After a few weeks of uncertainty surrounding TSM’s jungle position, support Biofrost accidentally leaked some Discord messages last night that suggest Mingyi “Spica” Lu will be joining the team’s starting roster for the 2020 LCS Summer Split.
The DM included TSM League of Legends branch manager James “Tonington” Kandel, Bjergsen, Broken Blade, Doublelift, and Spica. In the message, Tonington said TSM GM Parth was going to hold a 10-minute meeting to have the team fill out a health and food form. Although the contents of the messages aren’t too interesting, the players involved are.
Spica has been with TSM since April 2019 when he joined the team’s Academy roster. It only took a few months, however, for TSM to try him out over former starting jungler Akaadian. His LCS debut wasn’t enough to push TSM into Worlds, though. The team lost to Clutch Gaming in the 2019 Regional Gauntlet.
If this move is confirmed, Spica will be stepping in after a bit of controversy surrounding TSM and its former starting jungler, Dardoch. On May 11, team president Leena Xu was overheard in the background of Doublelift’s stream that “no one wants to pick up” the veteran jungler, causing an uproar within the North American League community.
Soon after, she released a statement acknowledging her mistakes, while also confirming that TSM was trying to find a new home for Dardoch for the 2020 Summer Split. The team originally wanted Dardoch to split time with Spica or play for the organization’s Academy squad, but he expressed his desire to play on a starting lineup.
If the speculation about Spica rejoining TSM’s starting lineup is true, the young player will be getting a second chance at glory following a relatively disappointing first season in the LCS. While there could have been a better jungle acquisition, it’s quite difficult to do considering the restrictions in most regions. There could be issues with visas as well with Team Liquid’s Broxah experiencing this first hand when he came to NA this split. Team Liquid had to find emergent substitute junglers to play while Broxah’s visa was being sorted out.
Team Solo Mid’s fiasco this split doesn’t stop and every week there’s something new to add to the drama surrounding the team. If this continues, they’ll definitely be remembered in history not for their wins, but for all their leaks and some incompetence mixed here and there.
The 2020 LCS Summer Split begins on June 13.
