Jedhammar says.

H2K and Fabian ”Febiven” Diepstraten made their way to the LCS after beating Giants Gaming in the IEM Cologne LCS Spring Expansion tournament in December. Shortly after, he announced his departure from the team and signed up with the new Fnatic squad.

– It was, of course, very sad news. To say goodbye to a great teammate that you’ve been with for a year. But just as Fabian said, sometimes you’ve got to take a step up. I respect his choice one hundred percent and wish him nothing but success. I know what his goals are and hope that he’ll reach them, he’s a fantastic player, manager Robin ”Jed” Jedhammar says.

”We met him during IEM”

As soon as the news reached H2K they started scouting for new players and quickly found who they were looking for. Ryu Sang-ook, IEM World Champion with KT Rolster Bullets in 2014, quickly became the first choice for the organisation.

– When the negotiations between Fnatic and Febiven finished, we started looking for a replacement and pretty soon decided who we wanted. When IEM was over we contacted him and met during the event. There he got a chance to talk to the team. A couple of days ago he arrived in Sweden and I’m really looking forward to seeing how he’ll evolve with the team during the upcoming split.

”His will and motivation is very positive”

Why did he become your first choice?

– When we started researching available players in Europe we didn’t feel that anyone popped out. It would’ve been a player with very little experience and we weren’t interested in that. Seeing how this is our first LCS run we wanted to have someone with lots of experience which Ryu really has.

What do you see him contribution besides the experience?

– Since he’s fostered in South Korea he has a really high work ethic, something we in the West a lot of times can’t compete with. Our goal is to get all of our players on a similar level. His will and motivation is also something very positive to me. Of course communication will be tougher at first compared to a European player, but it has gotten better after a couple of scrims and I’m certain he will perform on the level we’ve seen him in the past.

”Delighted to be here”

Ryu himself is excited about his European adventure.

“I’m really happy to finally be announced for H2K. I met the guys at IEM and we got along really well. I had some great experiences in Korea, but during my short time in Europe already, I knew I wanted more. I’m delighted to be here and I hope you guys will cheer us this season!”, he says in a statement.